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| Ute Council Tree Jim Wetzel / Delta County Historical Society Photo 2017 |
The Ute
Council Tree in Delta is an important reminder because its once-living timber
absorbed the themes of the modern day debates in bygone eras.[2]
Arguments by local Natives concerning hunting and horse betting, debates on how
to interact with other tribes, dreams of equality and peace among the races, or
discussions of diplomacy and war.
The tall
and mighty cottonwood tree lost its last living branch on a windless Aug. 1 –
Colorado Day.[3] At 9:30 AM on Aug. 25 –
the anniversary of Chief Ouray’s death – a public ceremony was held to mark the
conclusion of this tree and immediately thereafter it was cut down to protect
persons and property.[4]
Within the
written history, the Delta County Historical Society has found no causal
connection to any Ute councils, treaties, or forums held around this tree.[5]
The oral history of the Utes has recognized this tree as symbolizing their heritage
and a living connection to their ancestors[6]
who wandered these hills and named the Grand Mesa -- Thunder Mountain. Because
of this, the Ute Council Tree site will forever be venerated.[7]
Legend has
it, that this is the tree Ouray met in council with his fellow leaders, and it
was under this tree that Ouray did the unthinkable -- he invited his wife,
Chipeta, a woman, and his most trusted confidant and adviser, to join in the
council's decision making.[8]
It was beside
this tree that the Utes passed as they were removed from their tribal lands in late-August
1881.[9]
And it was
past this tree that Chipeta would later return and visit settlers whom had
become her friends. She visited the area often, with her final journey
occurring in September 1923.[10]
For 215
years[11]
this old cottonwood tree has stood firm, a stone’s throw from the confluence of
the Uncompahgre and Gunnison Rivers and a testament that a tree, planted by a
river, won’t fear drought, because strong roots will allow leaves to provide
shade in summer’s heat.
In 1802
America was still young and the Louisiana Territory still belonged to France.
As a matter of fact, the seedling wasn’t even growing in French or United
States territory – at that time, today’s Western Colorado belonged to Spain.
When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, it inherited the Spanish
claims which included modern-day Delta County.[12]
The Ute
Council Tree survived destruction when Antoine Robidoux, a fur trader based out
of Santa Fé, cut nearby cottonwoods to construct Fort Uncompahgre in 1828 along
the Old Spanish Trail. The delta of the Uncompahgre and Tomichi[13]
(modern day Gunnison) Rivers was an ancestral wintering encampment for the
Utes.[14]
By the end
of the 1830s beaver pelt prices had declined precipitously and to make up for
lost revenue, Fort Uncompahgre increased its trade in California horses and
Indian slaves. Powerful tribes would capture the women and children from weaker
tribes and then sell them at the Fort.[15]
The Ute
Council Tree stood strong as Eastern industrialization and improved routes of
trade resulted in a drop in trading prices. The Indians concluded that the Santa
Fé and Taos traders, including Robidoux, had cheated them for years.[16]
During the summer of 1843 two events occurred which would impact the Council Tree. First, the Indians raided Fort Uncompahgre and killed everyone except Mexican trapper Calario Cortez, who narrowly escaped the carnage.[17] Second, a traveling band of Tabeguache Utes came upon a burnt-out Kiowa village and heard a baby girl crying. Everyone else was dead. They rescued the baby and named her Chipeta – meaning White Singing Bird.[18]
During the summer of 1843 two events occurred which would impact the Council Tree. First, the Indians raided Fort Uncompahgre and killed everyone except Mexican trapper Calario Cortez, who narrowly escaped the carnage.[17] Second, a traveling band of Tabeguache Utes came upon a burnt-out Kiowa village and heard a baby girl crying. Everyone else was dead. They rescued the baby and named her Chipeta – meaning White Singing Bird.[18]
As a
teenager, Chipeta had taken care of Ouray and his family. Black Mare, Ouray’s
first wife, died in 1859.[19]
Later that year, Ouray, the tribe’s respected hunter and warrior, married
Chipeta.[20] A testament to Ouray’s
greatness, he and thirty warriors defeated 300 Arapaho warriors. During the
battle, Ouray’s five-year-old son disappeared in the confusion.[21]
Ouray and Chipeta would look for years, but never found the son.
With the
discovery of gold and silver in the San Juan Mountains, there came a flood of
Whites into the Ute lands. Those winter councils around the tree must have
raised questions of enormous magnitude regarding the tribes’ future.
