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29-683: The range is named for the Pahvant tribe, a branch of the Ute people . The tallest peak is Mine Camp Peak at 10,222 feet (3,116 m). Most of the land in the Pavant range is part of Fishlake National Forest . Richfield lies in the Sevier River valley to the southeast of the range and Fillmore lies in the Pavant Valley along the northwest side of the range. The Pavant Range merges into

58-435: A fine. They were brought to a penitentiary near Salt Lake City , but escaped five days later. It was reported that Mormons played a part in their release. Mormon settlement had reduced access to Ute hunting and gathering grounds. Fish, wildfowl, and native plants were reduced in number. The Mormons brought diseases to which Utes had no immunity and their population was significantly depleted. Grasshoppers and drought destroyed

87-584: A group of Pahvant Utes attacked the camp. They killed Gunnison and seven men with bows and arrows and rifles. Following negotiations with U.S. military and the Mormons, in February 1855 Kanosh arranged for one woman and six men to stand trial for the murder of Gunnison and his men. They were found guilt of Murder in the Second Degree, with three of the tried to be sentenced to three years hard labor and

116-668: A group of Pahvant Utes killed John Williams Gunnison and seven of his men during his exploration of the area. The bodies of water of their homeland were dried up after Mormons had diverted the water for irrigation. Having intermarried with the Paiutes , they were absorbed into the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah and relocated to reservations. Pahvants lived west of the Wasatch Range in the Pavant Range towards

145-654: A route for a Pacific railroad between the 38th and 39th parallels . The surveying party left St. Louis, Missouri , in June 1853 and arrived by mid-October in Manti , Utah Territory . In Utah Territory, with Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith as assistant commander, Gunnison began the survey of a possible route, surveying areas across the Rocky Mountains via the Huerfano River , through Cochetopa Pass , and by way of

174-490: A state of suffering, bordering on starvation. In this situation some of the most daring and desperate approach the settlements and demand compensation for their lands, where upon the slightest pretexts, they are shot down or driven to the mountains." Brigham Young 's response to Holeman's charge was to deny it and advise Mormons that it was "cheaper to feed Indians than fight them." Young established three farm reserves for local tribes, which became more like feeding stations after

203-544: A year in the campaign against the Seminoles . Due to his poor health he was reassigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers the next year. Initially he explored unknown areas of Florida, searching for provision routes. However, his health soon forced him out of Florida entirely. From 1841 to 1849 Gunnison explored the area around the Great Lakes . He surveyed the border between Wisconsin and Michigan ,

232-436: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pahvant The Pahvant or Pahvants ( Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits ) were a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers . In the 18th century they were known to be friendly and attentive, but after a chief's father was killed by emigrating white settlers,

261-571: The Kaibab Paiute , and intermarried with neighboring Goshute and Southern Paiute . Their hunting and gathering grounds extended west to the present-day border of Utah and Nevada. They camped in six villages during the winter season. The hunted waterfowl and fished along the Sevier River and hunted deer in the mountains. They gathered roots, berries, and pine nuts. They also farmed for many years along Corn Creek . They had horses by

290-655: The Tushar Mountains on the south. Interstate 15 crosses the extreme north end of the range at Scipio pass, near Scipio . Interstate 70 crosses at a pass between the Pavant Range and the Tushar Mountains to the south. Iron meteorite fragments with a mass of 240 grams (8.5 oz) named the Salina Meteorite were found in the Pavant Range in 1908. This article about a location in Utah

319-762: The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation and were classified as members of the Uintah tribe by the U.S. government. John Williams Gunnison John Williams Gunnison (November 11, 1812 – October 26, 1853) was an American military officer and explorer. Gunnison was born in Goshen, New Hampshire , in 1812 and attended Hopkinton Academy in Hopkinton, New Hampshire . He graduated from West Point in 1837, second in his class of fifty cadets . His military career began as an artillery officer in Florida , where he spent

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348-528: The 1855 federal appointee to the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah. She received confirmation of this belief in his response to her letter. Drummond drew this conclusion from informant and witness testimonies in several trials after the murders. He cited numerous reports by whites and natives of white attackers dressed up as Indians during the massacre. In 1854 Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe

377-771: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . When he finally returned to Washington, DC, he wrote a book titled The Mormons or Latter-Day Saints, in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake: A History of Their Rise and Progress, Peculiar Doctrines, Present Condition. Gunnison returned to the Great Lakes from 1851 to 1853, mapping the Green Bay area, and was promoted to captain on March 3, 1853. On May 3, 1853, he received orders to take charge of an expedition to survey

406-675: The Mormon's crops, so they did not have extra food to share. River water had been diverted for irrigation by the Mormons, resulting in reduced water levels at Lake Sevier and the rivers. The Pahvants and the Moanunts were absorbed into the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, some of whom lived at the Kanosh reservation, a community of a few houses located north of Kanosh, Utah , or lived off-reservation near Kanosh. Others relocated to

435-452: The Nevada border along the Sevier River in the desert around Sevier Lake and Fish Lake , therefore they called themselves Pahvant , meaning "living near the water", or "water people". The Moanunts , another Ute band, lived on the other side of Sevier River. The two bands had the same dialect, but were two distinct groups of people. In their way of living they resembled their neighbors,

