Show Uintah Ute Indian Band Wins Claim For Lands Taken From Them Many Years Ago i GOVERNMENT MUST PAY FOR SEVEN MILLION ACRES OF LAND TAKEN BY U. PAYMENTS NOT EXPECTED FOR 2 OR 3 YEARS The United States must pay the Uintah Ute Indians of Utah for around seven million acres of land taken from them many years the Indian Claims Commission decided February In two cases pending since interlocutory decisions were rendered unanimously by the Commission in favor of the Utah holding that the were owners of the land until it was taken by the United States for its own use or disposition to others under public land laws or given by the United States to a Colorado Ute In further the exact acreage of the land will be determined and the amount of compensation the United States must pay will be Values will be established as of the date the land was taken from the Were Not Involved The whose lands were in were not parties to the Ute litigations over Colorado land successfully concluded fn President Ernest L. Wilkinson of Brigham Young head attorney for the explained that the claims in these cases involved two of the oldest grievances of the Uintah Ute Indians against the federal In one the Indians contended that prior to their removal tc the Uintah commencing about the by reason of their exclusive oc and were the owners of several million acres of land in central and eastern The Commission held that the Indians had established proof of ownership of a large portion of the acres claimed and that the taking of that land by the United States for its own such as national forests and similar and its disposition of the land to others under the public land laws constituted a taking for which the Indians should be The Commission found that in 1865 the United States negotiated a treaty with the Uintah Utes under which the Indians were to give up their ancestral domain and remove to the Uintah Spanish Fork Treaty At the time of the negotiation of that know as the Spanish Fork government officials vigorously sought to have the Indians cede their land and remove to a Former Brigham who had the confidence of the Indians and who was invited by the federal officials to address the told the that if they did not sell their land to the the government would take whether the Indians were willing to sell it or because of the pressures and demands due to the increasing settlement in the then Utah Despite the signing of the treaty by the Indians and the removal by many of them to the Uintah the Congress of the United States failed to ratify the treaty and the Indians were never paid for their ceded The decision of the Commission opens on Back UTES WIN CLAIM irem page the way for the settlement of this ancient Owned By Uintah Band In the other the contended that the Uintah Reservation in northeastern established in 1861 by President Abraham Lincoln as the valley of the Uintah and confirmed by an 1864 act of was owned by the Uintah Band exclusively and that when in 1882 the White River Band from Colorado was moved by the government to the the Utah Indians were deprived of a proportionate interest in their The Commission sustained this contention and held that the are entitled to compensation for a one-half interest in the reservation as of the time of removal of the Colorado Not Completed The litigation probably will not be concluded for two or three according to the attorneys for the In addition to ascertaining the compensation to be paid for the the Commission must determine what gratuities given by the United States to he Indian over the long period involved since the claim should be set-off against the Along with President counsel for the Indians included John of D. C Glen A. formerly of and brother of President Robert W. formerly of Utah and son of Judge George S. Barker of Carl S. formerly of and son of and Williard S. Hawkins of Donald Gormley of and the D. C. law firm of Barker |