’ “Man, there’s some mean sumbitches on my trail.” ‘
You got that exactly right: The Utes were some mean sumbitches and were the reason cliff dwellers lived how and where they did and (with the other factors mentioned) the reason they departed. Nucluside- (archaeologist)
Weren’t the Comanche a branch of the Ute tribe that was thrown out and exiled from their Rocky Mountain territory?
They were basically scavengers along the edge of the Great Plains until they lucked into the motherload by chance and circumstance—they were able to obtain the horses of the Spanish and Mexicans. That made them the Lords of the Plains.
Talk about some mean sumbitches, the sign for the Comanche among the plains tribes was the snake.