History of Goshute Indians of Utah

Taken from the Utah History Encyclopedia. (Links Added)

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The Goshutes exemplify the historic Great Basin desert way of life perhaps better than does any other group because of the nature of their territory. Organized primarily in nuclear families, the Goshutes hunted and gathered in family groups and would often cooperate with other family groups that usually made up a village. Hunting of large game was usually done by men; women and children gathered plants, seeds, and insects. A hunter shared large game with other members of the village, but the family was able to provide for most of its needs without assistance.

The harsh desert conditions and paucity of material and cultural wealth helped to isolate the Goshutes from the white onslaught until a fairly late date. Spanish and later Mexican slavers may have entered the Goshute domain in search of captives, but it was not until 1826 that white incursion into the Goshute homeland was first documented. The journal of Jedediah Smith gives the first written description of the Goshute domain, made while Smith and two companions were on their return trip from California to Bear Lake. For the next two decades white contact with the Goshutes remained sporadic and insignificant. Only after the arrival of the Mormons in 1847 did the Goshutes come into continual and prolonged contact with whites.

After the Mormons, a myriad of emigrants, settlers, and government agents came to the Goshutes' land. The Pony Express, the Overland Stage, and the transcontinental telegraph all ran through Goshute country bringing many white people into the land and contributing to the Indians' problems of survival. The Mormons established communities at Tooele, Grantsville, and Ibapah--all important Goshute sites. The military established Camp Floyd (Fairfield), while the Pony Express and Overland Stage set up stations along a line between Fairfield, Simpson Springs, Fish Springs, and Deep Creek. Ranchers and farmers moved into the region, taking the best lands available with water and forage.