Southern Ute Indians 73 



THE SOUTHERN UTE INDIANS OF PINE RIVER 

 VALLEY, COLORADO. 



Albert B. Reagan, Cornfields, Ganado, Arizona. 



The Southern Ute Indians of Pine River Valley, Colorado, are the 

 Moache and Capote divisions of the great Ute family. They were once 

 very numerous and occupied portions of Utah, Colorado, and New Mex- 

 ico, and possibly even a portion of Arizona, for in 1775 Father Escalante 

 visited them in the region north of the Hopi villages in Arizona. They 

 now number only 352. 



Since 1863 they have occupied their present reserve and are now 

 making rapid strides toward civilization, though they were slow in mak- 

 ing the start. Today they live in modern houses and every family has 

 its little farm on which grain, corn, fruit and garden truck are raised. 

 They have done so well in recent years that in the Dry Farming Con- 

 gi'ess at El Paso in 1916, they carried off the Silver Cup Prize in com- 

 petition with all the other Indians in the United States. 



They still practice a few ceremonies and perform a few dances. 

 Among the latter is the "Bear Dance", so-called because the Utes assert 

 that the bear originated the ceremony in the long ago. It is performed 

 in the early spring or the first days of summer and usually lasts four 

 days. It is a big event and the Apaches, Navajos, Mexicans, and whites 

 join with the Utes and all have an enjoyable time. Below is a descrip- 

 tion of one of these dances as given near Ignacio, Colorado, in .June, 

 1917. 



Preparatory to the dance, a level plot of ground was selected in a 

 pasture near town, and a dancing field some 300 yards in diameter was 

 laid off and inclosed in an artificial, upright hedge fence. Benches were, 

 placed within the inclosure along the northwest half of the 

 fence for the men to sit on, the ground within the inclosure along 

 the southeast sector being reserved for the women to squat. Within 

 the inclosure on the west side a deep hole was dug over which an in- 

 verted tub was placed. This was then inclosed in a square-bench en- 

 closure on which the musicians were to sit. Heavy oak sticks, two and 

 one-half feet in length were notched in "washboard style"; some also 

 had carved heads with eyes and mouth for the sounding end of the 

 stick. Bones of suitable length and thickness were also secured for the 

 rubbing process in the "music-making". 



The dance was given only of afternoons until the fourth day when 

 it lasted the whole day, followed by a feast. 



When all was ready, the musicians, seven in number, seated them- 

 selves on the benches around the tub-drum and leaning their notched 

 sticks so as to place the end farthest from them on the jnverted tub- 

 bottom with notches up, they began to sing a chant in the minor key. 

 As soon as the song "had warmed up to a sufficient pitch", the musicians 

 began to keep time by rubbing the bones up and down over the notched 

 sticks producing a reinforced, ear-grating sound. 



"Proc. 38th Meeting, 1922 (1923)." 



