Shivwits Band of Paiutes
Paiutes and their inner-tribal members all gather at an annual pow-wow, where they celebrate their tribal traditions by dancing and singing and performing ceremonies to help educate their youth about who they are and where they come from.
[3] Today the Shivwits Band of Paiute Indians of Utah identify as See’veets eng, meaning "Whitish Earth People".
Typically the Shivwits people are portrayed as hunter-gatherers who sought after berries, roots and pine nuts and hunted game such as rabbits and deer.
However, excavations of two proto-historic features near the Santa Clara River provide evidence of Southern Paiute practice of garden cultivation (horticulture) such as wheat grains and maize cob and kernel fragments.
[11] Spurred by the era of rapid expansion of settlers in the mid 19th century in Southern Utah, white settlement of the land marked the end of the Native American sovereignty and traditional lifestyle.
By 1858, these settlers, predominantly Mormons, permanently settled on Paiute lands, putting an end to the Shivwits' traditional lifestyle.
As a result, many Natives were pressed by the effects of poverty and vulnerability, and often, many women and children would turn to roles of servitude to the new settlers in order to support themselves.
Within Savage’s historic photograph, is pictured Chief Qui-Tuss, or “Burning Fire,” standing in the water, preparing to be baptized by Bishop Daniel McArthur.
[12] In the late 1880’s, a rancher named Anthony W. Ivins began efforts to convince the federal government that the Shivwits Band of Southern Paiutes should be moved to an area along the Santa Clara river.
And although in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued an order to expand the reservation to 26,880 acres, the land was still too resource poor for the Shivwits to survive, so they were dependent on the federal government.
With inadequate income to meet their needs, the Paiutes could also not afford to pay property taxes, and lost about 15,000 acres of former reservation lands.
Like most Native American tribes during the termination era, the Shivwits began to suffer from diminishing pride in their cultural heritage.
[17] Unlike other Paiute groups, the Shivwits retained ownership of their lands after termination and leased them to ranchers, instead of selling them outright.
In 2003, the Shivwits received water rights for 4,000 acre-feet (4,900,000 m3) annually, enabling the tribe to create new economic development projects.
[14] A significant concern for the Shivwits is the rapid development of the surrounding land in Washington County, and its impact on the ancient history of the Paiute nations.
It passed with a vote of 31 in favor and 14 opposed, and following the approval of Ronal Eden, director of the Office of Tribal Services, was officially adopted.
