Black Hawk - Ute Indian Chief

Here lies one of the West's great Native leaders. Antonga — "Black Hawk" was Brigham Young's name for him — was a Timpanogos war chief who from 1865 led Ute, Paiute, and Navajo bands against the settlement starving his people, as farms and cattle destroyed the game they lived on. Ailing, he made peace in 1867 and rode to the villages he had raided to ask forgiveness. Buried above Spring Lake, his birthplace, in 1870, he was dug up by grave-robbers in 1911 and his bones displayed for decades. Only in 1996 did his people bring him home.

What the plaque says

When the Ute Indian Chief, Black Hawk died on September 27, 1870 near Spring Lake and was buried by his tribe in a nearby ravine, there was laid to rest a man designated by Brigham Young as "The most formidable foe amongst the Redman" that the pioneers had encountered in many years. These words were prompted by the memory of Chief Black Hawk's part in Utah's worst Indian war which ended in 1867. The war commenced in April 1865 at Manti, Sanpete County. Three years later, when the Indians were finally brought to terms 51 settlers had been killed and 25 settlements abandoned in 5 counties. The seriousness of the Indian depredations was such that during the three-year war, over 4700 men of the Territorial Militia were called into service. Expenses incurred during the war were in excess of one and one half million dollars. Although scattered Indian raids continued into the summer of 1868, the Black Hawk War was regarded as officially closed in 1867.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Payson Lakes — 7.7 mi
  Three alpine lakes in the pines, twelve miles up Payson Canyon
• Nebo Loop Summit — 11 mi
  The byway's 9,300-foot high point, with Utah Valley spread out below
• Mount Nebo — 13 mi
  At 11,928 feet, the highest and southernmost peak in the Wasatch Range
• Thistle Landslide — 14 mi
  The ruins of a town destroyed by a massive landslide in 1983

More markers nearby

• Spring Lake Villa — 0.3 mi
• The Walker War — 2.1 mi
• Payson City Hall — 2.6 mi
• Payson's Pioneer Industries — 2.6 mi