The Ute peoples once lived and roamed throughout much of current day Colorado and Utah. Before contact with Europeans the Utes lived a subsistence lifestyle. The Utes traveled in accordance with their knowledge of where and when the resources offered by nature were ready for harvesting. The Utes called themselves "Nuche" meaning "the people" or "we the people."

In the late 1500's the Spanish began colonization of southern reaches of Ute territory - now northern New Mexico. The Spanish brought with them the horse, which completely changed the lifestyle of the Ute Indians. Mountain Utes were able to move their belongings and food over long distances thus increasing the range of their territory. Mounted Utes were able to kill large numbers of bison on the plains thereby providing for a greater amount of leisure time than previously known. Spanish and Ute relations were generally of benefit to both peoples. Through trading the Spanish received fresh meat, tanned hides, basketry and furs from the Utes while the Utes received axes, bridles, and knives. At times the Spanish sent out troops to discourage or retaliate against Ute raids on settlements.

During the early 1800's Anglo trappers and traders began living in Ute territory. Anglos began settling the Southwest in greater numbers after 1848 and the conclusion of the war with Mexico. As part of the peace treaty between the two nations, the United States agreed to honor the land grants made by the Spanish and Mexicans in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. These lands, areas traditionally occupied by the Utes, were transferred without consultation with the Utes under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848).

As more Anglos moved into Ute territory, Ute raids increased. Newcomers were depending upon, and depleting, many of the same resources that Utes traditionally used. Homesteads began to cordon off prime Ute campsites along streams and rivers and traditional Indian root digging grounds were tilled or fenced for pastures. The culture of the Utes did not recognize the land as a private commodity. To compensate for Anglo appropriations, Utes simply took from the settlers. This resulted in Anglos killing Utes and Utes killing Anglos.

The first peace treaty between the United States and a group of Utes was signed in Abiquiu, New Mexico, in 1849. Many more were to follow. Such treaties often evidenced an Anglo disregard for compliance. In the 1850's, Indian Agencies were established in Ute territory to distribute goods promised under treaties and to help control the Utes through religious and political means. In 1854, Indian Agent Kit Carson distributed blanket coats infected with small pox at a peace conference in Taos, New Mexico. Warfare ensued once Utes started contracting smallpox. Kit Carson and the parties of soldiers he led in pursuit of the Utes proved to be formidable opponents for the Utes. The Utes soon ceased raiding to abide by treaty obligations made with the "Great White Father" in Washington with the hopes of receiving promised food, supplies, and tools.

In 1858, the discovery of gold brought tens of thousands of settlers and prospectors into the mountains of the Ute homeland. In response to the influx of newcomers, the Colorado Territory was established in 1861 to try and maintain order. For both safety and ease of control it became apparent that the Indians should be removed to controlled areas. The Utes were opposed to having their freedom of movement restricted. Tradition taught them that remaining in one place resulted in death.

On March 2, 1868, a treaty known as the Kit Carson Treaty was signed. It placed the Utes on 1,500,000 acres of land in western Colorado. The land allotment was to be for their "absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" on the condition that the rest of their land would be ceded to settlement. In 1873, after continued troubles between Indians and incoming settlers, a group of Ute leaders, most significant among them Chief Ouray, were brought to the East Coast to sign the Brunot Treaty. Under protest the Ute leaders signed away their rights to the majority of the land they had received in the 1868 Kit Carson Treaty.

At this time the Federal government hoped to turn all of the Utes into farmers. Utes that were tied to the land would be easier to inculcate with religious and economic values than nomads. The pressuring of Ute warriors to become farmers made conflict inevitable. At the White River Agency in northern Colorado, Indian Agent Nathan Meeker was particularly focused on converting the Utes to an agricultural lifestyle. This focus along with Meeker's moral standards, led him to plow up the Ute's horse-racing track. After a confrontation with Utes angry about the loss of their track, Meeker sent for the army to help him maintain order.

