Treaty with the Ute (Kit Carson Treaty), 1868
The 1868 Kit Carson treaty set aside the western third of Colorado for the Ute bands and had them release claims elsewhere.
- Signed
- March 2, 1868
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 19 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 3.7 million acres
- Promises
- 1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
What happened
What happened
On March 2, 1868, in Washington, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Nathaniel G. Taylor, Colorado Governor Alexander C. Hunt and Kit Carson signed a treaty with representatives of seven Ute bands. The bands were the Tabaquache, Muache, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River and Uintah. Article 1 extended the provisions of the 1863 Tabeguache treaty to the other bands.
Article 2 set apart a district of Colorado Territory from the 107th meridian west to the territory's western boundary. It was reserved for "the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" of the named bands. Article 3 had the Utes relinquish "all claims and rights in and to any portion of the United States or Territories" outside it. Article 4 provided for two agencies, one on White River and one on the Rio de los Pinos.
Article 16 said no cession of reservation land would be valid unless signed by at least three-fourths of the adult male Utes interested in it.
The Colorado Encyclopedia says the 1868 treaty put the San Juan Mountains inside a reservation that took in almost the entire western third of Colorado. It says prospectors and miners entered anyway, and that the 1873 Brunot Agreement took 3.7 million acres of the reservation. It adds that the Utes were eventually force-marched to Utah in 1881.
What was promised, and what happened
- Broken
No one except authorized persons would ever settle in the reserved Colorado district. (Art. 2)
Although off limits to non-Indians, prospectors and miners entered the region.
coloradoencyclopedia.org
Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error
What the sources say, and how this was checked
Well supported by the sources below.
relinquish all claims and rights in and to any portion of the United States or Territories, except such as are embraced in the limits defined
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Ute, 1868unless executed and signed by at least three-fourths of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Ute, 1868the United States agree to establish two agencies on the reservation
Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Ute, 1868The Treaty of 1868 put the San Juan Mountains within a Ute reservation that encompassed almost the entire western third of Colorado.
Colorado Encyclopedia: Brunot Agreementtaking 3.7 million acres (about 5,780 square miles) from the Ute Reservation in western Colorado
Colorado Encyclopedia: Brunot Agreement
Research notes. The cited sources do not state an acreage for the 1868 reservation.
What the treaty did to the land
About 19 million acres given up. about 3.7 million acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 19 million acres
Land of the Uta (Tabeguache, Muache, Capote, Weeminuchi, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah bands) in Colorado and Utah, ceded 1868 (area 515)
Given up by the Uta bands in the March 1868 treaty, which gave up all claim to their land outside the new reservation, in Colorado and Utah.
Linked to this treatyabout 11 million acres
Land of the Uta in Colorado, recorded 1868 (area 616)
set aside as a reservationabout 3.7 million acres
Land of the Uta in Colorado, ceded 1873 (area 566)
Set apart as part of the Uta reservation by the 1868 treaty, then ceded in a September 1873 agreement ratified in April 1874; a 4-mile-square tract in the Uncompahgre Valley was kept in 1876.
Linked to this treatyabout 977,000 acres
Land of the Uta in Colorado, recorded 1868 (area 617)
What happened next
Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.
- 1868
This treaty
About 19 million acres ceded to the United States by the Uta (Tabeguache, Muache, Capote, Weeminuchi, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah bands). About 3.7 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Uta
The 1868 Kit Carson treaty set aside the western third of Colorado for the Ute bands and had them release claims elsewhere.
- 1872
Land record
About 3.7 million acres named in the record
The 1899 record: “Secretary of the Interior authorized to negotiate with Utes for cession of the S. part of their reservation by treaty of Mar. 2, 1868”
- 1873
Land lost
About 3.7 million acres ceded to the United States by the Uta
By Brunot Agreement with the Ute, 1873-74
- 1873
Related agreement
Brunot Agreement with the Ute, 1873-74
In 1873 the Ute relinquished the San Juan Mountains for a $25,000 yearly fund; Congress ratified the Brunot Agreement on April 29, 1874.
- 1873
Promise broken
Ute: the 1868 Colorado reservation, Brunot (1873), the 1880 Act, 1881 removal, and Hagen v. Utah (1994)
An 1868 treaty gave the Ute most of western Colorado and barred outsiders; cessions in 1873 and 1880 and removal in 1881 followed.
- 1874
Land record
Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Uta
The 1899 record: “Ratifies agreement with Uta of Sept. 13, 1873, for cession of a portion of their reserve by treaty Mar. 2, 1868”
- 1876
Land record
About 3.7 million acres named in the record
The 1899 record: “President declares a tract in Uncompahgre valley to be a portion of Ute reservation, in accordance with agreement ratified Apr. 29, 1874”
- 1994
In court
Hagen v. Utah
Congress diminished the Uintah Reservation when it opened land to settlers in 1905, so Utah had criminal jurisdiction in Myton.
- 2016
Related history
Bears Ears National Monument Proclamation (Obama)
Proclamation 9558 in December 2016 created Bears Ears National Monument on about 1.35 million acres and a commission of five tribes.
- 2017
Related history
Bears Ears reductions and restoration (2017 and 2021)
Bears Ears was cut by about 1.15 million acres in 2017 and restored to about 1.36 million acres in 2021.
- 2017
Related history
Bears Ears National Monument (2016-2026): designation, reductions, restoration and the July 2026 action (context, not a treaty claim)
Bears Ears was set at 1.35 million acres in 2016, cut in 2017, enlarged in 2021, cut in 2026.
- 2026
Related history
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Proclamations (Trump)
July 2026 proclamations cut Bears Ears to 121,096 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante to 181,541 acres, and ended the tribal commission.
- Date unknown
Related history
Ute Indian Tribe and Utah trust land disputes
The Ute Tribe alleges Utah blocked its trust-land bids; HCN reports a 2024 law eases sales to the state wildlife agency.
The law behind it
The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.
Legal doctrine
criminal jurisdiction
Who may prosecute a crime in Indian country depends on who the offender and victim are and where it happened.
Legal doctrine
diminishment
Only Congress can shrink a reservation, and courts require a clear statement; Solem, Hagen and Parker show how that test works.
Legal doctrine
disestablishment
Disestablishment means Congress ended a reservation entirely; courts require clear intent from Congress, and McGirt (2020) held the Creek Reservation was never disestablished.
Who is doing the work today
The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
- Affiliated Ute Citizens of the State of Utah
- Southern Ute Indian Tribe
- Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
Working with these nations
- Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Nation government Tribal co-management and protection of Bears Ears National Monument Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Sources
Sources
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/179033894reference work
Research notes
Kappler page.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.