464-589: The Pahvants acted alone. He wrote in his official report that the "statement which has from time to time appeared (or been copied) in various newspapers...charging the Mormons or Mormon authorities with instigating the Indians to, if not actually aiding them in, the murder of Captain Gunnison and his associates, is, I believe, not only entirely false, but there is no accidental circumstance connected with it affording

493-578: The Utes worked the farms for disappointing harvests and because it kept them from hunting, which they needed to sustain themselves. In the fall of 1853, there were a number of conflicts between emigrants to the area and the Pahvant Utes. The Utes raided several towns, killed some settlers, and stole cattle. About October 1853, some pioneers had passed through Pahvant land and were having peaceful communication until they tried to take bows and arrows away from

522-480: The Utes. A scuffle ensured and the settlers killed the father of Chief Moshoquop and wounded or killed other members of the band. Captain John Williams Gunnison had come to the area to survey the land for a transcontinental railroad. He heard of the conflict, but believed the issues had been resolved and set up camp on Sevier Lake to explore and survey the area. On the morning of October 26, 1853,

551-527: The expedition found the local Mormons "all gathered into a village for mutal protection against the Utah Indians." But after the killings, rumors circulated that the Pahvants involved in the massacre were acting under the direction of Brigham Young and an alleged secret militia known as the Danites . Some claim that leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were initially concerned that

580-427: The income for the economically depressed community. Martha Gunnison, widow of Captain Gunnison, was one of those who maintained that the attack was planned and orchestrated by militant Mormons under the direction of Brigham Young. Gunnison's letters to his wife throughout the expedition left her with the impression that "the Mormons were the directors of my husband's murder." She wrote to Associate Justice W.W. Drummond,

609-625: The massacre was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 1976. Most contemporary accounts of the massacre maintain that the Mormons warned Gunnison that his party might be in danger from local bands of Pahvant Utes. It seems that Gunnison had entered Utah in the midst of the Walker War , a sometimes bloody conflict between the Mormons and the Ute Chief Walkara . Indeed, Lt. Beckwith later wrote that

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638-766: The mid-19th century. The Pahvants and the Moanunts were visited in 1776 by the Domínguez–Escalante expedition . The Pahvants were called "Bearded Indians" and were considered friendly and attentive. About 1850, Mormons began to move into San Pete and Millard counties, taking the "most valuable lands" of the Pahvant and other tribes and plowing native plants, which resulted in periods of starvation and survival strategies that included begging for food and taking crops and livestock. The Indians have been driven from their lands and their hunting grounds destroyed without compensation wherefore they are in many instances reduced to

667-646: The present Gunnison and Green rivers to the Sevier River . His journey took him through the Tomichi Valley in Colorado , where the town of Gunnison is named in his honor. After crossing the Tomichi Valley, the survey team encountered the Black Canyon , carved by the Gunnison River which was also named in his honor. The team was forced to turn south to get around the canyon. The weather

696-486: The railway would increase the influx of non-Mormon settlers and non-Mormon economic concerns into the territory. However, the Utah Legislature (dominated by LDS officials) had repeatedly petitioned Congress for both a transcontinental railroad and telegraph lines to pass through the region. When the railroad finally came to Utah, LDS leaders organized cadres of Mormon workers to build the railway, welcoming

725-660: The slightest foundation for such a charge." Nevertheless, the Gunnison Massacre resulted in much controversy and added additional strain to the relationship between Governor Brigham Young of the Utah Territory and the federal government. This incident contributed to tensions eventually leading to the Utah War , wherein President Buchanan sent the U.S. Army to the Utah Territory in order to stop

754-569: The western coast of Lake Michigan , and the coast of Lake Erie . On May 9, 1846, he was promoted to first lieutenant . In the spring of 1849 Gunnison was assigned as second in command of the Howard Stansbury expedition to explore and survey the valley of the Great Salt Lake . That winter was particularly heavy and the expedition was unable to leave the valley. Gunnison took the opportunity to befriend some Mormons and study

783-687: Was attacked by a band of Pahvants ( Ute ). In the resulting massacre, Gunnison and seven of his men were killed. Several survivors of the attack alerted the other detachment of the survey team, who rode to aid Gunnison and his party. An additional survivor of the attack and the bodies of the victims were retrieved later that day. The remains of the eight dead were found in a mutilated state. Killed with Gunnison were Richard Hovenden Kern (topographer & artist; 1821-1853), Frederick Creutzfeldt (German botanist), William Washington Potter (Mormon guide; 1819-1853), Private Caulfield, Private Liptoote, Private Mehreens, and John Bellows (camp roustabout ). The site of

812-423: Was beginning to turn "cold and raw" with snow flurries, and Captain Gunnison sought to speed up mapping before returning to winter quarters. Several miles upstream of Sevier Lake (about the site of the present Gunnison Bend Reservoir), the team was divided into two detachments. Gunnison and his party of 11 men moved downstream, while the other party moved upstream. On the morning of October 26, 1853, Gunnison's party

841-482: Was sent by the War Department to investigate the attack and determine the truth of rumors that Mormons had colluded with the Indians in the ambush. As a result of his investigation eight Ute Indians were charged and tried for the attack. Three were convicted of manslaughter. He did not uncover evidence of Mormon involvement. Lt. Beckwith also concluded that the Mormons had nothing to do with the attack and that

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