Utes Thriving After Nearly Going Broke

Summary

---

First in a five-part series

Long poverty stricken, Utah's Indian tribes are striving for economic independence. Beginning today, a five-day Deseret Morning News series -- "From poverty to promise" -- examines how they are tapping their human and natural resources.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Utes Thriving After Nearly Going Broke

FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County -- The Ute Indian Tribe nearly went broke four years ago. The summer of that year, it had only enough money to run the tribal government and its many social programs for one month.

Today, the tribe is prospering.

At its annual Northern Ute Powwow on July 4, the tribe handed out checks totaling $6.3 million to its members, three times as much as was distributed the previous year.

There are several other noteworthy benchmarks of success since 2002.

-- Since then, tribal coffers have sw...

See the full content of this document

---