Ute scouts met the approaching soldiers and warned them not to come closer to the White River Agency. This warning was ignored and the army was subsequently attacked. The Utes killed the commanding officer and surrounded the survivors. Back at the White River Agency, Meeker and all the male employees were killed. After several days the captives were freed as a result of a message from Chief Ouray advising release and describing the threat of incoming cavalry.

The Meeker incident provided all the necessary leverage for the Federal government to remove the Utes from lands formerly held in common by the tribe and relocate them to a reservation. Under the "Washington Treaty" all the Utes were taken to Utah except for those that had already been put on a reservation in southern Colorado in 1877. North of this reservation the Utes were stripped from the Western Slope and forbidden to return.

In 1895, the Utes on the reservation in southern Colorado were substantially impacted by Congressional passage of the Dawes Severalty Act. The Act provided individual allotments of land to each Indian on the reservation. Utes were allowed to chose which parcels of land they wanted and then the remaining land was opened up to homesteading. Some Indians chose not to take the government's allotments and were moved to the western half of the reservation. Those Indians, who retained land-in-common, would come to be known as "Ute Mountain Utes" because of the location of Ute Mountain on the reservation. Those Indians who stayed on the eastern side of the reservation, whose lands became checkerboarded with non-Indian land owners, would come to be known as the "Southern Utes."

In the 1940's, the Federal government constructed the Jackson Gulch Reservoir on the Mancos River which runs through the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. No Indians were provided rights to the water stored in the reservoir, nor were they consulted about its construction.

In 1950, the Indian claims commission awarded all Utes $32 million in reparations for earlier land take-overs by the Federal government. The commission did not resolve Ute water rights.

Neither the Ute Mountain Utes nor the Southern Utes live on optimal farming land. They are where they are in large part because they were pushed out of lands deemed more prime by enterprising settlers. In general, the high plains of the Colorado Plateau do not have an abundant supply of water. To provide for the growth of the tribes and production of crops, water has to be transferred to the Ute reservations. Water in Southwest Colorado and the neighboring Four Corners region is a valuable commodity. In recognition of the value of water in the West, the tribes have been pressing the Federal government to provide them with a firm water supply that can meet tribal needs now and in the future. Such a water supply, the tribes contend, was guaranteed to them by treaty in 1868. In 1972, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes filed a claim in federal court seeking to establish their water rights.

After years of effort, negotiation, and compromise, the 1988 Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act was adopted by Congress and signed into law by President Reagan. The Act recognizes the outstanding water rights claims of Colorado's Ute Indians through the development of the Animas-La Plata project. The Act also established a water development cost sharing plan between the Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribe, the Southern Ute Indian tribe, the State of Colorado, the State of New Mexico, and certain Colorado non-Indian water users.

The Settlement Act mandates that ALP project water be delivered to the tribes by January 1, 2000 to avoid possible renegotiation of tribal water rights claims. If the 2000 date is passed without the arrival of ALP water the tribes have until 2005 to decide whether or not they want to litigate to quantify their water rights.

Recently a less comprehensive version of the ALP project was proposed by Animas River development proponents in an effort to launch the oft-delayed project and get the Utes the water supply which is owed to them. It remains to be seen whether this modified ALP project, known as ALP Lite, will be supported by Congress. Currently, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado is working to pass amendments to the Colorado Ute Indian Settlement Act in S. 1771. The amendments to the Act would serve to authorize ALP Lite as a final settlement of the claims of the Ute Indian tribes. ALP Lite would provide both the Southern Ute Indian tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribe with a depletion allotment of 16,525 acre-feet of water to be used for municipal and industrial purposes.

The majority of Colorado Utes that know about the water rights settlement process seem to feel that it is important for Utes to receive "wet water" in a storage facility rather than cash. With little to show after generations of deals with anglos, an allotment of Animas River water would be a renewable capital resource available for future generations of Utes.