Fragile Treaties
by Faye Roberts
During the 1870s, two cultures were on a dangerous collision course with destiny. The Ute Indian and the white man both wanted the same thing, to occupy the Shining Mountains in southwestern Colorado, but for conflicting reasons.
- Published
- 2001
- ISBN
- 978-1-890437-62-6
- Pages
- 336
- Place
- Colorado
- Publisher
- Western Reflections Pub.
- Listed at
- $12.95
Publication details from Open Library. The price shown is the last one on record and is historic, not a current offer.
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About this book
Fragile Treaties is a novel set in the 1870s, when the Ute people and white settlers both wanted the Shining Mountains of southwestern Colorado. The book's description says the two cultures were on a collision course with destiny and wanted the same land for conflicting reasons.
A bookshop listing from the Uintah County Heritage Museum adds that the story follows the Utes' forced departure from Colorado, told through Colonel Samuel Bodeen and his wife Chipeta. It says three treaties had promised the Utes western Colorado, and it names broken promises, betrayal, greed and deceit among the subjects, together with forgiveness and a bond between people of two very different cultures.
The catalogue lists the book as fiction, with the subject headings Ute Indians and the treatment of Indians, and gives a first-edition year of 2001.
Who it is for
Fragile Treaties will interest readers who want the removal of the Colorado Utes told as a story rather than as a case study. The subject headings point to Ute history and the treatment of Native Americans, and the museum listing places it among Native American history books in its store. Because the book is a novel, its characters, including Colonel Bodeen, belong to the story. For the documented record, the Ute history sources below are a separate place to check.
Ways to use this book
Reading the novel beside the record
Fiction and history answer different questions. After the novel, read the Brunot Agreement article to see how the 1873 land cession is described, then decide for yourself where the story and the documented events meet.
Visiting Ute history in western Colorado
The Ute Indian Museum in Montrose is a natural stop on a western slope trip. Check its page for current visiting details first, and bring any questions about Ute history to the museum staff rather than relying on a novel.
Browsing other books on the Ute and the frontier
Readers who want more on this period can look through the /library/ history shelves and the regional pages for the San Juan Mountains, then compare how different authors treat the same decade.
Go deeper
Fragile Treaties is set among the Ute people and the settlers who pressed into southwestern Colorado in the 1870s. These museums and references cover the real history behind that setting.
Ute Indian Museum, Montrose
A History Colorado museum built near the ranch of Ouray and Chipeta. According to its website, History Colorado works with the Ute Mountain Ute, Southern Ute and Uintah and Ouray tribes on its exhibits.
Brunot Agreement
A Colorado Encyclopedia article on the 1873 agreement that took 3.7 million acres from the Ute Reservation and opened the San Juan Mountains to mining.
Colorado Encyclopedia: Brunot Agreement → (opens in a new tab)
Chipeta
A short biography of the wife of Ouray, who sat on the Ute council and took part in the diplomacy of the 1870s.
Good to know
Is Fragile Treaties a true story?
What period does it cover?
What happened to the Utes in Colorado?
Where can I buy it?
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