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Show Ute Delegations, 1863-1905 75 1898 Delegation In June 1898 Congress passed an act which authorized allotments to be made on the Uintah Reservation with the consent of the People. The Uintah and White Rivers would not give their consent. A delegation of their leaders went to Washington in November to express their opposition: "Our land is small, and we do not want to sell it to anyone. . . . We have no more land than we want ourselves for our own use."21 The delegates also expressed their concern over hunting rights in Colorado. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs said he was: . . . sorry that you are deprived of means of support which you have hitherto depended upon in no small degree . . . [but] the time is near at hand when you will be able through the cultivation of the soil [and] cattle raising ... to secure an ample living without being obliged to go beyond the boundaries of your reservation.2- This prediction was never fulfilled. The Uintah and White River People continued "unanimous and determined in their opposition to making cession to the government of any of their lands and to allowing any Uintah or White River Indian to take and hold an allotment....."23 However, non- Ute mining, ranching, and farming interests continued their pressures to open the reservation. 1905 Delegation In 1903 the government moved to open more of the Uintah Reservation to entry and settlement, with or without Ute consent. This capped years of frustration for the People. Councils were held at the reservation. The Ute People expressed their opposition. Congress then proceeded without their consent. A large delegation of leaders traveled to Washington in 1905 to protest this action. They demanded that provisions of the treaties and agreements of 1863, 1868, 1873, and 1880 be fulfilled. They pleaded that they be removed to a reservation where they could be left alone. |