The Indigenous People of Cedar Valley

Cedar Valley and Utah Valley in general have had several different groups of Indigenous People who have occupied the area over the years. “Archaeologists have determined that the earliest inhabitants of Utah were Paleo-Indian peoples, migratory hunters who first came into the area in approximately 12,000-10,000 BC. By 6,000 BC this group had been replaced by another Indian culture know as the Desert Archaic…. and likely hunted near Utah Lake and fished in various feeder rivers during spawning Season…. Approximately 300-500 AD the Deseret Archaic Culture either became supplanted by or evolved into the Fremont Culture…. Some believe that drought conditions forced migration to the central plains of the United States around 1300 AD. Others believe that these people are the Shoshone group, ancestors of the Shoshone, Ute, Gosiute and Southern Paiute.”_[4] There are reports of the Goshute Tribe as well as the Ute Tribe were in the area of Cedar Valley. The map below shows the tribes locations as well as the area that was shared by them. The majority of the stories that I found indicated that the Goshutes were the main group of people that populated the Cedar Valley region prior to the European settlers. The two tribes closely resembled each other. The main difference was that the Goshute Tribe usually were located in desert areas with little to no water, while the Ute Tribe would settle near bodies of water, like Utah Lake. A group of Spanish explorers (Francisco Antanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante) arrived in the Utah Valley on September 23, 1776. This is what they found when they entered the valley surrounding Utah Lake. This is an excerpt from their journals.

Six leagues and a half north-northwest they reached the village. [A league was a little less than 3 miles.]Some of the Indians came out to receive them with weapons in hand to defend their homes and families, but as soon as Silvestre spoke to them, all these warlike preparations were changed to sincere expressions of peace and affection. We led them back very joyfully to their poor huts, and after embracing them and assuring them that we came in peace and that we loved them as we loved our best friends the Father gave them time to talk leisurely with our guide Silvestre who told them the story of what he had seen and observed. From the time he began he spoke so very much in our favor, and of our purpose in coming there, that we could not desire anything better. He told them at length how well we had treated him, and of our love for him….. He finished his speech by telling them that only the Fathers tell the truth, that in their company one might travel all over the earth without risk, and that only the Spaniards were good people. After they had talked for a long while on this subject, many people from neighboring camps arrived, and after giving all of them tobacco, the Father, through the interpreter and Silvestre, who already had some instruction, told them the reasons for our visit and that the main one was to seek the salvation of their souls and to show them the only ways in which they might attain this salvation, the principal, first, and most necessary one being to believe in only one true God, to love Him and obey Him in all ways, and to do everything contained in His Holy and Immaculate Law.

One point of interest is that the Ute Tribe along the West side of Utah Lake was reported to have facial hair. This group of Utes was referred to as the Timpanogos tribe. “In terms of physical appearance, the Utes are a handsome people, often short and stocky with darker complexions than many other Native Americans. One notable characteristic of the adjacent Phavant and Timpanogos bands was that their men sometimes wore beards and mustaches, a rarity among the Native Americans, most of whom plucked out any disfiguring facial hair.”_[2] “They possess good features, and most of them are fully bearded.”_[4] The illustration below is of Old Elk, a member of the Timpanogos Tribe of Utes. Old Elk was involved in the war at Fort Utah (Provo), his squaw fell to her death running from the militia. Squaw peak near Provo, Utah is named after her. Notice the mustache that Old Elk is sporting.

One of the main reasons the Goshute and Ute tribes had problems with earlier settlers were differences in land ownership. “They own but little property at best, and the Indian has no word signifying rich or poor in its ordinary sense – that is having much or little property, but when an Indian says, ‘I am Rich,’ he means, ‘I have many friends,’ or I am poor: I have but few.'”_[2] This fact is illustrated by this story told by Lewis Barney in his diary. This event did not occur in Cedar Valley but was close to Spanish Fork. In that area, it was common practice for the settlers to allow the Indigenous People to glean in their fields.

“It so happened that Several Squaws got on to one of the pieces that the owner refused the privilege. They had gleaned and thrashed about half bushel of wheat before they was discovered by the owner. As soon as he discovered it He went out to them and took their wheat and Scattered it over the ground and order[ed] the Squaws off. They went of[f] to their Camp Crying. I happened to be in the field. Soon after I saw Grosepene, one of the Indian Chiefs, Coming from the wickiups in quite a hurry towards me. I knew Something was wrong with him. I waited till he Came up. (At this time I Could under Stand a little of the Indians tongue.) He said, “this is our land and this is our water, our grass, our valleys, and this is our wheat. I will have this field and this wheat. Mormon whip my Squaw. Mormons want to do like Mericats; whip kill and take Utah land, Utah water, and Utah grass. you rob our sqauws and throw away their wheat. me kill you.” at this he Cocked his rifle. As his rifle was a long barreled rifle he had to spep [sic] back a little so he Could shoot. I was in about 3 feet from him. As soon a[s] he stept back to shoot I Sprung forward and Caught his rifle by the brick And had as good hold of the rifle as the Jensen: Latter-day Saint Relations with Utah’s Native Americans23Indian. he jerked me around and I jerked him around for two or three minutes. I Could not get the gun from him. neither Could he get it from me. Here I had a Struggle with a large and stout Indian for life. after he got out of wind and found I had the best of the scuffle he gave up [and] Stood a minute eyeing me. finely he Said, “let us be ticaboo,” and began to laugh. we then agreed to be friends each holding his grip on the gun. I told him to send the Squaws into the fields and glean all they wanted to and they should not be molested. he then was satisfied and promised to be ticaboo with the mormons. So I made a treaty of peace with the Indian Chief while we Clutched the rifle that was in the hands of the Indian. I then then [sic] let go [of] the riffle and he went off to his wickeup Satisfied and Sent the Squaws to the field again to glean. I reported what I had done to the Bishop and requested him to use his influence with the Brethren to let the squaws have the privilege of gleaning in the fields.

