This was the Place: The Darker Side of Mormon Zion Rating :
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
History of a people in turmoil
By hrladyship
This Was the Place is the story of the fate of the Indians of Utah and Colorado in the 1800s. Like many Native American tribes, the Utes, Goshutes, and related tribes, were pushed from one piece of land to another, made promises by the government that were never kept, and were ignored when they were hungry and poor and their ability to feed themselves had been taken away from them.
Weicks gives a well-researched, detailed account of the machinations of government, civilians, military, and Indians as all jockeyed for position. He has used primary and secondary sources, and interviews with historians and experts of today. It's an intelligent accounting of who was there and the sequence of events.
Anyone interested in the history of Utah and Colorado, the tribes living in that area, and relations between white and Indian, will find this book of great interest.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.Not only the Mormons
By George T. Muller
This is a great book about Native Americans and not only what the Mormons did to them but also that the US Government was complicit in the illegal takeover of the Native Lands. The Mormons couldn't have done all the book proclaims if the government interceded and kept the treaties from being violated by the Mormons, the prospectors and all the other land grabbers moving onto the Native Indian lands. It is a very informative book about the takeover of the territory but also the massive violation of Indian rights and the desecration of their livelihood.
The book also puts some of our cherished Presidents with the help of Congress in a bad light. They allowed and decreed that treaties be broken to enable greedy prospectors, Mormons, cattlemen, The US Military, to have not only access on the land cherished by Native Americans but to drive them off their own lands. Utah is not the only areas in the West where the land was confiscated from people who lived on, protected and cherished the land for centuries before the "White Eyes" appeared on the scene. The scene is repeated time and time again. This book covers only a small section of Utah.
The book could be improved by the addition of maps of the describe areas. I need and atlas of the area to see just where things were happening.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.Accurate historical account of Anglo and Ute interaction
By Kerry Brinkerhoff
Having grown up in Utah my brain was filled with positive stories of Mormon and American Indian relations. It would not until many years later, when I started researching local American Indian information, that my eyes were widely open to the myth of my childhood education.
I met Gary Weicks several years ago when he was compiling a manuscript from the intensive research he had done. It started as a project for a Forest Service archeological dig in the Strawberry Valley. He was researching for information on the Army maneuvers held there in 1888. However, it became very intriguing to him to read of the Ute interactions that were written in Army reports. It took him on a new adventure researching the history of the Ute and this adventure took many fascinating twists.
As I read the book it seemed there was a new twist every few pages. It definitely gives you a new look on Ute and Anglo interactions. I believe a book like this is way overdue. It's time to bury the myths of the past and teach the true facts of Utah history.
This is a must read book for anyone who is interested in the old west, military, Mormon, Utah or Native American history. The book also spends time telling about the Lost Rhoades Mines Legend and the early miners of the area. It reveals the comprehensive story of a previously unpublished chapter in Utah history.
Weicks states that, "For over 400 years before the Mormon arrival in 1847, many of the Northern Utes and their preto historic ancestors lived in relative peace and stability within the territory currently encompassing much of Utah. In less than twenty years of settlement by the Brethren in their newest Land of Zion, the collective authorities of the Mormon Church, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Army convinced Congress to officially dispossess these Northern Utes of all their traditional and best lands except for the sprawling and considerably barren wastes of the Uintah Reservation located in northeastern Utah. By Church Prophet and President Brigham Young's own accounting, several bands of these original first contact Indians - through starvation, pestilence and white inspired epidemics - had experienced somewhere between a 90% to 99% mortal attrition rate in their numbers by 1867."
He goes on to say that, "In the mid-1870s Brigham Young, searching for new areas to colonize with land-seeking church members, began a policy that actively encouraged the Utes to depopulate their reservation where treatment by BIA officials over the years was poor and inefficient. Through the Church leader's ability to significantly control both Indian movements and affairs in Utah, Brigham began quiet efforts to induce Congress to throw open the Uintah Reservation to homesteading. Though the soil was largely infertile, the valuable water, timber and grazing resources of the country were coveted by the surrounding Latter Day faithful as well as the large cattle companies."
Brigham Youngs death slowed down this progress. Problems in Colorado with the Ute pushed many Colorado Ute tribes into Utah in the late 1870s.
In the 1880s mining interests on the Uintah and Uncompahgre Reservations gave another push to move the Utes off their reservations. The depression of 1893 renewed this push.
Weicks said, "In 1897, when the great Klondike Gold Rush began in Canada, Americans were caught up in the frenzy of seizing the moment and embracing the chance of renewed wealth regardless of the ravages of the lingering depression. Additional strikes in Alaska in 1899 and 1902 inspired an entire nation to get swept away in the gold fever so prevalent, especially in the West. Old mining tales, such as the Lost Rhoades Mines Legend centered on the Uintah Reservation, were resurrected and received serious attention throughout Utah and surrounding states. These wild stories of incredible riches sustained additional forward momentum to throw open the Uintah Reservation shortly after the turn of the century."
I found This Was the Place: The Darker Side of Mormon Zion to be written passionately and with a folksy wit making it enjoyable reading. It is written in a way that makes it easygoing and hard to lay down.
Product Description
For over 400 years before the Mormon arrival in 1847, many of the Northern Utes and their protohistoric ancestors lived in relative peace and stability within the territory currently encompassing much of Utah. In less than twenty years of settlement by the brethren in their newest Land of Zion, the collective authorities of the Mormon Church, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Army convinced Congress to officially dispossess these Northern Utes of all their traditional and best lands except for the sprawling and considerably barren wastes of the Uintah Reservation located in northeastern Utah. By Church Prophet and President Brigham Young's own accounting, several bands of these original first contact Indians - through starvation, pestilence and white inspired epidemics - had experienced somewhere between a 90% to99% mortal attrition rate in their numbers by 1867.In the mid-1870s Brigham Young, searching for new areas to colonize with land seeking church members, began a policy that actively encouraged the Utes to depopulate their reservation where treatment by BIA officials over the years was poor and inefficient. Through the Church leader's ability to significantly control both Indian movements and affairs in Utah, Brigham began quiet efforts to induce Congress to throw open the Uintah Reservation to homesteading. Though the soil was largely infertile, the valuable water, timber and grazing resources of the country were coveted by the surrounding Latter Day faithful as well as the large cattle companies.Brigham Young's death in 1877 temporarily slowed this movement. In 1879BIA Agent Nathan Meeker's heavy-handed policy of forcing the White River band of Northern Utes in Colorado to become sedentary farmers resulted in a tragedy of bloodshed since known to history as the Meeker Massacre. The fallout of this massacre witnessed several bands of Colorado Northern Utes exiled to Utah. The consolidated White River band located on the Uintah Reservation while the more popu
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #3966218 in Books
- Published on: 2002-12-19
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.90" h x5.93" w x.97" l,1.30 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 412 pages
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