Chipeta: Queen of the Utes

Chipeta: Queen of the Utes is a biography of the wife of Chief Ouray, written by P. David Smith and Cynthia Simmelink Becker. It looks at a woman who outlived her husband by almost half a century, and at how she was treated during those years.

The description is candid about the hard parts. For a time Chipeta was ignored, forgotten and even cheated by white settlers. Yet right after Ouray's death many suitors courted her, and men wrote poetry about her. In her old age, the whites honored her again on many special occasions.

The book also gives a personal picture. Chipeta could not have children of her own, but she adopted many orphaned Utes. She played the guitar well, sang beautifully in three languages, and was known for exquisite beadwork. The description names what may be her greatest legacy: through everything that happened to her she did not become embittered, and stayed a humble, caring, loving person. Open Library lists the book at 278 pages, published in 2003.

This biography is for readers of Colorado and Ute history, and for anyone who wants the story of a woman who is often mentioned only beside her husband. It suits school and library collections on Native American women, and families who visit Ute history sites. It is a life story, so it works for general readers as well as those who already know the outline of Ouray's life. Teachers may find the personal details useful for discussion.

The book is credited to P. David Smith and Cynthia Simmelink Becker. Smith also wrote a biography of Ouray that Western Reflections published as a later paperback. Open Library lists Cynthia S. Becker among the authors of a later Chipeta book, Chipeta: Ute Peacemaker, from 2008. Each of them has an author page on this site that you can read next.

More about P. David Smith and Cynthia Simmelink Becker →

Chipeta was born in 1843 or 1844, according to Wikipedia, and was raised among the Uncompahgre Utes in what is now Conejos, Colorado. Wikipedia says she became the second wife of Chief Ouray in 1859, when she was about sixteen. Ouray led the Tabeguache (Uncompahgre) band in western Colorado and favored negotiated agreements over armed resistance.

In 1880 the Ute delegation went to Washington, D.C., and on March 7 Chipeta testified before a congressional inquiry into the 1879 Meeker Massacre. That year the Ute Removal Act forced the White River and Uncompahgre Utes to move to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah. Ouray died in August 1880, leaving Chipeta a widow with decades ahead of her.

She died on August 9, 1924, at Bitter Creek, Utah. On March 15, 1925, she was reburied at what is now Ouray Memorial Park, part of the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, Colorado, where about 5,000 people attended a memorial service. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985. Sources differ on some dates, so we give those that appear on the page cited.

Source: Wikipedia: Chipeta