As If the Land Owned Us

Robert S. McPherson is an associate professor at the College of Eastern Utah-San Juan Campus in Blanding, Utah, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah. He is the author of a number of books on the history and cultures of the Four Corners region, including Comb Ridge and Its People: The Ethnohistory of a Rock, winner of the 2009 Utah Book Award for nonfiction.

“McPherson’s ethnohistory of the White Mesa Ute people is exceptional. It is story and document, combining indigenous voices with non-Native accounts into a superbly crafted whole. It serves as a worthy model for any history—regional, ethnic, or otherwise—well fulfilling the author’s aim to provide a ‘bridge to contemporary generations’  for a long forgotten people, their places, and times.”—Catherine S. Fowler, University of Nevada, Reno "An essential source on the White Mesa Ute Indians. Setting the tone for each chapter, a moving introductory quotation from a Ute speaker illustrates attitudes and beliefs of the people, and the author offers several personal descriptions of people and places. A remarkable number of photographs, archival and contemporary, complement the narrative."—Colorado Book Review

• List of MapsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. White Mesa Ute Origins and PuwÁ-v: Creating the World, Empowering the Universe2. “It Was as If the Land Owned Us”: Ties to the Land, Resources for the People3. Daily Life in an Austere Environment: Weenuche Beliefs and Life Cycle, 1880s4. The Invasion Begins: Hispanic Entradas, American Trade, and the Mormon Mission, 1600–18555. “Enemies Like a Road Covered with Ice”: Expanding Weenuche Dominance, 1855–18706. Decade of Decision, 1870–1880: Losing Land, Gaining Restrictions7. Stemming the Flood, 1880–1882: Miners, Cowboys, and Settlers8. Winning the Battles, Losing the War: Military Operations and Cowboy Incursions, 1882–18859. Agony with Little Ecstasy: Hunting, Travel, and Subsistence Curtailment, 1885–189510. The Replevied Present: San Juan County, the Southern Utes, and What Might Have Been, 1895–190011. “Only Bullets Talk Now”: Turmoil and Dissent in a Shrinking World, 1900–191512. Posey and the Last White Uprising: Ending the Cycle of Violence, 1915–192313. Avikan: Remembering the Homeland, 1923–194114. Education, Economics, and Integration: Establishing the White Mesa Community, 1923–196015. People and Perception: Neighbors’ Views Across a Chasm, 1860–196016. Circles, Trees, and Bears: Empowering the Weenuche Universe17. Adoption, Adaptation, and Abandonment: Changing Weenuche Religious Practices, 1900–201018. Ironic Industries and Traditional Ties: Shifting Fortunes of the White Mesa Utes, 1950–2010EpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex