| OCR Text |
146 UTAH SUPERINTBNDENCY. sell to the Spaniards for slaves; but since the Territory has been sc?ttled by the whites that traffic has ceased. / The operations of Special Agent Sale for the past year have been among these Indians. 1 have no further report from him than the commn. nication forwarded the 15th of Nay last. Mr. Sale has no way of trans-mitting letters to this office only as opportunity offers by private convey-ance, being most of bhe time among the Indians, far removed from the mall lines. These Indians, until the last year, have never been visited by an agent of the government. THE PAE UTES. These Indians properly belong in Nevada and Arizons, but range over in southwestern Utah among the settlements, and occasion a great deal of trouble by stealing the stockof settlers. The communication of Mr. Sale, of the 15th of May last, refers principally to these Indians. They are very similar in character to the Pi Edes. T~~h-e v should. as soon as uossible. be attached to an aeencv in Nevada, - " and loLated upbn a suitabli reservation, so as to withdiaw them, from the vicinityof our settlements, upon which they are disposed to subslst. During the past year the Indians have been peaceful, with the exception of the difficulties with a band of outlaws in San Pete valley, mentioned in my letter of the 28th of April last. At that time I requested the mili-tary authorities to send a sufficient force to protect the settlers and to arrest the offending Indiana. Thiswas refused, and the settlers were left to take care of themselves; they organized a force of about eighty men, and drove the Indians back to Grand river, killing about one.third of the number .' of those who were engaged in committing the depredations. Notwithstanding the Indians of this superintendency are peaceful now, in view of the fact that Indian wars are raging on our immediate boundaries in Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona, how long they will remain so it is imposslble to tell, unless those Indians who are in arms against the gavern-ment are speedily and thoroughly subdued. Occupying, as we do, a central position, and being at peace with the Indians within our borders, serves to keep the hostile tribes east and west of ns from concentratiug ; yet witness-ing the snccess of the.hostile Indians in depredating upon the government and its citizens, our peaceful tribes are anxiogs and excited. The argu~nent used with them is, that the Indians now in arms are contending for their homes; that if they are conquered and submit, they will be exterminated; that our Indians should join them in this last struggle, as the existence of all Indian tribes depends on their success; that our representations of a de-sire to concentrate and civilize them, to open farms, and build houses, is only to get them together where they can be slaughtered, and tbey thus put entirely out of the way, and the country left to the sole occupancy of the whites. Ignorant and uninformed as they are, with these arguments con-stantly urged upon them by the hostile Indians, and knowing that they are not subdued, as I have told them they would be, they feel great apprehen-sion for the future. Witnessing the constant stream of emigation, and hear-ing, as they do, from the emigrants, citizens, and too often the soldiers and officers of the government, the threats of extermination of their race, made - against all Indians, and being threatened by the hostile Indians that they will ever regard them as enemies if they do not make common cause with them now against the whites, it is not strange that they are excited and un. certain a6 to the course that they should pursue. The experience of the past assures me, however, that they wish to be friendly, and if the hostile Indians around them were only subdued the future would be safe. |
