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Show 2 - 'BELATED TIMES - OCTOBER 15, 1996 HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT OF NORTHERN SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH —from the writings of Frank Silvey to come at times but we could not feed so many. They all seemed to understand this and we were not bothered by feeding them in bunches any more. "Cowboy" came down many times alone and when food was set before him he would eat it as delicately as any white man. Bridger Jack would come quite (This continuing series is from the Silvey writings which capture much of the color and feeling of the early settlers in the general Moab area of southeastern Utah.) ofter, swap buckskin for potatoes or money and OUR FIRST INDIAN EXPERIENCE would sometimes bring us a piece of venison. He said the Utes numbered about 300 and were chiefly after buckskin and that as a rule he had his "wickiup" About two weeks after our arrival at La Sal, the men left early in the morning to whip saw lumber about a mile from our cabin leaving my mother and me alone. At about ten o'clock I heard (to me) a weird shout. Stepping to the door and going partly around the cabin, I saw on a small ridge a lone Indian at perhaps a distance of 200 yards. Seeing me he shouted again and waved his hand with a “quirt” extended in a circle. I did not know the meaning of this so I stepped in the cabin and said to my mother, ”I see an Indian and I don't know what he wants but I will try and find out.” Reaching up and getting my Marlin repeater I set it near the door as I did not know what might happen. My mother did not seem frightened and said nothing. Again going around the cabin I saw I the lone Indian had advanced a considerable distance and waved his arm in a circle once more. I waved back and he slowly advanced with his gun across his saddle bow. Near the cabin door he stopped his pony and again waved his quirt and pointed towards the mountain. "Utes wickiup corral white man 'wano.' We could not understand him but motioned him to het down, which he did and tied his pony with a long buckskin lariat. My father, brother, and Neals Olson came for their dinner. As Neals could understand a little Indian talk he told us that the Indian wickiup was near the Taylor corral at the head of Hop Creek and that the Indians wanted to be friendly at present with the settlers. After a big dinner the Ute rode off singing a humdrum Indian song and lazily whipping his pony over the shoulders at intervals. The next time eight Indians came and among them was "Bridger Jack" and "Cowboy” (at that time perhaps about 18 years of age). My mother cooked and fed them all. as it was our policy as the Mormons at Bluff City had done, to treat them as well as we could afford to do under the circumstances. But we must protect ourselves as we had to haul our supplies 135 miles and had but little money. Two days later six Indians came and we again fed them. My mother always had "blancmange" for dinner with sugar and cream. The Indians sure were fond of it. As Bridger Jack could understand and talk English somewhat we told him we could not feed so many any more and we must protect our little supply of grub. It would be all right for one or two of them alone and he did not hunt with them much. After killing many deer (it was estimated they killed three thousand), chiefly for their hides in about a month‘s time, the majority of the Indians left for their Reservation near Ignacio. About the first of September this year (1882), my brother, Jack came down from Telluride, Colorado, where he worked in the mines, and in company of Neals Olson and my father, they went down to Bluff City to make filing on their land. It took them five days by horseback to make the round trip and these filings were amongst the first made in San Juan County. The following year Lem. Redd, our assessor and collector came up to La Sal to assess all in this part of the country. He was doing his work without salary at this time as were other county officials in order to help the school and roads near Bluff. The "Edmund's Law" had at that time been passed, so the assessor must swear all taxpayers that they did not practice polygamy or adultery or in any other way violate the law. OUR FIRST FARMING In the spring of 1885, after much difficulty we got some oats, at a cost of six cents per pound and sowed about twenty acres of the same. It came up fine and as we had plenty of water near at hand, we felt safe for a crop; but we did not know how to irrigate and as my brothers had gone to Telluride to work in the mines we were in a way "up against it." We got Neals Olson to come and teach us, which he did for the greater part of a day with considerable success, and we finally got over all the ground. After about ten days we went out to see how our crop was getting along and were surprised to see about oneforth of the twenty acres bare of crop. Watching, we saw a number of prairie dogs digging the oats up by the roots and feeding. Not knowing what to do we again consulted Neals Olson. "Drown them out with water," he said, "and I will be over tomorrow and help you." The next day we cut many small ditches with our shovels and started to drown the prairie dogs out. About noon a dozen or more Utes came and helped us, and we got many prairie dogs that day. The Indians took all the drowned prairie dogs with them as they left that evening, and I asked Olson what they MORE SILVEY, p. 5 |