Kanosh was settled by Mormon pioneers and Chief Kanosh himself became an early convert to the faith. It is thought that Kanosh's willingness to work with non-Utes came out of his experiences working in the Spanish missions in California. Whether that work was voluntary or part of the long-standing slave trade of Indians into the Spanish settlements is not known. Certainly, the physical characteristics of Kanosh and others of the "Bearded Utes", as Silvestre Vélez de Escalante had called the Pahvants in the 1770s, suggest generations of contact with the Spaniards. Kanosh spoke Spanish and seems to have had a facility for languages, as he also easily picked up English.