During one
council meeting, Ouray persuaded the tribe to allow him to negotiate a treaty
with the US Government. With the help of Kit Carson, Ouray would travel to
Washington, DC and successfully negotiate a series of treaties that would guarantee
specific boundaries for the Tabeguache and Mouache Utes; and in exchange for
outlying lands, the US government would pay the Ute tribes money, food, and
supplies.[22]
Not
everyone liked Ouray. In 1872, Ouray and Chipeta had just arrived at the Los Pinos
Indian Agency when Sapovanero attempted to assassinate Ouray. Sapovanero nearly
missed and Ouray then sought to kill him on the spot. Chipeta threw herself
in-between the two warriors and pleaded for life. Sparing Sapovanero’s life
avoided a dangerous rift amongst the Ute tribes.[23]
Ouray and
Chipeta had only recently settled down as farmers near Montrose when news of
the 1879 Meeker Massacre reached them. The White River Utes attacked the new
Indian agent, Nathan Meeker, after he destroyed their race track and insisted
on them using their time for farming, rather than horse racing and betting.
Meeker sent for troops and Major T.T. Thornburgh was sent with 178 soldiers.
They were attacked en route to the agency and 13 of Thornburgh’s soldiers were
killed. Upon hearing that Meeker had called in the army, Chief Douglas and his
warriors murdered Meeker and 11 others at the agency. They took the women and
children hostage and held them at the tribe’s mountain camp.[24]
At the
urging of Chipeta, Ouray called for peace. He wrote the White River Utes and
called for an end to hostilities and for the hostages to be sent to his home outside
of Montrose immediately. The hostages were released unharmed, but the uprising
sealed the fate of the Colorado Utes.[25]
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| Last branch fell off on 1 Aug 2017 Pat Sunderland/ Delta County Independent Photo |
In 1880, Ouray
and Chipeta travelled once more to Washington, DC and signed the final treaty between
the Ute Nations and the United States of America. President Rutherford Hayes
signed on behalf of the federal government and hosted Ouray and Chipeta at the
White House. Upon Ouray’s return to the West Slope, he had one mission; to have
the remaining tribe – the Southern Utes at Ignacio, sign the treaty. Ouray fell
ill near Durango and died of Bright’s disease on August 25, 1880.
The
following year, the US government removed the Uncompahgre Utes to a reservation
in eastern Utah. A wave of White settlers rushed into the Gunnison River Valley
in October 1881. In the shadows of the Ute Council Tree, a town was formed and
appropriately called – Uncompahgre.[26]
By 1882,
Uncompahgre was renamed Delta when the Post Office Department refused to
recognize a name with so many letters.[27]
The following year, Delta County was created from a portion of Gunnison County.[28]
From time
to time, until her death on August 16, 1924, Chipeta would come through Delta
and visit the land she once called home.[29]
Each time she came to visit, she would stop by the old Ute Council tree and
take a solidary moment. In September 1923, Chipeta made her last trip through
this area. As a young boy my
grandfather, Guy Howard, recalled seeing Chipeta and Buckskin Charlie in
Delta. Later he acquired two of
Chipeta’s baskets, which are now on permanent display at the Delta County
Historical Society Museum located at 251 Meeker St. in Delta.[30],
[31]
At the
public ceremony held to mark the conclusion of the 215 year old Ute Council
Tree, many Utes made a pilgrimage to pay homage to a tree which symbolizes their
heritage. Many prayers were offered and official letters publically read, then the waiting trucks and saws began cutting the tree.
A complete
history of the Ute Council Tree
written by Jim Wetzel may be purchased at the Delta History Museum for $10.
Wetzel's history is more specific to the tree, whereas the above is a general
history of the area that the Council Tree would have borne witness too over the
last 215 plus years.[32]
[1] “History worth
preserving.” Editorial. The Grand
Junction Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo., 18 August 2017) A4.
[2] Deborah Doherty & J.
Wise. Delta, Colorado: The First Hundred Years. (Delta, Colo: DCI,
1981); and James Wetzel, A Spirit Returns: Delta County, Colorado: A
Pictorial History. (Virginia Beach, Va.: Donning, 2003); See also: Muriel Marshall, Where Rivers Meet: Lore from the Colorado
Frontier. (Texas A&M University Press, 1996).
[3] Pat Sunderland, “Historic
landmark damaged.” Delta County
Independent (Delta, Colo., 2 August 2017) A1; Pat Sunderland, “Ute Council
Tree to be cut down.” Delta County
Independent (Delta, Colo., 16 August 2017) A1+; “Old tree to fall on Ouray
anniversary.” The Grand Junction Daily
Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo., 17 August 2017) A3.
[4] Pat Sunderland, “Ute
Council Tree’s roots run deep.” Delta
County Independent (Delta, Colo., 30 August 2017) A1+; Keith Lucy,
“Personal Interview.” President of the Delta County Historical Society. 16
August 2017; Kelly Slivka, “This is part of our heritage: Centuries old tree
revered by Utes Tribe, dramatically cut back” The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo., 26 August
2017) A1+.
