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Show Page 12, UINTAH BASIN STANDARD. August 20. 1988 Fort Duchesne turns 100 with a full history . Fort Duchesne will turn 100 years old this week. Ron williams, Fort Duchesne Community President, said there will not be an organized celebration of the event since the Business Committee failed to grant funds. With or without a party the event will still occur. But one question arises as to what the actual date of the event is. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers monument in Ft Duchesne lists the day as August 20, 1886, as the date of establishment. One published account claims August 29 and another gives August 23 as the first day of establishment Whatever the final day that is eventually settled up by the historians, the fact remains it was August of 1886 when it happened. We prefer to agree with the DUP date since this is being published on that date. Fort Duchesne was established by four companies of the famous Ninth Calvary. This gorup was known as Buffalo Soldiers and consisted of black calvarymen. In 1890 Census of Utah, Uintah County had the second largest black population of the territory. There were 127 blacks in the county that year and by 1900 the population had increased to 214. This was due to the men stationed at Fort Duchesne. The Ninth Calvary was called out to establish Fort Duchesne because the Utes were reported to be restless. Secretary of Interior L.Q.C. Lamar said they had a spirit of insubordination and, perhaps in a move of over reaction, the War Department decided to establish an outpost on the Uintah Frontier between the Indian Agencies of and Ouray. Whi-teroc- Uintah County Historian, a Vernal Doris Karren Burton, in Express article back in 1982 described the way the soldiers affected the Tribe. "The Utes were very upset over the decision to build a military post in their midst. Indian Agent Eugene E. White described the reaction in different terms, in this article. He said: "At 12 o'clock I started on the return trip to Uintah. About half way we met five Indians coming from Uintah as fast as their ponies could carry them. As they drew near and signalled to us to stop, we saw that they had been riding hard and were greatly - . excited. It gave me a very painful shock. I was afraid some new trouble had occured at Uintah. The leader was an old head man named Sour, whom Davis and I both knew to be one of the best dispossd Indians on the Reservation. But he was now terribly excited. He did not wait to get nearer than a hundred yards to begin shouting: Buffalo Spldieral Buffalo Soldiers! Coming maybe tomorrow. Indians saw them at Burnt Fort yesterday coining this way. Don't let them come! We ry can't stand it! Its very bad. You didn't tell us that buffalo soldiers' were coming and we did not agree for them to come. We did not think about them alL Leaping from his pony and rushing up to me aa I sat in the buggy, he rubbed his hand briskly over my black coat sleeve and then over his face and exclaimed with great vehemence in broken English: All over black! Then robbing his head all over with a jerk of his hand he almost screamed, Wooly head! Wooly head! All same as buffalo! White later observed that the entire tribe was sharing Sour's excitement What White may not have known was that sane Indians rode out to meet the troops with ideas of ambush. The four companies of soldiers were marching from Wyoming. One of the soldiers wrote of the experience and the ambush attempt. Henry Flack said From Aahley to the Uintah River you had your choice of two reads, one was by way of Deep Creek and the other was the regularly traveled read but much longer than the Deep Creek road. So our commander, always looking for short, cuts, decided to take the Deep Creek road. Just before breaking camp that morning, which nearly became another 'Custer Affair, one Captain Billey of the Indian Police arrived on a foaming steed and warned us not to go near the Deep Creek road, because about 300 Ute braves were ambushed along some of the deep cuts bent on another massacre like the one just previous to our coming at on the banks of the Uintah River at about 4 p.m. under forced march conditions. When they got there they were faced with about 700 Ute and Ouray in foil war dress and paint and hostile as hostile can be. Our first act was to throw out a picket line and the remainder of the tiny command started to dig in, a task we accomplished in a surpriaingly ahort time. We stayed in the trenches for three weeks, short on ammunition and provisions with a bold front displaying' our triangle shaped bayonets to the best advantage and succeeded in bluffing the Indians until the welcome approach of reinforcements under the command of Lieutenant Colonel (or Major) Ben teen. Oh what a joy in camp - bad-ve- other reason than to bring both the Ute and Ouray Indians under submission. They succeeded in doing it without very much trouble and no bloodshed whatever. The first baby bom at Fat Duchesne was Ed McCaakey's oldest The troopers hurried to get one of the rough lumber little houses they first built there ready fa the blessed event Joe Bodily, in his history, says Fort Duchesne soon developed into a real bonanza for the Uintah Basin. It brought a variety of supplies, roads opened up. hi different directions, contracts for to launch war on drugs intend to commit resources necessary to help rid the 'reservations of this illegal he addoriHe asked that all tribal leaders support this campaign. The BIA program, part of the President's war against drugs, includes the eradication of marijuana illegally cultivated on Federal and Indian lands. The BIA is cooperating in this operation with various Federal