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Show Years of Loss, Years of Adjustment, 1882-1933 117 The problem of the boundary line continued to strain relations between whites and Utes. In 1886 Special Agent Eugene E. White noted the anger of the Uncompahgre: When we lived in Colorado the white man told us that strip of country [the area of streams and valleys in the upper Colorado drainage] did not belong to us â€" was not in our Reservation. He used to show us the line and forbid us to cross over. Then he asked us to 'swap' countries, and told us that when we came over here those running waters and grassy valleys would be ours. We came, and the white man took possession of our old Reservation. Then, the first thing we knew, the white man snatched those streams and valleys away from us â€" took them out of our new Reservation, where they had always been before â€" and say, 'white man mistaken, they do not belong to the Indian but to him! All time belong to white man!'6 And the White Rivers continued to be angry about having to pay pensions to the survivors and the families of those killed in the Meeker incident. Their leaders, such as Sowawick, informed the agent they would no longer submit to the practice. In fact, in 1886, the agent became so afraid of an outbreak that he subtracted the pensions not just from the annual money paid the White Rivers, but from the total money paid to all three groups.7 After an investigation of the situation the Indian Office recommended the War Department establish a military post to "discipline and control" the People. Fort Duchesne was established about midway between the two agencies â€" Uintah and Ouray. In August 1886 Major F. W. Benteen arrived with troops of the Ninth Cavalry. These troops were Blacks or "Buffalo Soldiers," as the Indians called them. They served for almost twelve years.8 The Ute People were frightened by the advance of Benteen's forces. About seven hundred of them met the army in an effort to prevent its coming onto the reservation. Negotiations between them and the army officers and Agent White convinced the People to remain peaceful.9 Construction of the fort proceeded. President Cleveland officially set reservation land aside for the fort in September 1887.10 The Ute People were now under constant military supervision. Uintah and Ouray Agency In anticipation of the establishment of Fort Duchesne, the Indian Office acted early in 1886 to consolidate the two Utah Ute |