| Show THE UTE INDIAN TRIBES the scheme of capitalists to obtain control of all mineral lands in the ute indian reservations in colorado and utah has called forth the following protest which in being circulated and will be presented to the governor and forwarded to the secretary of the interior hon john W noble secretary of the interior we beg respectfully to draw your attention to a deal now pending and awaiting your sanction between the indino indiana of the utah and uncompahgre reservations on the one hand and certain capitalists on the other also to the certain results of the consummation of the same it is in the character of a lease of all the mineral lands of these reservations covering an area of square miles and for the period of ten years this lease has already boon been signed on the part ot of the indiana by their chiefs but your petitioners petition ers are confident without sufficient consideration or knowledge of the results of their action thinking OVY only of their own immediate profits of a r royalty of 1 a ton on all ore exported from the reservation we would draw your attention to the fact that the indians by the terms of this lease since the land is almost all mineralized to some extent practically give up all title to the land for a period of ten len years also to the fact that this syndicate can and undoubtedly will sublease sub lease any or all parts of the reservation to other parties thus to all intents settling the reservation with white men to the exclusion of the indians your petitioners petition ers would remind you of the present policy of the federal government by which the indians on reservations are encouraged to hold their lands landa in severalty severally and that should you approve of the said lease there is little or no chance for their doing so and further we have reason to believe that if it is the policy of the government to throw open these chose lands to settlement by the citizens of the commonwealth the indians can be induced to take their lands in severalty severally in a much shorter period of time than ten years and thus should this lease be approved other citizens are deprived of the privilege of settling on these lands for the balance of the said ten years in view of the above and in order to best beat the interests of the indians your petitioners petition ers pray you will not approve the abovementioned above mentioned lease IV Is ie stated the signatures of the indians to the proposed lease were secured with the knowledge and approval of the interior department and that the protest will not avail be that as it way may the subject to is one that needs thorough ventilation ti it is plain that if the mineral land in the extensive tract of country now reserved for occupation by indians be operated many thousands of white men will gain access to the reservations under conditions that will be injurious to the native tribes and will result la in almost total disregard by the government of the treaty stipulations entered into with the ute tribes this prospective in justice injustice to the aborigines should call forth such a general protest that the interior department will review any hasty action that may have been taken and refrain from a further violation of tie its indian treaties THE COLORADO UTES INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THEIR TO UTAH while a considerable tract of land I 1 ID western colorado is id nominally under unde r treaty arrangement part of the reservations for ute indians yet only a section in the southwestern part of the state is actually included this condition was reached at the close of the colorado ute indian war in 1880 previous to that time there were three large reservations the uncompahgre occupied by the uncompahgre white river and yampa utes with captain meeker as agent the southern ute occupied by the nuchie and capote Ute U tee with colonel page as agent and the uintah for the uintah utes in utah colonel E R B critchlow Crit agent when the colorado war broke out the white river and yampa utes were chiefly engaged and at its close were forced westward into utah while the were brought there supposedly in accordance with the treaty they had signed col henry page chief clerk of the utah commission was the government agent for the southern colorado utes in 1880 and in 1881 became one of the government ute indian commission in these theme positions he was familiar with the events of those timed today he wab asked to relate rela tein in a general warhis experiences and con lection with indian matters iu colorado and utah and said well awell to state it plainly the most trying time of my life not excepting the during the indian troubles in colorado the particular occasion I 1 refer to jjr continued conti tied the colonel was just after the massacre of agent meeker at the uncompahgre ute reservation poor meeker and the men with him were killed and his bis wife and daughter and mrs prices price wife of one of the men taken prisoners and horribly treated in sixty hours after that massacre and the fight with major thornburgh a lot of young braves wore were down from there to the southern uto ute reservation trying to incite