Utah's First Nations

Utah's First Nations: Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau was developed in cooperation with representatives of Utah's Indian tribes and under the guidance of the Indian Advisory Committee of the Utah Museum of Natural History. The exhibit was an official exhibition venue of the Cultural Olympiad of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

The exhibit's introductory area serves three important roles:
The "welcome wall" reminds us that Indian communities are an integral part of the state's cultural richness. A bison head and Medicine Wheel introduce symbols that are important to many North American tribes. And a map, painted on a bison hide, depicts the wide range of traditional indigenous territories.

Mounted Buffalo Head (Bison bison), courtesy of the Paiute Tribe of Utah

A fitting sentinel presides over the exhibit. The buffalo is significant for many indigenous people across North America. Although bison were greatly reduced in number by the 1800s, and nearly wiped out by the end of that century, their range once stretched from the Northwest Territories south to Mexico, and from the Sierra Nevada east to the Appalachian Mountains.

Medicine Wheel

A much-enlarged reproduction of artist Dallin Maybee's Medicine Wheel depicts an ancient symbol used by native people throughout the Americas. Many concepts are expressed within the circle and its four quadrants: the four cardinal directions, the four winds, the four elements, the four parts of a human being (mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional), and other relationships expressed in sets of four.

Buffalo Hide Map

Painted by guest curator Nola Lodge with help from some of her students and colleagues, this map depicts the traditional homeland territories of the Utah tribes prior to non-Indian intrusion. The state boundaries of Utah were non-existent during pre-contact times when Indigenous communities moved throughout a broad area that included what is now Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wyoming. There was a good deal of interaction among and between the tribes in the early days, which is depicted in the overlapping of territories on the map. Indigenous people throughout the region came together in both cooperation and conflict over time.

 Notice that each of the tribes is represented by a color on the map. These colors are used throughout the exhibit to help you identify the major tribe about whom you are learning.

Red represents Ute. There are two federally recognized tribes of Ute Indians in Utah at the present time, those residing at the Uintah-Ouray reservation in northeastern Utah (the largest reservation in the state), and those at White Mesa Ute Council near Blanding, Utah (an outlying community of the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Colorado).

Blue represents the Northwestern band of Shoshone Tribe. Today the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Tribe has a small parcel of reservation land in northern Utah, near its border with Idaho.

Green represents Goshute. There are two federally recognized tribes of Goshute, the Confederated Tribes of Goshute living at Ibapah, on the Utah/Nevada border, and the Skull Valley Band of Goshute at Skull Valley, Utah.

Yellow-orange represents Southern Paiute. The Paiute tribe of Utah includes five bands, each with their own landbase in southwestern Utah. San Juan Southern Paiute is the other federally recognized Paiute tribe in Utah. Their homeland lies in southeast Utah and northern Arizona, although they currently hold no reservation land. The Paiute Tribe of Utah chose to present the broader Southern Paiute Nation in the exhibit and included the San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab, Moapa and Las Vegas Paiutes in their narrative.

Turquoise represents Navajo. The Navajo Nation is the largest reservation in the United States. Its northern edge (the "Utah Strip") lies along the southeastern border of Utah.

The making of the exhibition was a highly collaborative effort that brought together many people willing to share their stories, their photographs, and their heirloom collections. Among the goals that guided the development of Utah's First Nations was the desire to introduce the world to the indigenous people of this region, people for whom the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau have always been home. While we know it is impossible to represent all views from every community, Utah's First Nations attempts to make the voices and views of Utah's Indian nations integral to the exhibit. 

The exhibition premiered to Utah audiences on January 17, 2002 and remained open through September 29, 2002. This virtual experience extends the life of the exhibit. 

As you visit the online exhibition we hope you will discover the diversity of Utah's indigenous people, as well as their commonalities. And as you journey into indigenous territory, consider the influences and continuing importance of Utah's remarkable landscapes--land that has always been home to the Goshute, Ute, Paiute, Northwestern Shoshone, and Navajo people.