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Show (Reservation grafts. J According to the Denver Post which 1 h.H been devoting a great deal of at- , tentlon to the matter, the opening ol I the Uintah reservation is going to be e t little less than a farce. The paper " 1 contends that the 100,000 acres of e I rlrultural lands will be alloted to I I ndians, leaving tmt little for the I cottier who wants a farm, whilo the - I Serai lands will bo in the posses- m of two companies, which have influenced members of both houses '' 1 nf congress, offlcers of the department I nf the interior, both at Washington and the reservation, for the benefit of the members thereof. EM These companies referred to above H aro the Florence Mining company, ana 8 H the Raven Mining company. The first was incorporated in the state of New H Jersey, February 28, 1890, by Thomas m T Lennon, Frank Farrell, Ernest T. t mk Charles, W. S. Potwin, Charles F. o H Pflster, Leroy D. Thompson, George l F Tlmms, T. H. Anderson, William J. ir I Word, and Chas. N. King. Pflster was ,f I tho first president. Afterwards, and hi B presumably for tho purpose of secur- ( I Ing influence with tho administration, ie I William L. Word, of the Republican H National committee, was elected as a H director; tho late Henry C. Payne, n H postmaster-general, was elected presl- ie H dent and Benjamin IS. Odoll, governor e. H of New York, was made treasurer. BJ The Raven came into existence about Hi the same time and tho membership is e- BJ practically tho same, ty HJ It was then, according to the Post, ."' V that the company began to make an if- H effort to shut out every one else from le the possession of the valuable claims ')' B of elaterltc, gllsonlto and asphalt Q- H which are to bo found on the reserva- ie tlon. Tho work began in 1899, when X M T. A. Byrnes, agent at White Rocks, :r discovered that parties from Salt Lake k II City, Vernal and other places had lo- b- cated claims to the extent of 3,000 h m acres, established a mining district, 1(1 Is began building roads and the erection e .1 of houses. This would nejver do, e- fm though Mr. Byrnes, who was a crea- r m ture of tho Florence company, accord- in m Ing to the Post, sent William G. Swan- 13 m son, tho agency clerk, and Judge J. T. McConnell, agency farmer, to drive J! these men out. The agency police force was sent with them; tho men were I driven out. and their houses destroyed, u I their stakes pulled up and all trace I of their locations effaced. Then houses ie I were razed and tho little settlement t I ms effaced- The Post declares that i(i I this action gave McConnell and Swan- I 6? ,an Idea of tho locations and en- l3 I aoled them to afterward stake out the je claims in behalf of tho Florence Min- lt. I ing company. It says McConnell was If I very vigilant in keeping his eyes on 4. people who came to tho reservation n I " tenvard, and when a man who look- x. II ea nun a prospector showed up, he ftl II ' In pro",l,t,Jr ejected, or else McCon- ht II jjj mado special arrangements with I' pn!lnally McConnell, according to tho I pSt' secure(1 the services of W. A. ,p I rw Vort of mining export from I inHuf' to draw "P a. lease with tho ir 1 mo! nf Ab0Ut twenty f the head I ar iLth0Jr,ihQ s,Sned it in Fobru- - I tho An, . Th,s lcaso was assigned to 1 comS Can AsPhalt company, which 1 & S ,members believed they had I SE ' . Th0 elaterito was a sec I the 2L cons'deratlon with them, but I of dS .Wh0 Perfeeted tho process 2 I matdGHMlvins 11 nnd working it into I in a It Ta.? BettinS out patents, and I celvJ ?rt timo he succeeded and ro- PorU0Vnfafflg,ninent o thG e,aterlt0 can th0 leaso from tho Amori- ectioTnPany-, I?G beBan work. the Quit' won a Plant' otc- and was dolnB es s toni, 'I ien other asPhalt lnter- a th0 .S 8Uek ln thc eame and had 8' the grSd1"0 cks St0p hlm on eround that ie had forfeited his lease, whereas ho was doing tho best no could. It was about that timo that tho Raven Ra-ven Mining company, composed of Payne, Pflster, et al., was organzod. This concern obtained a leaso from tho Indians on 200,000 acres. The Indians In-dians were taken to Chicago, given a rlde in a tally-ho, fed more and bettor stuff than they had over eaten in their lives and promised work when it should begin. They didn't get it, how-over, how-over, for when they applied they were sent back without anything and on short rations at that. The Raven company com-pany located tho deposits of the ilrst prospectors, whoso houses were destroyed, de-stroyed, as mentioned, which comprises com-prises tho most valuablo holdings of tho concern. Now, according to tho terms of the leaso, tho claims were to be regular size, conforming to tho laws of the United States. But tho Raven company did not enro for tho laws, but located them any old size, one ln particular being worthy of note, as It had an area of