state, local and tribal law enforcement organizations to locate and destroy marijuana fields, some of which have been found hidden in deep forest areas and under camouflaged shelters. One such effort is in Northern California, where a specially trained interagency task force headed by the BIA is locating and destroying hundreds of high Bureau of Indian Affairs (BLt) Law Enforcement Officers have begun an extensive campaign against the supply and uae of narcotics, drugs and marijuana on Indian reservations throughout the United States. Interiors Ross Swimmer, acti-vit- As- Secretary fa Indian Affairs, has given top priority to improving law and order on reservations. He feels it is a fundamental key to economic development fa the Indian tribes. Many Indian reservations, were which in past years relatively free from drug activity, are now experiencing frequent IlSwimmer said. problems, reon the activities legal drug servation tea at the very fiber of the Indian communities, destroying traditional Indian values and creating lawlessness. "I and barracks (after the saw mills road passable for teams to haul supplies from Price to Fort Duchesne. ' Flack alledges in his writings shortly after the boys the telegraph line, a bunch of young Utes promptly cut down and made firewood. of that, finished ' - sistant got running) with the officers houses coming along as well Another detachment built the telegraph line to Price down Nine Mile Canyon while making the Flack said his troop took the regularly traveled road to arrive - In 1887 the Fat paid $3,600 for hay alone. In the Goodrichs place. Overall the presence of Fort history it mentions that Mary Merrril was working at Fojit Duchesne, which old remnants can still be seen, was a good, Duchesne aa a hired girl for $2.60 a week, a big wage in those days experience in interracial coofor anyone. peration. Relations between the But with the bonanza also' black, white and red men of the came the lawless. The Gusher area were generally good. There ' were times prejudice surfaced but since there and opened up Strip the residents of the Basin firmly wasn't any law that could believed the need for military adequately reach it this area became the site of saloons, protection warranted the Troops and the Fort and worked hard to that outlaws by frequented walked openly. There were sekeep both. They also realized the veral gunfights on the Strip, military personnel contributed which is more of a triangle shape, handsomely to the local economy too. but few were actually invesFort Duchesne was manned by tigated. Black and White troops until Once the outlaws attempted to touch the soldiers pay. In March after the Spanish American War in 1898. After the war the blacks of 1898 hearsay of an impending were replaced by white troops robbery attempt began circulaand the fort was finally retired by ting between the Fort and Price. the military in 1910. Since its The repots were reinforced by deactivation Fat Duchesne has the sighting of several members been the headquarters for the of the supposed Robber's Roost gang in the vacinity of Price and Uintah and Ouray. Indian Agency. Helper. Extra troops were sent to Price and when this train arrived BIA conviction. The first days at Fort Duchesne were spent in building up the camp. One group put up tents Fort Meeker. . flourished. With the coming of Siring, Flack said they built a canal from the Uintah River and planted a large garden, large lawn, numerous shade trees, all of which are at the old Fort yet The government spent a great deal of money to keep Fort Duchesne up for a number of years and for no Benteen became the second post commander of. Fort Duchesne. Ten senior officers of the Army came to Fort Duchesne, after it was established, aa members of a court martial board to try Major F.W. Benteen. He had served under Custer in the Seventh Calvary and was a survivor of the Little Big Horn, but the Utes proved to be his downfall As General Styer put it, in his The charge was reminiscences, imbiding too much. One of the principle witnesses was a Mormon Sheriff who had dined with the Major. The Judge Advocate asked the sheriff whether the The Major was intoxicated. sheriff replied, I dont know how you Army gentlemen foel about it, but when I am a guest at dinner with a man, I dont notice whether he is drunk or sober.' That was all the answer he gave. Benteen was later retired from the service under courtmartial -- wood, water. that night! in Price with the soldier payroll, approximately 40 armed calvarymen stood guard and escorted the money to Fort Duchesne. The holdup never took grain, hay and other supplies were awarded to local parties and local businesses also the poles. The results were that the calvary herded them into the fort where they were confined to the guardhouse for a time on a very wholesome diet of bread and quality marijuana plants each day. Hie BIAs Northern California effort will concentrate on marijuana eradication on reservations and rancherias in the area. Although the state and county programs have conducted eradication operations in past years in the Hoopa Valley, they have not been able to dedicate sufficient resources specifically to This years BIA reservations. operation will insure that major efforts are devoted to federal and Indian lands in the area. The United States Government, through the BIA, has trust responsibilities for approximately 53 million acres of reservation land in more than 20 states, most of it west of the Mississippi River. Phone News Items 722-513- 1 . NEW OWNERSHIP NEW MANAGEMENT V'. V sStyrfv.' Farm Equipment IndustnaEqupment U i ; V ? re . A r r ' vt: f W1 A 1 ' DO MT i" . . 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