White River Utes are a Native American band, made of two earlier bands, the Yampa from the Yampa River Valley and the Parianuche Utes who lived along the Grand Valley in Colorado and Utah.

Historic bands

Yampa

The Yampa (''Yapudttka'', ''Yampadttka'', ''Yamparka'', ''Yamparika'') lived in the Yampa River Valley area and north of White River of the present-day state of Colorado near the Parianuche who lived to the south. They were called "

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

eaters". The tribe was relocated to the

Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe ( Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Trib ...

Parianuche

The Parianuche (''Pahdteeahnooch'', ''Pahdteechnooch'', ''Parianuc'') lived in the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

valley (or Grand Valley) in western Colorado and eastern Utah. They are called "elk people" and Grand River Utes. The tribe was relocated to the

Meeker Battle

The White River Utes were pressured to give up their hunter-gatherer lifestyle and take up farming in 1879. This was pressed upon them by an Indian agent, Nathan Meeker, through a number of means, destruction of Ute ponies, starvation, and sending for the military. The Utes took a defensive stand against the military and the agent, killing the agent and U.S. Army Commander Thomas Thornburgh in two separate conflicts. There were also Utes and other whites killed in what was called the Meeker Massacre and the Thornburgh ambush. This ultimately led to the White River Utes being moved to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.

Resettlement in South Dakota

A small number of White River Utes were resettled on the Cheyenne River Reservation,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

, in 1906 and 1907, being allocated 4 townships totalling 92,160 acres. That land remains in the former northern part of the Cheyenne River Reservation. Their communities are Iron Lightning and Thunder Butte.

References

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