over 3,000 acres. It is two miles wide by throe miles long. When this was brought to tho attention atten-tion of tho department, tho secretary declared ho would bring proceedings to annul tho lease, but ho must have forgotten it. Tho Floronco Mining company was not idle all this timo, for in 1899 it filed an application to mako a leaso with tho Indians for all tho minernl lands on tho reservation north of Strawberry creek. This application was signed by Payne. Tho story of this leaso, as told by tho Post, is Interesting. In-teresting. It is as follows: "In 1897, one Dr. Hathonbruck was around with samples of gold ore that were the finest wo ever saw. Ho said they camo from tho reservation and he was trying to got a permit to go there and prospect. At that timo II. P. Myton was a commissioner interested inter-ested in tho opening of tho reservation. reserva-tion. E. R. Harper was tho secretary of the commission and S. M. Miller was surveyor for tho same. They saw these samples of gold and while they were yet acting on tho commission thoy began to plan for a mineral leaso on the reservation. The result was that Myton was subsequently made agent and the others woro to profit thereby. A plan was formed with Myton My-ton as chief assistant to obtain this lease. J. H. Mease, post-trader, at Fort DuChesno, and John McAndrows, Interpreter at Ouray, were taken in to help tho matter along. Measo and Mc-Andrews Mc-Andrews claim that thoy refused to try to influence tho Indians in this way, so they were dropped out and others taken in. Myton, Miller and Harper woro still In tho leaso at that timo and, referring in letters hereafter hereaf-ter given, it was Harper who, Myton went to seo at Denver before calling a council of commissioners. Thoy joined forces with C. F. Tlmms and accomplished their object. Mr. Measo stated that tho original leaso was drawn in tho offlco of tho commissioner of Indian affairs and maps furnished from there also, and whilo Mr. Ryan, tho acting secretary of tho interior department was deoply Interested In tho leaso, ho was not alono by any means." During tho timo Harper was acting on tho commission ho wrote a iottor in which ho mentioned tho fact that McDonald, tho post veterinary, was a man thoy found necessary to "get out of tho way." n0 also mentioned that Jiyton was to bo trusted and that ho was very hopeful of results. Harper wroto another letter in which ho related that Tlmms was going go-ing to tho ngoticy; thnt ho had boon working with McDonnld. and it would bo a good thing to give tho doctor a change of base for his hcnlth. Ho admitted that Timms had a right to work on tho reservation, on nn application appli-cation filed two years before tho Raven or Florence companies ncqulrcil any standing and then said: "However, It mny bo necessary for a permit to bo given him Ilrst. In that caso it will be necessary to knock him until ho is out of tho way; at tho timo I am a Httlo arrnld of that, and prefer that Miller and you hoys go ahead, Independent of a permit and try and get a leaso, provided you think that best. You aro on tho ground and know best. If I find that tho department de-partment gives Tlmms n permit, I will try and have them grant tho samo to all applicants. In thnt caso, wo will havo to fight It out and tako our chances. Saturday 'I was appointed special allotlng agent. From now on I wilt have nothing to do with tho leaso publicly. However, it may bo found essential (?) that I accompany Mr. Graves to tho reservation to assist as-sist in determining which of tho proposed pro-posed ditches will bo best for tho doar Indians. Do you supposo I can judgo tho matter correctly?" Harper, according to tho Post, obtained ob-tained his authority for changing men from ono placo to another, direct from Washington Tho Post assorts that tho matter of those leases wns called to tho attention atten-tion of tho president and Hint his suspicions sus-picions were aroused, still thoy woro satisfied by Senator Kcarns who "has been during the short timo ho has been in tho senate, tho backbono of this company in robbing tho people Tho matter was laid boforo tho Tribune, but the nrticlo was novor published, and shortly nftorwnrd tho paper was bought by Kcarns through Perry Hoath, to cvcntunlly boom tho lnttor In tho United States senate. Congress has passed sovcral acts at difforent times for the opening of tho reservation, but in each caso it has been postponed or tho conimnnd of congress never carried out, simply tie-causo tie-causo theso people had not as yet located lo-cated everything on tho reservation thoy wished." Tho action of Senator Kcarns ns reported re-ported in his personal organs, would appear to favor an early opening of tho reservation. This, however, is not tho fact. Tho Kcarns amendments and riders when examined all mako for delay In tho opening instead of expediting it. |