It should be noted that the Cedar Valley was effected with two wars between the Indigenous People and settlers. Those wars were the Walker War and the Tintic War. “When the Walker War broke out in the spring of 1853, all the settlers of Cedar Valley moved to Lehi, in order to be safe against Indian depredations. This move took place April 27, 1853, and the settlers remained in Lehi until June 25, 1853, when they returned to their homes in Cedar Valley. The settlers evacuated Cedar Valley a second time July 28, 1853, as the Indian hostilities continued. Part of the people set up temporary homes along the Jordan River. They moved back to their homes Septebmer 7, 1853” [Source]

“In 1856, the Indians stole many cattle and horses in Cedar Valley. On Feb. 21st they killed two herdsmen (Washington Carson and Henry Moran) west of Utah Lake, and on the 22nd a posse of ten men with legal writs called at an Indian camp in Cedar Valley to arrest the murderers. A fight ensued in which one Indian a squaw were killed and George Carson, one of the posse, mortally wounded. He died the next day. On the 23rd Gov. Brigham Young, by proclamation, ordered out part of the Utah Militia to fight the Indians. This difficulty with the natives is known in history as the Tintic War.”_[3]

Memories Of The Past

“Eli Weeks Jr. recalled playing outside the [Cedar] fort enclosure and racing for the fort when Indians were sighted. he said they often fell down or stubbed their bare toes on rocks in the eagerness to get inside. The community was very apprehensive about Indians. He recalled seeing the haystacks of the local families burning by fire set by Indians.”_[3] “Also found in many of the homes are vast collections of arrowheads. over the years as gardens were plowed or buildings erected, when the ground was turned over, an abundant supply of arrowheads was turned over with the earth. It was believed that the Indians also had a village where the town [Cedar Fort] now stands. many beautiful arrowhead specimens from small one inch, to some five and six inches long, have been uncovered. Another interesting historical glimpse was found on the high ledges of the mountain west of the community. Here are found Indian carvings which tell their story in the stone.”_[5] There was one recorded incident when two Goshute tribe members killed two residents of Cedar Fort. I have talked about this story in an earlier article and will not cover it now. If you would like to read it, it can be found here: Murders in Pole Canyon and Utah’s First Execution

“Henry Franklin Hacking, son of John Sampson hacking recalls in the early days of the towns settlement that when the Indians returns in the fall, they would turn their horses into the Cedar Fort fields to pasture when residents had harvested their crops. often the Indians would camp nearby in their wigwams. The Indian children and the white children often played together. The white mothers sometimes became discouraged because their children often collected vermin in their hair as they sat in the wigwams with their friends. A fine tooth comb was kept on hand, and the boys had to submit to a thorough combing each day to prevent the lice getting started in their hair. The white boys furnished marbles for the Indian boys to shoot at with their bows and arrows. They let the Indians have all the marbles they could hit. The white and Indian boys both became quite proficient at this game. They also wrestled together.”_[3]

“The Indians from many tribes would gather for the ‘Scalp Dance‘ that was held in the valley. They would plant a pole about 10 feet tall in the center of an area with two boards nailed to its top. From these boards they hung the scalps of white people they had taken. The young braves stripped to their breech clothes and moccasins, painted their bodies, and then dance around the pole. They would yell and twist their bodies various ways. On this night, they had scalps with short hair, and hair to about two feet in lengths. Some hair was blond, light and dark brown, black and white. What a frightening experience! It is hard to imagine the danger these early settlers endured. On another occasion, some of the early settlers watched the Indians do a scalp dance. The Indians disapproved of any outsider watching this ceremony. Some of the witnesses were Nelson Merkley, Mornoni Fisher, Charles Glines, John S. Hackings, Frank Dayton, Jane Clark and Serena White. They were chased back to their homes with tomahawks and flashing knives.”_[3]