chief ignacio and his braves to go on the wr war path ignacio had bad a thousand indians there about two hundred of whom were warriors all of them well armed 1 sil I had learned of meekers Me ekers death and with the indians excited as they were expected that everything was up I 1 determined however to do my best while a ray of hope remained tor for I 1 had never yet deserted my post of duty there were four men with me at the agency these I 1 ordered to the settlements to warn the people and told them to remain away from the reservation until I 1 ee sent t for them to return they left as I 1 directed and in the night I 1 rode twenty miles to animas the nearest town to inform the inhabitants that the indians might toe be on them at any time and to advise them to provide against the danger I 1 procured a breish horse and return returned oti tu to the agency by daylight next morning mor ninar The reI found things in a pretty awkward fix the indians indiana were ready for fight and I 1 concluded that my time had come there had bad been a council of the indiana and for three days and nights a war dance was carried on I 1 got ignacio and the leading men ot of the tribe and I 1 can assure you there was a good deal of talking my beater forts forte were put forth to dissuade thera them from engaging in the war I 1 told them ahat inthey if they remained at home in peace they should not be disturbed nor a their squaws squads and papooses oses osee but it if they fought they would be sure to be beaten tor for the great father had many men and a lot of indian men as well as their women and children would be killed and their lands tie be taken I 1 also told them that they might kill me as I 1 was waa only one against them but a good many would come to my funeral and the indiana would not be greatly pleased with the visitors when I 1 had got through talking I 1 was asked if I 1 was going to bring any troops to the reservation now I 1 knew that the reason the indians indiana gave for killing meeker was that he had brought in soldiers the nearest body of troops to me at that time was fitti fifty miles distant als bant at pagosa springs anti and there were only fifty of them they chey would have had to come through a narrow canyon in which ten indiana could have easily blocked the way go ao I 1 decided that the best thing I 1 could do was to try and out it was my only chance for peace with tribes or for my own life 1 I told the indians that I 1 would not bring any soldiers among them but it they would stand by abony me I 1 woul would a i stand by them I 1 was then considerably surprised at the course they took they promised to do as I 1 had advised them thein tey in fact they agreed to everything at ag that time I 1 was imbued witt with the idea that is far too general now and that has caused so much trouble between the whites and savages sav agea I 1 thought ahat the indians indiana were about the meanest and mot mo t treacherous on tile the face 01 ol the earth 1 I regarded their pretense they seemed to me to be too willing to do what I 1 wanted the them to I 1 thought they were like artemas wapaa mule who would be good six months to get a square kick at a man maim so 80 I 1 suspected that their willingness wati wan only a sign of intended mischief but I 1 want to say bay right here that 1 found my mistake no indians could keep their word better than ignalio and his band and his sub chiefs buckskin Charlie and they were honorable and truthful no white man could do better than they did and it was not long before white men did worse with them the messengers from the buncom reservation had to go back without having gained their object As time went un I 1 supposed everything would be all right in my district bhea one day a scout came in with the information that general beneral fid Ed Hatch was advancing with a thousand men and w would uld be at the reservation la in about three days here was the most critical position positions I 1 had neou deeo placed in and for a time I 1 did not know what to do however I 1 decided to call the 41 chiefs together and tell them of the word I 1 had received when I 1 did so they were wild they upbraided up braided me with having promised that no troops should comet come rod and now they were almost at the reservation it was in ila vain that I 1 told them the soldiers were coming at the request of the people in the small towns and not at mine at last I 1 told ignacio that if he would furnish me his best beat horise horae tor for mine was ridden down and teu ten young active men mounted next morning I 1 would stop the army next day instead of ten men there twenty all armed with rifles ignacio came with them it was almost time for the regular distribution of annul ties anu and as money was no object about tb that t time I 1 cut open a bale of blankets and gave one to each of the warriors and a nice one to the chief some time be ore then the government had sent out a lot of uniforms jor for indian police the organization of such a body on th reservation was considered about the first step towards but I 1 had never been able to got get an indian to put a suit on I 1 brought the ignacio asked ailed me tor