OCR Text |
Show THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1995 PAGE 22 Soon after this momentous document was passed, U.S. military authorities forced the Navajo chiefs to sign a treaty on August 12, 1868 to agree to live on reservations and to cease their opposition to the whites. The forced treaty established a 35 million-acr- e reservation within the Navajo tribe's old territory, a small portion of the original acres Navajo holdings. Even though later enlarged, the reservation held only 68,000 of farmland. Sure the Navajos were not content. In the 1870s, Jacob Hamblin indicated a concern with the many Navajo raids on the Mormon frontier. He asked Brigham Young if he could be an ambassador to the Navajos in order to prevent further killings and to establish peace. A Paria Fort, with guards, was established near Lee's Ferry From San Juan County... Around the Bend crossing. Ammon Tenney, a Mormon peacemaker, charged that in the previous year, the Navajos had stolen some $1,000,000 worth of cattle, horses and sheep in southern Utah. He was probably correct. The Navajos were indeed angry. At a "great council" on Nov 1, 1870. Tenney reports an estimated 8,000 hostile Indians on the council grounds at Fort Defiance. John Wesley Powell warned the Navajos that if they did not cease their raiding, federal troops would once again come upon them. Jacob Hamblin told the Navajos that many young Mormon men wanted to come across the river and kill Navajos, but that they preferred to make peace. He told them that Brigham Young was a man of peace. The raids continued. Once fears diminished in the San Juan country, and the Navajos were safely corralled in their reservations, the whites now started to dribble in. My great grandfather, George Spencer, married three women in a polygamous-typ- e relationship. And these three women had many children. Two of the children, Harriet Nlarinda Spencer and Lydia Spencer (both from the third wife) ventured into the San Juan country with their husbands in the early 1900's to raise their families. There were many begats from these great aunts of mine. 1 find kin among the Harris's, Baylcs, Rogers, Washburns, Palmers, Stotts, Hunts, Hursts, Youngs, Blacks, Spencers, Hamiltons, Hancocks, Neilsons, Smiths, Somervilles, Nortons, Hawkins, Kartchncrs, Milliners, and other fine families. I find relatives from those that came down through the One seems to have special status in San Juan if one can count an ancestor as County having come through "The Hole." It's a badge of honor, a special society, something akin to having an ancestor that came over on the Mayflower. Even the exiled Mormons came back to Zion (San Juan) from Mexico to claim their "rightful heritage." But this society, as great as it was, brought with it a culture that was so different than that of the native people. Immediately, problems arose, and never to this day have the major racial problems been solved. (Again) Ken Sleight By IN NAVAJO COUNTRY Early in July, a number of us met at the St. Christopher's Mission near Bluff to hear the lawyers explain Judge Sam's recent decision concerning the rights of the Navajo people and the case they brought against the state. The Navajos had sued the state of Utah for the money lost due to the State's poor trusteeship of their trust fund. LIFE left the meeting however, before it was over and headed out. I thought much about what had transpired and wondered if there would ever be a harmonious solution to the conflicts that exists. We all know that it was Brigham's policy that it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them. But if a fight was necessary, so be it. The early Mormons in Illinois and Missouri made a show to defend their property as they were being chased out. But I wonder how many of those early pioneers felt the Indians had the same right as they to defend themselves. The response of the Indians in San Juan County, Utah was much the same as elsewhere. They fought such encroachment and the taking of their lands and property. What they didn't account for, as elsewhere, was the heavy hand of government troops. Indians were either compelled to submit or to be beaten into submission. I'll not recount all the battles and racial problems between the whites and the Indians in San Juan. That would take volumes. But here arc a few... I Hole-in-the-Roc- Brigham Young had decided to do something about the Navajo Indian problem. The Navajos were making raids "against the helpless settlers" of all of southern Utah. So in December 1878, a hundred or so Mormon men were recruited as scouts to map out a route to the San Juan country, the purpose of which was to eventually establish more settlements and to control the Navajos. The company arrived at the San Juan River in July 1879 and for the next several weeks explored the whole river bottom from McElmo Wash to Butler Wash. They drew lots on the Navajo land. Every bit of farm land was claimed and some houses were built. The construction of a dam on the river was attempted though unsuccessful. A wedding took place. Scouts were sent to explore the adjacent Navajo country - even as far north as Blue Mountain. Let's start with Kit Carson at Fort Defiance in 1863. Backed by federal troops, he savagely rounded up the Navajo people to remove them to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. The captives who surrendered voluntarily were to be taken to the reservation to farm the land. The males that resisted would be shot and their livestock and food supplies destroyed. The military command marched the terrorized Navajos 300 miles, "The Long Walk", to the Bosque Redondo concentration camp. By December 1864, the camp contained 8,334 Navajos. Hundreds eventually escaped but hundreds and hundreds died of disease and starvation. The tyrannical Kit Carson was later, in disgrace, relieved of his command. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed on July 28, 1868 that all persons bom in the United States were naturalized citizens of the nation and state in which they resided. No state should now deprive any citizen of life, liberty or property without the due process of law. Obviously, this law was not made for all of our peoples. I . tTMimriltiiltKiflmtih iGEENf&mY.ON Ubefore cake powelT i k. The exploring company then returned to their own homelands to ready the main body that would soon come. Some of the returned on a route northward through party Moab and Green River and thence westward over the Green River desert. The main party started their journey in the fall of 1879. intended to make They a short-cthrough the canyon country to avert the longer trek and hostile Navajos. Hanning on a quick trek, they formed a caravan of eighty wagons and some ut six-we- ek 1 PRE-PUBLICATIO- OFFER N Experience a river trip through Glen Canyon when the Colorado River flowed between the canyon walls. This 88 page book offers four color photographs and recollections of over 50 different explorers of Glen Canyon. 101 photos with extended captions are presented in an 8x0 inch book you can take on Lake Howell. Each photo is marked with the corresponding Lake Powell buoy number so you can do your own exploring. Reserve your copies in time for Christinas PREPAY BEFORE SEITEMBER 30. 100., DELIVERY: I .ATE OCTOBER now Inter Limited Silk-Boun- Edition d Quantity Silk-Boun- 3 Edition d Paper-Boun- Paper-Boun- d Edition ..y r Inskip Ink than ink on (kuktk Cast 100 Nowh (T)oa0 UT BTO2 :('() rcl and Fa;c itiokc 801-21i)-8- m2 Moab sales tax Shipping 8, Price $150 Total u $100.00 50.00 25.00 copies d $100 X E 3 y. subtotal Utah 5.759J X $5.00 Total Enclosed o 6 cB fc h 0 e. n N o 4J C2 1 W 0) co cB C -- a jj3 H |