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Show 60 Unfulfilled Promises: Negotiations with the Intruders, 1849-1882 The Ute People responded that they did not want to give up any of their land. They demanded that the government live up to the 1868 Treaty and protect their reservation from trespass. Ouray explained: We do not want to sell a foot of our land, that is the opinion of all. The government is obliged by its treaty to take care of our people and that is all we want. For some time we have seen the whites coming in on our lands; we have not done anything ourselves but have waited for the Government to fulfill its treaty. We have come here so you may see that we are not satisfied with this trespassing on our lands, but we do not want to sell any of them.29 The negotiations ended without an agreement on taking the land. However, miners continued to pour into the region. The People protested against the trespassers. The government finally' made an effort to fulfill its obligations under the Treaty of 1868. The Secretary of the Interior advised the Secretary of War to order the miners off the reservation. The orders were given, and Colorado citizens immediately protested. Mining interests pushed for an investigation. The appointed commission reported that 800 Utah Utes were located on a reserve of more than two million acres in Utah, and the 5,120 Colorado Utes lived on eight times that many acres. The commission concluded the Colorado Ute People had more land than they could use.30 Ute (Brunot) Agreement, 1873 Arrangements were made for another council. A delegation of ten Ute leaders was taken on a tour of the East. Upon returning home, Ouray admitted: "The government is strong and can do what it wants."31 He agreed to negotiate if the government would help him locate his son who had been captured ten years before by the Sioux and subsequently raised by the Arapaho. Felix Brunot agreed to find Ouray's son and return him. In the summer of 1873 John Moss, a mining developer, negotiated a private agreement with Ignacio, leader of the Weeminuche. For one hundred ponies and a quantity of blankets, Ignacio agreed to allow Moss to farm and mine a thirty-six mile area in the San Juan area.32 |