for his blue com coal I 1 gave it him and in fifteen minutes I 1 had bad twenty young warriors in blue costa coats and pants with red cords down the side aide then I 1 mounted the horse provided and we started for pagosa springs where I 1 expected to most meet the army my plan now was to persuade gen hatch not to come to the reservation if be refused to accept my proposal 1 I intended that he should take myself and company prisoners sad a ad thus possibly avert bloodshed by dusk we got to a ranch at the border of the reservation where we had something to out eat and were well treated after upper supper I 1 mounted to resume the jour bey when the indians said they were tired and would like to rest refit for the highl that suited me for I 1 did not care about the risk of riding upon gen hatchs hatcha pickets and being shot down la in the dark for an enemy next morning we got an early tart start I 1 had removed my revolver and forgot to replace it we had not gone far before the indians wanted to return to the house I 1 could not understand this move out allowed it when we got back every one of them put his bis rifle down in a room the rancher asked me if I 1 know knew why they did that and I 1 replied no said bald he dont you we see tvs because you have left your revolver that was the first time I 1 noticed that I 1 had not put my weapon on sai 1 I let matters go a they were and we met the soldiers unarmed I 1 ex the situation to general hatch he informed me that he had just received word that a portion of the white river utes had started south and his bis force was needed at animae he would willingly change his plan stud and march to animas but would have to go ge across the reservation this was waa agreed to and a heavy load was lifted oft my mind I 1 returned to the agency and told of the arrangement the troops passed along the nasin main road over the reservation with the full knowledge of the indians anti and were never disturbed that danger was past A little later the ute indian corn com mission came with a treaty to move all the indians indiana to western colorado at the junction of the grand and I 1 gunnison janison rivers not in utah but in colorado they were to receive so eo much land each and if there was wag insufficient agricultural land in colorado they were to reach over into kutait ignacio and his band refused to sign or to ame me to any agreement with the commissioners when the commission failed I 1 took the matter upon up on condition that the indians be let alone during my negotiations tiati ons the result was that all ail agreed to and each one affixed his little X to athe treaty when this was done ignacio stated that he haq had something to say to the commission he then made the following speech we have signed this paper that the great father bantel signed not because we expect you will do what you have agreed as we have signed others before that have nut not been kept by the government we have not signed because we think it is what we should have but we have signed because our tata fata agent advised us ua to do so now we have done what you wanted and we want you to do what you have promised and what we want done we want the money you have promised us to be brought to us quick we want you to tell the great lather at wellington washington that we do not want this agent swapped as we all know him anti and he knows us and our squaws squads and our papooses oses and he be dont talk to us with two tongues 1 11 I admit that I 1 felt gratified at the compliment paid roe me by the indian chief not long after thistle this the indians took up their line of march for the new reservation agreed upon but instead of being taken to the place mentioned in the treaty they were located a hundred ml es farther west some Colora doana doans wonder why the indians crowd back a hundred miles to the junction of the grand and gunnison Oun nison rivers to hunt it to Is because they know where their lands are and they realize tuo too that the treaty was not kept by the white men 6 otto one of the commission accompanied the indians to the now new location escorted by a regiment of U 8 cavalry because of his action in taking them to so a place not agreed on OB they had very little love for him he got so soared that he be straddled a mule in the night and skipped out for salt bait lake at the time the commission was ordered back among the indians next spring he was too frightened to go and resigned when the commission reported to the secretary of the interior it did not even tell the truth about the treaty the report says that no agreement was entered lato into at the first negotiations but when the coal mission was about to depart the indians indiana returned and signed I 1 got a chance to upbraid the commissioners for this when I 1 was appointed in place of metals and they sought to evade the responsibility by saying that the secretary had written and sent the report and they had never seen or read lead it although their names were affixed now you have to in brief the history ot of my connection with the southern colorado utes from the time of the meeker massacre and also of the crowding of the colorado utes into utah |
