Show STATE LAND BOARD the board of land janet commissio era held beld a meeting yesterday afternoon at which selector A D ferron farron and corn com mins missioner ioner rees bees presented a report im the uintah reservation in which they say bay his hia excellency the governor fur ur dished us a letter of introduction to col james P F randlett Band lett 0 IS 8 A acting indian agent immediately our arrival at fort duchesne Duc beene besne we called balled upon the colonel but un tortu forta bately he be was too ill to receive us that day the following morning how everi ever he had bad sufficiently recovered to give us a very pleasant interview which resulted la in arrangements that bat were highly satisfactory to us personally and aad contributed materially to we tie accomplishment ot of the object of our visit the colonel regretted very much that his hia indisposition prevented him from personally showing bowing us over the agency he therefore arranged to have us ua taken there in his bis own conveyance ve our drive took us through abe ludlan farms farma and it was gratifying to see the great progress that has baa been made to induce the indiana to give up their roving predatory habits babits and become tillers of the soil thousands of acres ot of land have been cleared and are now being cultivated by those these indians who but a few years ago considered it a disgrace to work and who derided and scorned the few that bat could be induced by presents and other favors to make a beginning to la this too much praise cannot be bestowed upon col handled and his big assistants for the admirable tact and judgment displayed in over coming the inherent prejudice of those these savaged toward any and all forms forma of civilization arriving at the agency we found that the colonel had bad already informed by telephone mr muse mugs the gentlemanly clerk in charge of our coming we were immediately made welcome the following letter of introduction which the colonel had given us was presented and read FORT utah oct 19 1896 my dear muse mr roes bees and mr perron forron come to the he agency introduced by his hie excel lency the he governor of utah I 1 wish you to show them the school and agency with all its pertaining tags have mr wayman BROW them his bin depart ment and I 1 desire him to take them hem out to the new ditch and tell thorn them everything he knows of tie be character oser of the he country west of the she duehesne and to answer all questions about other portions of the reservation giving them the most reliable information possible the party will lemalu at the agency over night very respectfully JAMES F col U 8 13 A acting indian agent 21 soon boon afterwards wayman the head farmer who has charge of all the improvements made his appearance and fid invited us to take a drive with him IM along the now new canal watch is to in course ot of construction we found in mr wyman an earnest and constien oon con bious worker the canal we went to inspect in taken irum from the uintah river and covers a large lare portion of tue high 1 bench land lying between the uintah and duehesne rivers it to la on the lower part ot of thin bench that we the indian farms above described are altu situated atel the ditch in question is ie now about nine miles long and when finished will probably be twenty miles long at present it is not a very large canal and can supply only a small portion of the lands which it covers the intention is to enlarge it as necessity require the following day mr muse invited us ua to inspect the school of the agency and such anon buildings as are connecter connect eu with it they are brick and frame structures well built with plenty oi 01 light fresh air and scrupulous cleanliness there are at present about eighty pupils of all ages and both sexes two lady teachers conduct the elementary english branches bra nohea there are besides a gentleman teacher for manual training and the principal nOpal the school sometimes counts a many as one hundred and fifty pupils which is perhaps ode ghiri of the children ut of school age on the reservation connected with the school are a number of other build inge for the convenience of teachers and pupils all kept in the best poss ioie condition the question of the possible opening of the reservation was fully discussed with colonel randlett Band lett as it was wag on that point wat that we based our presence on the reserve and asked to be permit ted tad to gather the information desired by the like state board of land commie Bi onera ners colonel Ra Ban ulett talked very freely on this matter and desired it to be distinctly understood that although his bin sympathies might be ba with bis bin own race in genital and in the poor home seeker in particular still as the acknowledged eck soldier father of the indians this is the title by which he Is known among them he felt it his bia bounden duty to protect their rights against any and all interlopers interlope rs and intruders who might seek to steal land or mines from the nations s wards under his bis charge he nad and talked serious ly and earnestly earnest lyl to all the principal and influential men among the UlD Uin tabe tabs and hail bad advis advised eci them to sell the western half or of their reservation retaining the eastern half which contains most of the valuable farming lands in id the reservation much more than sufficient to give each and every indian who desires desire it a good home he farther stated thai thai he believed the malor major portion of the indians indiana were favorable to this proposition and that the commission appointed to renew the negotiations for or the opening of the expect ed ad to arrived by the end of october would find the indians indiana more tractable than their predecessors predecessor had done crone this thie same flame view in if taken by most of the white government employee emp loyes of the be reservation and also aleo by several old mormon friends of the lu indians dlane who are able to talk to them in their own language and have thus been able to sound their views the only difficulty that we conceive will be the oration atlon er ay the some of their would be friends have exaggerated ideas idear as an to the mineral wealth la in these mountain lands which the indians are advised to sell to the government ern ment it to is on OB this rook that bat the negotiations way may again suffer shipwreck if these friends of the indians indiana in their seal ceal to benefit them would only consider that the sup supposed Dosed rich mines on the be reserve are merely by not one bareng so far been proved they might be lose less disposed to insist on exorbitant and impracticable terms terme it is true that a certain mineral commonly called or mineral rubber more correctly ePY has been found on the southwestern part of the reservation this abie mineral belongs to the class of hydrocarbons in which are usually grouped gilsonite and the other itt ito supposed value consists in that it to is believed to be capable of being used io in connection with vegetable in the manufacture of rubber goods in this connection a great deal has bae been claimed for this mineral with how bow much truth the future alone can the veins value so