Ouray

Ouray (?1820 or ?1833–80) Uncompaghre Ute chief; born at Taos in present-day New Mexico. Raised among Mexicans, he spoke Spanish as well as his Ute language and English. In 1862 he became chief of the Uncompaghre. In 1863 he negotiated a treaty with the U.S.A., ceding all of the Utes' territory east of the Continental Divide but making him chief of the Western Ute. In 1867, with Kit Carson, he suppressed a revolt led by Kaniatse, a rival chief. In 1879, the esteem in which he was held by both sides helped avert a war after an incident involving the murder of several whites. In 1880 he signed a treaty in Washington, D.C., providing for the final removal of the Utes from Colorado to Utah.