What is "timpanogos"

Timpanogos derives from the name of a possible subgroup of the Shoshone. It may refer to:

• Timpanogos (also known as the Timpanog tribe of Native Americans) populating central Utah in the 1800s.
• Mount Timpanogos, a mountain in Utah in the United States
• Timpanogos Cave National Monument, a cave system near Mount Timpanogos.
• Timpanogos High School in Orem, Utah.
• Lake Timpanogos, original name for Utah Lake, and the mythical river once believed to flow from there to the Pacific Ocean.

The Timpanogos ("''Timpanog''", "Utahs" or "Utah Indians") were a large tribe of Native Americans who historically inhabited a vast portion of central Utah, in particular the area from Utah Lake eastward to the Uinta Mountains and southward into present-day Sanpete County. In some historic accounts, they were also referred to as the Timpiavat, Timpanogot, Timpanogotzi, Timpannah, Tempenny and numerous other names.

In the mid-19th century, when Mormon Pioneers entered this territory, the Timpanogos were one of the principal tribes in Utah, based on population, area occupied, and influence. Scholars have had difficulty identifying or classifying their language, because most communication with them was carried out in Spanish or English, and many of their leaders spoke multiple native dialects of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

The Timpanogos have generally been classified as Ute people. They may have been a Shoshone band; other Shoshone bands occupied parts of Utah. Nineteenth-century historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote in 1882 that the Timpanogos were one of the four sub-bands of the Shoshone.

Chief Walkara, also called Chief Walker, was a noted chief in the mid-19th century. He led the people against Mormon settlers in the Walker War. The Shoshone and Ute shared a common genetic, cultural and linguistic heritage as part of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Today most Timpanogos descendants live on the Uintah Valley Reservation, established by Executive Order in 1861 and affirmed by congressional legislation in 1864, where they are counted among the Ute Indian Tribe.

In 2002 the Timpanogos won a federal case against the state at the Court of Appeals, upholding their traditional rights for hunting, fishing, and gathering within the reservation. The court concluded their relationship with the federal government was well established, although they are not independently listed by the Department of Interior as a federally recognized tribe. They have submitted an application and documentation to the Department of Interior, seeking federal recognition as a tribe independent of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.