Opinion: Tribes help document historic wickiup sites in Colorado

The Colorado Wickiup Project is now wrapping up an 11-year study in partnership with History Colorado's State Historical Fund, the Ute tribes, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the National Forest Service under the leadership of the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group.

Team leader Curtis Martin reports that more than 84 sites were surveyed and 235 wickiups documented. Many more sites, according to History Colorado archaeologist Tom Carr, remain undiscovered.

To inspect a well-documented wickiup, check out the Ute Museum in Montrose. "I'm proud of this project done in consultation with the Ute tribes," said Ernest House Jr., a Ute Mountain Ute now serving as Colorado commissioner of Indian Affairs. "This is a great resource shining more light on how the Utes lived and moved around Colorado."

House's great-grandfather, Jack House, was the last traditional chief of the Ute Mountain Utes from 1936 until his death in 1971. He is commemorated at the state Capitol in a stained glass window in the old Supreme Court chambers, a portrait that Ernest House says he visits when contemplating the problems and possibilities of his people.