DOCUMENT RESUME ED 028 867 RC 003 363 Indians of the Lower Plateau. Bureau of Indian Affairs (Dept. of Interior),Washington, D.C. Pub Date 68 Note-28p. Available from-Superintendent of Documents,U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, (0-314-280, $0.15). D.C. 20402 EDRS Price MF-$0.25 HC Not Available fromEDRS. Descriptors-*American Indians,*CulturalBackground, EnvironmentalInfluences, FederalAid,*Federal Legislation, Federal Programs, History, *Land Use,*United States History Identifiers-Chemehuevi, Goshutes, Navajos, Paiutes,Shivwits, Shoshones, Utes, Washoes The history of the Lower PlateauIndiansthose in the states of Nevada.Utah. and Colorado--is traced and brieflydescribed from early tribes to themodern day Indian. The environmentaltransition undergone by theseS peoples andtheir cultural change. more pronounced whenthe United States acquired the West,are discussed. Emphasis is placedon Indian life today and the progress these Indians havemade in their economy due to landuse and development in the respective reservationswith the help of Federalprograms, legislation. and services. Various illustrationsare included depicting differentaspects of Indian life. (CM) INTRODUCTION.. The States we now call the "Lower Plateau States" Nevada, Utah, and Coloradowere once the hunting and warring grounds for many Indian tribes eventually confined to reservations after the West was won.Some of them today are found far from their homelandspushed tothe north or south into the sparse regions of Arizona and New Mexico, or far eastward to "Indian Territory" from which the State of Oklahoma was carved.But, long before the lands between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains were parceled into States of the Union, their Indian inhabitants had, after a fashion, demarcated the Lower Plateau. This coiled basket with a lid is beaded inblue, yellow, and red designs on a white background.Paiute, Washoe,and Shoshone craft products are made by the WaPai.Shone Craftsmen,Inc. of Nixon, Nev.PHOTO: ARTS AND CRAM BOARD, U.S. DEPARTMENTOF THE INTERIOR 4111111111111.---- cz,4 INDIANS OF COLORADO, NEVADA,AND UTAH Early Tribes of the Lower Plateau Nevada Utah In western Nevada lived smallgroups of Kosos, actually a In Utah, the Bannock and Shoshone tribes roamedover the California tribe.The Northern Paiutes (Paviotso) rangednorthern part of the State as far as the Uintah Mountains and through western Nevada and southeastern Oregon and Cali-beyond Great Salt Lake.The Goshutes, related to the fornia, east of the Sierra Nevada.The Southern PaiutesShoshones, lived in the region around Great Salt Lake and occupied southeastern Nevada,as well as western Utah, north-northern Utah. western Arizona, and even parts of southeastern California. The Navajos, who had long ago made theirway from the Both Paiute groups belong to the Shoshonean branch of thefar north and roamed the vastcanyon and lower plateau area, Uto-Aztecan language stock. at times occupied small areas of southeastern Utah as far as The Western Shoshones of Idaho occupied neighboringthe San Juan River.The Southern Paiutes occupied the parts of northeastern Nevada as far as the Reese River Valley.southwestern part of the State and the Western Shoshones The Utes, mainly associated with Utah,were found in centralextended into northern Utah. and western Colorado and a small part of eastern Nevada as Major tribes in the area were the Shoshones, and the Utes, well.The Washoes, a Hokan-Siouan speaking people with who gave the State its name.Ute territory comprised cen- whom the Northern Paiutes were often at war, were locatedtral and western Colorado and eastern Utah, including the on the Truckee River. eastern part of Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley and extended into the upper drainage area of the San Juan River in New Aboriginal Indians o f N evada with some articles of dailyuse.One man is eating corn.on-the.cob while the other rolls a corn huskMexico.At one time they occupied the entire central and cigarette. western portions of Colorado. 