There are also reports of some of the Goshutes mining in the area by Cedar Fort. “It seemed as if General Patrick E. Connor had brought his California volunteers to the Utah Territory to open up these mineral deposits, rather than oversee the territory and maintain the law and order among the Indians and the Mormons. Their garrison was located at Camp Douglas in the Salt Lake Valley, but in the mid 1860′ s they were out in Rush Valley checking on the settlements, when they heard that the Indians were using homemade rifle slugs and and ornaments said to be made of silver and lead. Immediately, the soldiers realized there could be a “bonanza in them thar’ mountains”. Before long, they had tracked the source to some out croppings and crude Indian mines in East Canyon, and also on the western slopes of the Oquirrh Mountains.”_[3] The Hacking family operated a store in Cedar Fort. It was said that the Utes and Goshutes would “patronize his store.” “An interesting story is told by the Hacking family of an experience in this store. It seems at one time, among the merchandise of the store were two red felt hats that just didn’t sell. Finally, Brother Hacking gave them to two Indians when they came to the store. Often around town they were seen proudly wearing those two red hats.”_[3]

“One night during a bad storm an Indian Chief came to Johns home and asked for shelter. He took him in and fed him and let him sleep on the floor. A few days later John, his wife and small son were going for a load of poles. About seven miles west of Lehi a band of Indians stopped them and tried to take their food. John hit them with his whip. This made them angry and they drew back their arrows to shoot. The old Indian Chief made them stop. He was the same Indian that had been given shelter at the Hacking home._[3] John’s daughter, Caroline, told of this incident:

“One night during a bad storm, an Indian chief came to their home and asked for shelter. They took him and fed him, then allowed him to sleep on the kitchen floor near the fire. “Sometime later John decided to go to Pole Canyon in the hills west of Cedar Fort for a load of poles, taking Jane and their small boy, James, about four months old, along to visit her mother while he got the poles. So, tying a roll of bedding on the runner gear of the wagon and placing a loaf of bread in a sack and tying it on also, they started out with their ox team. As they were going through the low hills between Utah Valley and Cedar Valley, about seven miles from Lehi, a small band of Indians swooped down from a knoll to the north and they demanded food. Badly frightened, Jane begged her husband to give them the loaf of bread. This he refused to do, so the Indians began spearing the oxen with arrows. “An old Indian chief was following in the rear and he kept yelling at them and gesticulating for them to stop and come back, but they ignored him. One Indian tried to grab the loaf of bread and got a lash with the bull whip for his pains. At that the Indians drew back their arrows as if to shoot, but the yells of the old chief were so persistent that they finally decided to heed him. After spearing the oxen again they turned and rode back the way they came. “The frightened animals ran until their tongues hung down from exhaustion before they were finally brought under control. The old chief turned out to be the same Indian that had been given shelter in the Hacking home. Jane, scared out of her wits, had a hard time holding on to her baby and clinging to her precarious position on the roll of bedding. “A day or two later, John was at his mother’s home when some Indians came there to beg. Among them was one who kept his blanket around him, only his eyes being uncovered. John made a quick move and jerked away the blanket. There was a great welt across the Indian’s cheek where he had been slashed with the bull whip. The Indians lost no time in getting away from there.” [John Sampson Hacking – Historical Sketch (1954) Printed in “John Sampson Hacking Family Bulletin, No. 1, 1954”]

“Henry Hacking tells that when one little Indian boy died, the Indians choked his horse to death slowly because the boy died of a lingering sickness. With him they buried his saddle, a bridle, a loaf of bread, twenty five cents and a can of water. For a long time the squaws of the camp came every evening at sunset to his grave. They stood in a long, long line where they wailed and mourned for him.”_[3] Mable Cook Smith a resident of Cedar Fort had this to tell. “My childhood memories are of the Indians that camped in my grandfather’s yard, the New Year’s Basket dances, sleigh riding, the Thrashers that came once a year and meals mother cooked for them. I have fond memories of our orchards, with cherries, apples, peaches and the tall grass we would play in for hours”_[3]

The history of Samuel Allen Wilcox, Martha Parker and Annie Peterson includes this account. “Martha Wilcox was president of the Primary for many years and did a good deal of good in that line She was also second counselor in the Relief Society. But perhaps her most outstanding work was among me Indians. She had a school for them at her home and taught them to read and write and do simple problems in arithmetic. How they did love her! When an Indian came to die village her first act was to call on the “Big Squaw” as they called her. She always cooked a fine meal for them and treated them as honored guests. At one time when traveling from Southern Utah with her son Joseph and her small granddaughter, Martha, daughter of her eldest son, John, they met a young Indian on horseback who stared at them in such a way that the child became frightened. The Indian went on for a short distance then whirled and came back just tickled to death. He had recognized Martha Parker Wilcox. He had been one of her little Indian pupils. He begged her to go with him to his home, saying, “I’m no damned Indian, my wife cooks on a stove.” (Martha Hacking’s story.) At the dedication of the temple John and his son, Oswel were walking down die street when an old squaw saw them and said, “Big Squaw’s papoose.” One Indian name Stujo lived with the Wilcox’s for many years until he went to Bear Lake. He stayed with Phebe for some time, but worked for Quayles who had moved there from Cedar Fort” Annie Peterson had a large apple orchard and raised many good apples. “For many years the Indians who were passing through town would stop and camp by her fence and pick the sweet apples. She always gave them, as well as all the kids in town, all Annie wanted. Her only rale was that they not disturb the bird nest in the trees”_[3]