[5] Gary Harmon, “Historic Ute
Council tree has rotted, must be cut back.” The
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo., 12 August 2017) A1+.
[6] James Wetzel, The Ute Council Tree (Delta County,
Colo., 25 August 2017) 5.
[7] Colorado Tourism Office
2017, http://www.colorado.com/historic-places-districts/ute-council-tree. Accessed
16 August 2017.
[8] Jeanne Varnell, Women of Consequence: The Colorado Women's
Hall of Fame (Johnson Books, 1999) 32-7.
[9] Ute Indians v. US (1910), Cases
Decided in the Court of Claims of the United States, Vol. 45. (W.H. &
O.H. Morrison, 1911) 440+.
[10] Matthew Soper, “Chipeta, legendary wife of
Ute Chief Ouray” Delta County Independent
(Delta, Colo., 26 July 2004) A8.
[11] Professor C.W. Ferguson, University
of Arizona at Tucson, dated the Ute Council Tree as being 212 years old in
1985, which would make the tree 244 years old in 2017. Jess Fults, City of
Delta Tree Board, dated the tree as being 180 years old in 1985; which is where
the generally accepted age of 215 years old came from in 2017 news reporting. It
is fair to say that the seedling, which became the Ute Council Tree, began its
life between 1773 and 1802.
[12] Thomas J. Noel & Carol
Zuber-Mallison, Colorado: a historical
atlas (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015).
[13] The Spanish name at the
time was Rio de San Javier (Xavier), however Catholic Priest Silvestre Vélez de
Escalante noted upon seeing the river in 1776 that Juan Maria de Rivera, the
first non-native to see the river, called it: “the great Rio del Tizon”. See: Steven G. Baker, Juan Rivera's Colorado, 1765: The First
Spaniards Among the Ute and Paiute Indians on the Trails to Teguayo. (Western
Reflections Publishing, 2016).
[14] Chris Miller, "Fort
Uncompahgre." Colorado Encyclopedia,
http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fort-uncompahgre. Accessed 17 August
2017. See: Ken Reyher, Antoine Robidoux and Fort Uncompahgre: The
Story of a Western Fur Trader (Ouray, CO: Western Reflections, 1998). See also: Rufus B. Sage, Rocky
Mountain Life, or, Startling Scenes and Perilous Adventures in the Far West
during an Expedition of Three Years (1859; repr., Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 1982); C. Gregory Crampton and Steven K. Madsen, In
Search of the Spanish Trail: Santa Fe to Los Angeles, 1829–1848 (Layton,
UT: Gibbs Smith, 1994); and Joseph J. Hill, “Antoine Robidoux, Kingpin in the
Colorado River Fur Trade, 1824–1844,”Colorado Magazine 7 (July
1930).
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Jeanne Varnell, Women of Consequence: The Colorado Women's
Hall of Fame (Johnson Books, 1999) 32-7.
[19] For a complete history of
Ouray and Chipeta, see: P. David
Smith, Ouray: Chief of the Utes. 2d
ed. (Wayfinder Press, 1986); Cynthia S. Becker & P. David Smith, Chipeta: Queen of the Utes. (Western
Reflections Publishing Co., 2003); and Vickie Leigh Krudwig, Searching for
Chipeta: The Story of a Ute and Her People. (Fulcrum Publishing, 2004). For a
general history of the Utes, see:
Wilson Rockwell, The Utes: A Forgotten
People. 2d ed. (Western Reflections Publishing Co., 1998); Jan Pettit, Utes: The Mountain People. Rev. sub. ed.
(Johnson Books, 1990); and Virginia McConnell Simmons, The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. (University
Press of Colorado, 2001).
[20] Op. Cit. Varnell, Women of
Consequence.
[21] Id.
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.
[25] Id.
[26] Ute Indians v. US (1910), Cases
Decided in the Court of Claims of the United States, Vol. 45. (W.H. &
O.H. Morrison, 1911) 440+.
[27] Olivia Spalding Ferguson,
“A sketch of Delta County history” The
Colorado Magazine (The State Historical Society of Colorado, Denver, Colo.,
October 1928) Vol. V, No. 5.
[28] Op. Cit. Wetzel, A Spirit Returns; and Doherty, The first hundred years.
[29] Matthew Soper, “Chipeta,
legendary wife of Ute Chief Ouray” Delta
County Independent (Delta, Colo., 26 July 2004) A8.
[30] Id.
[31] Aaron Porter, “Austin
youth uses history to shape future” The
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo., 18 March 2001) 2A+.
[32] See: James Wetzel, The Ute
Council Tree (Delta County, Colo., 25 August 2017)
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