[1][4] As a result of American westward expansion, the Utes now possess only a small fraction of the land that they once traveled seasonally.

Initial exploration of the American Southwest by the Spanish occurred in 1540, but Spaniards didn't settle into present day New Mexico until 1598.

The Utes brought buckskin, dried meats, furs, and slaves to exchange for horses, knives, and blankets.

[6] In search of gold, Juan de Rivera made three expeditions between 1761 and 1765 from Taos through southwestern Colorado to the Gunnison River.

[7] On July 29, 1776 two Franciscan priests, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and eight men left Santa Fe to conduct an expedition through Ute territory to find a route to Spanish missions in California.

They traveled through western Colorado and Utah, documenting the "lush, mountainous land filled with game and timber, strange ruins of stone cities and villages, and rivers showing signs of precious metals."

Beset by hunger and illness, the men turned back at Salt Lake Valley and returned to Santa Fe.

[6] In 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican–American War and New Mexico and southern Colorado are ceded to the United States.

[6] In the 1870s, Utes were pushed to the western part of the state of Colorado and held just a small portion of their land in Utah.

[6] In 1880, a year after the Meeker Massacre, a Ute delegation, including Chief Ouray, went to Washington, D.C. to negotiate a treaty.

[6] The tribe moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897 (they were led by Chief Ignacio, for whom the eastern capital is named).

The reservation lands consist of Sleeping Ute Mountain, the Mancos River and canyons, a high mesas and semi-desert grassland.

In addition, there are two maintained gravel roads, one that follows the Mancos River Canyon and another from Towaoc to the Cache oilfield and Aneth, Utah, and off-road trails.

Hundreds of surface sites, cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and wall paintings of Ancestral Puebloan and Ute cultures are preserved in the park.

Native American Ute tour guides provide background information about the people, culture and history who lived in the park lands.