Show REMOVAL OF THE UTES articles have lately appeared in the NEWS taken from other papers concerning this county and th the proposed ro removal of the southern utes tes from colorado into a reservation to be made from the southeastern part of utah in which the people who have made this region their home have not been truthfully represented As we were among the founders of place we witald like the givhan you and the public a few fact facts in regard to our situation to give you a correct idea of our circumstances we will have to go back to the beginning of our settlement the founders of this place arrived here on the ath of A april r 1 1880 after a long and perilous fo jour u r ney from our former homes for a number of years we had to go to alamosa alamona a distance of miles for the necessaries of life flour costing 10 per hundred delivered here we found that in order to irrigate theland around our settlement we would have to make a canal seven miles long A portion of this canal would ave to be made in the river and alonea bank of shifting it required the united labor of sixty men seven months for three years to bring the water successfully to our settlement the remaining five months of each year we had to go to colorado zand nd labor for the support of ourselves and our families allowing each man 50 per month while working at home on the canal this will make the canal cost this we consider a low estimate mateef of the actual coltof cost of construction considering the price of flour and other supplies one writer stated that the mor imor mons 1 1 were anxious to leave their homes and that bishop president hammond Hammo Ild was with the commission oom mission and aided them all in his power in making the treaty these statements are not true in the first place the are not anxious to leave their homes but quite the reverse again president eDt hammon did not aid the commission only in getting a correct idea of the country and in placing a fair valuation on our improvements therom the commission did not dot have time to visit bluff so they asked president hammond to make an estimate estima teof of our claims and improvements and to place it at as low a figure as possible promising to double it in their report vo rt and to see that we received a I 1 fair ir remuneration for fbi our trouble in moving the estimate was given in at one third the actual cost the commission cut it down two thirds more in their report thus allowing us ua about 11 II cents on the dollar for fok our property F the commission represented to the secretary of the interior that our canal was a failure and that we had no more right to claim it as an improvement pro than a man would have whose house was built on the bank ot a river and then washed away and that they were sorry for the people united I 1 but did not think the united states ought to pay for such improvements this illustration was as untrue for our canal has not been washed down the river but on the contrary it has carried water to our farms and gardens every year since its completion and has a good stream of water in it at the present time it Is claimed that weare we are only batters squatters and that consequently we have ave no DO claim upon our lands this w is partly true but it is no fault of ours for we have been trying for nine years to get the government to survey this part of the country couil try and let us enter and secure title to our claims we are truly grateful to our respected acted representative hon john T aine for his faithful and success mi ful labors in our behalf and should the ul question come up in congress again and no doubt it will we hope to have a man there who is acquainted quain ted with all our circumstances to assist him in obtaining justice lor for us I 1 in n regard to on our r deemi seeming ng will willingness ng to move we are law abiding citizens and eifling wifling willing to leave our hard earned homes if the interest of the Sivern government ment and country require it but ut we are not willing to move without a fair remuneration for our labor and improvements we are not as some writers would have you believe sitting supremely down without ambition or enterprise waiting for government to move us but we are still making improvements around our homes planting fruit and shade trees and fen fencing cin 9 and farming not only our old farms but new ones we are well satisfied with our homes and our prospects for good grain and fruit crops have never been better the health of the people is good and a good spirit prevails notwithstanding the dark cloud that is hanging over us wishing you and your valuable paper success and the triumph of truth and justice I 1 remain yours truly JENS NIELSEN san juan county utah june 12 1889 |