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"The Ute Kingdom" For 10,000 years or more, the ancestors of the Ute people lived in what is now Colorado and
Utah. Before they acquired horses, travel and food gathering was limited to a range they could reach on foot. With the acquisition of the horse in the early 1600s their lifestyle changed dramatically.
They were now able to traverse a much greater territory. The Ute hunters could reach the plains east of the mountains and hunt the bison. They became the Mountain People, spending summer in the high mountains and
winter in the milder climate of the lower valleys. In this scene I have depicted a Ute band crossing the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.
On top of the world -- above timberline -- the mountain range in the background is today called Indian Peaks. It is late September and the summer months have melted the snows allowing an easy crossing. Very soon
the snows will return and this route will not be passable until next summer.
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