Report of Ute Commission, January 20, 1881

Page 5

INDIAN AFFAIRS. 263 ment. With a sad expression of countenance and with a voice which impressed every oue present, Sapavanari, when about to touch the pen, said it was the best they could do, though not ji;,. t what thev wanted." And Ignatio, when in the act of sign­ing the instrument of ratification, remarked to ns in a very impressive manner that « it was the desire and hope of all the Indians that the commissioners would be care­ful to see that tho government faithfully fulfilled and carried out its part of the agree-in out • • The Indians were assured that so soou as tho agreement was ratified1 the commission would advise the department of tho fact, and request that the funds appropriated should be distributed per capita without delay. Our arrangements were made with General Pope for two military escorts and transportation to leave Alamosa at the same time, one going to tho Los Pinos and the other to the Southern Agency with tho quota of money to make the payment at each. With but slight delay the journey was made to tho Southern Agency and the quota of money duo the Iudians there was distributed among them. It was deemed prudent at that time to delay the visit to the Los Pinos Acency. because of tho excitement which followed the killing of Chief Chavanauxs son by* a freighter and the subsequent killing of tho latter by the Iudians. Heuce the money did not reach the Uncompahgre until tho 7tb day of December, when the In­dians were collected and it was without delay distributed among them. Ihe portion of money duo the White River Utes remains unpaid. These Indians are now, as wo are informed, on tho Uiutah Reservation. Had we been able to carry out the original plan for the distribution of the money, the work could have been completed in time to have given at least one month to the exploration of the valleys of the La Plata and Grand Rivers in Colorado and New Mexico and Utah, and the country in the vicinity o£ oiicl) • Being unable to do this, we are therefore not in possession of such information as to warrant us in giving von an approximate estimate of the quantity of land in these valleys and the country ' adjacent thereto tbat can bo brought into a state of cultiva­tion. Wo feel, however, quite sure t h a t it will be necessary to go beyond them and into the valleys of other streams in order to find sufficient, agricultural and grazing land . on which to locate the Southern and Uncompahgre Utes. The White River Utes can, we think, be furnished with the necessary quantity of such lands within the Uiutah Reservation. We aro not aware that the Uintah Iudians will make any objection to the location of the White River Iudians on their reservation, and yet in the future trouble mav arise, since in the annual payments to the White River Indians of the one- sixth of the money that will come to them from the agreement, the Uintah Indiana will not participate. The Uiutah Iudiaus were parties to the treaty of 1863, as well as to tho agreement of 1S73, kuown as the Bruuot agreement, and as late as October, 1878, they were regarded as having an interest in the Ute Reservation in Colorado, and by their chiefs and headmen gave their assent to such arrangements as were then in con­templation for the surrender of so much of the same to the government as was situate south and west of the San Juan miuiug district. If it be assumed that their present reservation is an equivalent for their interest in the reservation in Colorado, and now the larger portion of t h e Uintah Reservation is to be occupied by the White Kiver In­dians, and the land assigned to them in severalty, it is respectfully suggested that the Uiutah Indians should have such compensation as would place them on an equal foot­ing with the Southern Uncompahgre and White River Utes. In the act of Juno 15,1BS0, it ie provided that after the completion of the allotment and patenting of the lands to the Utes they shall be subject to the civil aud criminal laws of the State or Territory in which they may reside, with the right to sue and be Sued in the courts thereof. We fear that serious evil may result from this provision of the law During the paternal relation tbat will exist between the government and the Indians for a number of years, we think they had better remain subject to the laws of the United States, as provided by the treaty of 1863. With exterior boundary lines distinctly marked around the territory in which these Indians will be located on their allotted lands, and the laws of the United States extended over such territory, they would be free from much of the aunoyanee aud injury that evil- minded persons might subject them to through the process of the State or Territorial tnbuuals. We deem this especially important in view of the radical change proposed, whereby the Indians are to occupy their lands in severalty, and we think they should be molested as little as possible until they have bad time to adapt themselves to the new mode of lite. I t was by your instructions made our duty to use any possible effort to secure the sur­render of such of the White River Indians as were guilty, or who were implicated m the murder of Agent Meeker, and the murder of, and outrages upon, the employes ac the White River Agency on the 29th of September, 1879. This we did, but without maMaa The White River Iudians who were in council with us a t the Los Pnms Agency affirmed that they did not know who were the guilty parties. They said that the In-dhVns supposed to b e guilty had gone away- left the country and never returned. Some of C ! they saiS, were dead, aud others gone they knew not where. They had hunted for but could not find them. They thought some had gone to and joined Sitting