History of Paiute Indians of Utah

The Paiutes filed for the land that they had lost to the Anglo settlers with the Indian Claims Commission in 1951 and were awarded 27 cents per acre in 1965. Distribution of the award money began in 1971. In 1972 the Utah Paiute Tribal Corporation was incorporated and 113 HUD housing units were built at Richfield, Joseph, Shivwits, and the Cedar City area between 1976 and 1989.

Efforts toward restoration of federal status began in 1973 when petitions were circulated among the bands calling for the federal government to again recognize the Paiutes. This became a reality on 3 April 1980 when President Carter signed legislation that restored federal recognition and called for the Secretary of the Interior to present legislation for a Paiute reservation to Congress by 3 April 1982. On 17 February 1984 the Paiutes received 4,470 acres of poor BLM land scattered throughout southwestern Utah and a $2.5 million fund from which they could draw interest for economic development and tribal services. In recent years they have built new houses, operated two sewing factories, and dramatically improved their health care and educational opportunities.

See: Pamela Bunte and Robert Franklin, From the Sands to the Mountain: Change and Persistence in a Southern Paiute Community (1987); Isabel Kelly and Catherine Fowler, Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 11 (1986); Martha Knack, Life Is With People: Household Organization of the Contemporary Southern Paiute Indians (1980); and Ronald L. Holt, Beneath These Red Cliffs: An Ethnohistory of the Utah Paiutes (1992).

Ronald L. Holt