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Show 2 - BRIEF TIMES - APRIL 15,1996 HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT OF NORTHERN SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH —trom the writings of Frank Silvey (This is the third in a series from the Silvey writings which capture much of the color and feeling of the early settlers in southeast Utah.) through La Sal and Mrs. Tom Roy was appointed Post Mistress. This mail route started at Salina, Utah, thence on to Green River, to Moab, La Sal, Paradox, Naturita, Placerville, and on to Ouray, Colorado, a distance of about three hundred and fifty miles, or seven hundred miles the round trip. The first mail carrier was a man by the name of Howard, who carried it several months, then Tom Brewster was the COMMING OF THE CA’ITLEMEN regular carrier for about two years. Cattle were cheap (about ten dollars per head) in the settlements of Utah in the years 1876 to 1881. In This mail route was perhaps one of the strangest ones ever carried in the United States, and one of the most dangerous. It had no regular schedule but a sort of "go as you please" timing. Sometimes it took a month, sometimes six weeks to make the round trip. The mail carrier had a saddle and pack horse loaded with light bed, some flour, bacon, coffee and southern and eastern Colorado, they were worth about thirty-five dollars per head, yearlings up. A few Colorado people found this out in time. Amoung these was "Spud" Hudson, a rich cattleman running his cattle on the ”Picket Wire" near Trinidad, Colorado. He decided to investigate, so early in the spring of 1879, he made a trip from his cattle ranch on the "Picket Wire" to the settlements of Utah. While on his way he saw the vast virgin range of the Blue Mountains and decided he would stock it up with cattle. On reaching the settlements he found a good grade of cattle could be bought for around ten dol— lars per head and he bought about two thousand head at that price. He became acquainted with John E. Brown, Dudley Reece, and Green Robinson whom he hired to help him drive the cattle to the Blues. He also became acquainted with Peters who had cattle, and a few months later Peters moved his cattle (about two thousand head), to the Blue Mountains. Arriving at the Blues, Hudson located his first camp on the Vega near a large spring, and built two cabins end to end. For years this camp was known as "The Double Cabins,” now callled Carisle. Leaving the cowboys to look after his cattle, Hudson left for his cattle camp on the Picket Wire. Selling out all his cattle there at a good price he came back to the Blues, and, hiring a couple more cowboys to look after the cattle, in company with John Brown, Dudley Reece, and Green Robinson, he again left for the settlement to buy more cattle. They bought about two thousand head. Hudson loaned Dudley Reece and Green Robinson five thousand dollars each to buy cattle which they drove to the new range on the Blues. At this time Peters came in with about two thousand head of cattle and located a canteen of water, and would camp whenever the horses began to tire. As there was no change of horses along the way great care must be taken to favor the horses as much as possible. In high water periods, the Price River had to be forded, then the Green River swum, as well as the Grand River (now the Colorado), Dolores River and the San Miguel. All were dangerous rivers to cross in high water time. During the winter months the La Sal Divide sometimes gave trouble and a constant look- out for hostile Indians must be kept. Over this entire route of three hundred and fifty miles, there were perhaps less than one hundred people to serve, between Salina, Utah, and Ouray, Colorado. Rather small leather mail sacks served for all mail along the route, as few people wrote letters those days, and few took even one small newspaper. It is said that thousands of dollars in currency was sent over this route by registered mail, and safely reached its destination. Billy McCarty sold a bunch of steers of his own and his neighbors from the settlement, (Utah) at Ouray, Colorado, and returned alone to the settlements with ten thousand dollars in cash, unmolested. The mail route from Salina to Ouray was the first and only mail route to be established in southeastern Utah, and a considerable portion of western Colorado and meant much in the settlement of this area. ranged their cattle southward and eastward from INDIAN TROUBLE . In order to understand what led up to the Indian outbreak in San Juan County, we must go back to 1877-1878. After many years of dickering with the Indians through Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre or White River Utes, and Chief Ignacio of the Southern Utes, a peace treaty was signed whereby all the vast territory now called the western Slope of South Montezuma Creek so that the greater area of Colorado, was to be ceded to the whites, and in re- San Juan County had become stocked with cattle, turn, the Uncompahgre Utes were to receive a certain amount of land situated in eastern Utah, now called the Uintah Ute Indian Reservation. The southern More Silvey, p. 4 and built a cabin two hundred yards west of what has been called Peters Spring since 1880. The following year (1880), Hudson made a number of trips to the settlements, returning each trip with larger herds of cattle. The range was getting fairly well stocked with cattle now. Next the LC. interests came in and and the little colonies of Bluff, La Sal and Coyote were the only towns within the county. In the spring of 1879 a mail route was established |