3 1,..a.a441,A . Colorado began between 10,000 and 20,000years ago in the Late In Colorado, the mountain-dwelling Utesappear to havePleistocene era. been the only indigenous tribe.The Apaches, members of These groups were hunters following thegame trails of the the Athapascan language family, raided into Colorado fromgreat bison in small groups or single families. time to time.The Jicarillasone of the Apache tribes Although much of Nevada and Utah isnow dry, rocky, and were the only group to settle in southeastern Colorado, andbarren, it was once a lush, semitropical forest, withvast their territory also embraced the present-day Jicarilla Reser-swamps, myriad lakes and tumbling streams nurtured by the vation of northern N. Mex.The Arapahos hunted andrunoff from melting glaciers, and abounding withgame, fish, warred in eastern Colorado while the Bannocks and Sho-and birds. shones roamed over the extreme northwestcorner of the State. However, a drastic change followed the retreat of the The Cheyennes, Comanches, Kiowas and KiowaApachesglaciers.The Great Basin of Utah and Nevadawas like a fought and hunted over parts of eastern Colorado. huge bowl, rimmed by mountains.The streams feeding the Some ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians probablylakes, swamps, and forests began and ended in the "bowl." lived in the pueblo and cliff ruins stillto be seen in Colorado When glacial waters ceased to feed them, the lakes beganto today.Colorado Indians in ancient times had dealings withdry up.The mountains prevented most of the Coastalpre- the Indians of Taos Pueblo, in New Mexico,once a majorcipitation from replenishing the rapidly diminishingwater trading center. supply, and as lake levels dropped, salinity increased. When the change was complete, there remained the stretches of desert, salt flats incapable of supporting life, Utah's Great The Early Way of Life Salt Lake, and the petrified residue of the great forests that we know today.For the hunter, only antelope, migratoryor Some estimates place the ancestors of tri-Statearea Indiansindigenous birds, small adaptable mammals, rabbits, and in the region 25,000 years ago, but the generally acceptedother rodents remained. archeological opinion is that the first trickling migrations Colorado was more fortunate.Ancestors of today's Utes 4 - "-os 0: ,416. ,Pror4ii." **. .4 inhabited forested mountain slopes filled with game, deep r canyons with productive streams, fed by the Continental ,` e ^ watershed.Their land remains much the same today as it 4". ;;" was in prehistoric times.With the exception of the Uintahs, a Ute Tribe that roamed Central Utah, they lived in relative affluence compared to Utah and Nevada neighbors who eked out a living at minimal survival level after the change.The fact that the ancestors of the Paiutes, Shoshones, Goshutes, and Washoes survived the cataclysmic transition at all is a testimonialtotheirintelligence,stamina, and extreme adaptability. Early residents of the Great Basin learned to utilize every asset in their environment in their progress toward recorded history.Hunters became harvesters of seeds, roots, herbs, sagebrush, lichens, cacti, reeds, and grasses, from which they derived all subsistence items and even a few luxuries.No seed, however minute, no plant, animal, insect, or even larva was overlooked in the all-encompassing quest for survival. These resourceful people became interested in the art of heal- *le ing and had developed almost 100 vegetable medicinal corn- pounds, a contribution which is believed to rank as the largest body of pharmacoepia known to primitive man. Paiute workmen leaving an ancient salt mine in Nevada. VA,Wee. ;elk ."Mt.. 5 ". "tr"eliC4111-e0 e. %MIA, bats t, - MWM1111V1%.111111111P"Iilidi.krs 11&::rn,. -A610. 041 ....11,1.111"41... 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A shelter of brush, reeds, and grasses lashed to poles bentand only secondly as contributors to a society where lifewas in a conical shape wasthe typical housing. Fibers from milk-a daily struggle and death a constant threat.Orphans were weed and sagebrush bark, reeds, and grasses were woven into adopted and no child ever lacked love. clothings and utensils.Wealthy was the man who possessed Arrow and spearhead makers were honored individuals a woven rabbit skin blanket.To a migratory people, skinsand enjoyed many privileges.Weapons were basic, limited were more valuable for shoes than for clothing. to nets, snares, and the aa-aa (throwing spear) which was The grim realities of survival limited the bands to a single largely superseded by the bow and arrow, introduced around or extended family seldom exceeding 15 persons.Personal500 A.D.