BO far are small their depth is altogether problematical and no do experiments on a working scale oasis anve been made with this bis substance so far as we know we have never seen these veins or depolite but know the sources from chic we obtain our information to be perfectly reliable outside from tais to is elastic bib bl bumen uMeD it 16 is 18 not known know n that any other mineral exists on that portion of the reservation which it ie proposed to open to the public in leaving the reservation we went up the duchovne Duo Duc besne hoone river and tb through rough the two strawberry valleys but out of 0 deference to the wishes of the colonel colon we never left the traveled road until we were outside the limits of the reservation it to Is supposed by some who pretend to be informed that natural boundaries ies will be selected for the remain remaining nig ig reservation in this it to is asserted that rick creek on the west and the on the west au a u south will be the dividing line the reservation as it exists today is about sixty five miles long trona from east easi to west ana about forty miles wide from north to south containing in round numbers about two millions of acres there are about one hundred and fifty thou thousand eane acres of et good agricultural jan lying in the locality between the uintah sud and Duche duchesne Duc besne sine rivers out off from lake fork by high broken ridges one third of this to is embraced in the high bench already mentioned one third in a lower bench surrounding the upper bench like a terrace the other being bottom land along uintah and duchesne rivers there are about acres of agricultural landon the ulf different ferent branches of lake pork fork consisting of bottom and bench lands some ome very good but on OD the whole not as level as the fore going this makes in all one quartet quarter of a million of acres of farming land contained in that portion of the reservation the she indians indiana propose to keep the other three quarters of a oaf tilon filon consist of high mountain grazing lands some of which Is in excellent and embracing fine budles bodies of timber but there are also some low worthless and lower bad lands on the he upper duchesne Duc besne and lower strawberry rivers are perhaps twenty five thousand acres of good farming lands consisting of benches beaches and bottoms on the south mouth side of the da bobsene to green river are perhaps one hundred thousand acres more making one hundred and twenty five lave thousand acres in all or one of that portion of the reservation the indians deans propose to sell sel the other seven eighth eighths consist or of first class grazing lands tor for both summer and winter use embracing the two strawberry valleys the be larger of which has ban an area of about twenty five thousand acres and the smaller about seven thousand acres all these figures it must be understood are approximate in this connection we w would mention that the south boundary of the reserve as established by the earlier survey of dubois and the last survey of oakes embraces a small narrow valley which drains directly into green river the executive order chion created the reservation was wa made and based on the treaty with the indians ot of 1863 which declared that all ail the water sheds drained by the uintah river and its tributaries tributa ries should constitute the reservation the survey embracing the above valley is therefore to that extent erroneous and unjust to the citizens of this state should a straight north aud and south line be agreed aponto divide the reservation which has bedo bean talked of to some extents extent it would be well for the state to tn insist that this south boundary be re surveyed in accordance with the provisions of the treaty the th valley in question embraces about twenty thousand acres of good farming land which can be readily irrigated from strawberry crook creek or du obelne chamne river the following are some of the elevations ot of the country embraced la in the reservation main strawberry valley feet bove above sea level little strawberry valley feet above pea level upper duehesne valley feet above sea level mouth of rook bock creek feet above sea level white book agency feet above sea level of strawberry creeks creek feet above sea level mouth of lake fork teal feet above sea level mouth of uintah river feet above sea level those these figures show elevations almost identical with those ot of sanpete aud and castle valleys these lost last named valleys are about sixty miles further south but this is more than oommen sated by the protecting influences of the mountains surrounding the aln tah tab valley country the above figures also show the great fau fall or slope ol of tho the country amounting to as much SN as one hundred feet per mile providing the most moat favorable conditions condition for handling belittling and controlling the water of which there la in more in proportion than in any other part of the state these lost last two facts fact will be duly appreciated precia ted by our practical far farmer meral in conclusion we will state that we did not visit the uncompahgre reservation baft a it to ie well known that but a Is few thousand sores acres of farming land exists there near the mouth of the white river the balance being grazing land buti but on this reservation it must be borne in mind are those extensive velna veins or of gilsonite the purest alphe hum known which have been the source of contention among rival companies and which have therefore retarded we the opening of this reservation this gilsonite gl has baa appeared but of late blace the discovery in utah in large quantities upon the markets market of the world formerly it all came from the neighborhood of the dead 8 sea as 11 in palestine where it was waa mined by arabs and carried on the backs of camels to the suez canal whence it was shipped to all parts of the world it was formerly used exclusively for the finest grades of asphaltum carriage varnishes and brought about per ton in our markets since the discovery of this material la in such large quantities in ID utah its ite use uee has become more extended it Is now used also in thi th manufacture of a roofing material for b it is well adapted mixed with the necessary ingredients of sand band etc which exist everywhere it will make the best beat asphaltum pavement its ito insulating propertied are also very great from this it will be seen that its possible pos elble use is ia almost unlimited formerly about fifty carloads per an num would supply the markets of this conti continent neni at present the st louis gilsoul Gl ite company alone ship about fifty carloads per week from its mine near purt fort Duo besne the price Is ie now about 60 per ton but even at this figure there are immense fortunes in these theme veins of gilso tilte the U reservation was created by an executive order withdrawing these lands from the market the indian title having long ago been extinguished extin guised whereas as an the uintah reservation the title to the land Is still vested in the indian indiana under the treaty made with them in 1868 by colonel irish in behalf of the U B S government all of which to Is respectfully submitted |