My name is Ella, and I’m a history-loving Senior at PCHS. The following is the second article in a three-part series on Indigenous Americans in the Park City area for the Park City Museum. The first two articles summarized early Indigenous activity in Northern Utah up through the arrival of the Shoshone over 500 years ago.
White explorers began to arrive in the northern Utah / Summit County area in the late 1700s. By the 1850s, the area saw a surge in population from both gold rush migrants as well as permanent settlers, many following Brigham Young to Utah. The increased population created pressure on dwindling food and resources. This led to increasing conflict between indigenous peoples and the new settlers.
One early settlement just outside of Park City became a contentious site. In 1860, the first settlers were sent by Brigham Young from Salt Lake City to colonize the Kamas Valley and the Peoa area; Fort Creek was built in 1861.
Initially, there was little need for protection from the Ute Indians. Peaceful visits by the local natives quickly gave way to hostility, however. In August of 1863, more than 400 Utes began raiding Fort Creek, stealing supplies and cattle. In response, the residents of Fort Creek relocated to a fortified camp further down Woodenshoe Lane. Built in 1866 as the nearby Mormon-led Black Hawk War raged, the Sage Bottom Fort provided settlers and their livestock protection from any invaders. Following the end of the war, settlers eventually returned to the prior Fort Creek location in Peoa in 1869.
Conflict between white settlers and Northern Shoshoni people continued to escalate in the 1860s. On January 29, 1863 in Preston, Idaho (just north of the Utah/Idaho border), the U.S. Army killed an estimated 400 Shoshone people, “decimating the Northwestern Band in one of the deadliest massacres of Native people in U.S. history.” Following this slaughter, known as the Bear River Massacre, “Mormon settlers ‘dispossessed’ the Shoshone of their land throughout the Intermountain West…The Northwestern Shoshone weren’t federally recognized until 1987, and still lacks reservation land to this day.”
In small ways, Utah is finally recognizing and embracing its Indigenous American history.
Credit: Courtesy of the Park Record. Photo by Andrew Cramer.
In 2021, North Summit High School in Coalville renamed their football field the Wakashie Field after Chief Wakashie, a legendary Shoshone Chief. At the dedication ceremony, George Abeyta, a great-great-grandson of Chief Washakie, spoke to the crowd about the importance of honoring ancestors and traditions. He spoke, “Throughout the walks of life, respect is something that is not always given but is almost always earned. You have earned my respect for your desire as a school to follow the proper protocols and to honor the indigenous people of the North Summit Valley.”
As recently as last fall, Kamas hosted an exhibit titled “Washakie: Through the Lens of Time.” Park City, too, could more directly engage with its Indigenous History by hosting that exhibit, or another, thereby drawing attention and education to this topic.
Miners discovered silver in the Park City area in 1868, just as the Black Hawk War came to an end. The town was formed the next year, and Park City was officially incorporated in 1884. It flourished as a mining town for decades before transforming into a resort town.
While miners were drawn to Park City for the treasure that lay below the ground, over the previous centuries, Indigenous Americans were drawn to the abundant plant and animal life above the ground. From the Archaic peoples living in caves to the Fremont Culture in campsites and, eventually, the Numic tribes that still have living descendants today, the land that we now call Park City has provided at least seasonal food, shelter, and a spiritual connection to Indigenous Americans since the Middle Ages, long before there was a United States of America.
While America’s troubling histories with Indigenous Americans, including its violent past in Utah, can be uncomfortable to talk about, our Indigenous and mining histories coexist and share a part of the remarkable story that is Park City. By continuing to research indigenous histories, and by partnering with the Native Americans still living in the area, we can forge a more complete and shared local history. The Park City Museum is hosting a lecture titled “The Land is Alive: Indigenous Views on Nature,” given by former Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation Darren Parry on Wednesday, May 7, from 5-6 p.m. at their Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive.