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Show Years of Loss, Years of Adjustment, 1882-1933 127 Red Cap, ca 1910 Red Cap was one of the leaders who organized the trip to South Dakota in 1906. Hundreds of People left the Uintah Reservation in protest of its being opened. (Photograph by Meyers Studio, from Ute Museum and Archives) Uintah and Ouray Agent C. G. Hall attempted to induce the Ute People to return to their former homes. They persisted in their journey. Even Inspector McLaughlin could not persuade all of them to return. The governor of Wyoming was finally able to convince the federal government to send troops against them. When the army surrounded the People, they saw the hopelessness of their situation. After a council with the military, they agreed to be escorted to Fort Meade, South Dakota. There the People were dismayed to find that the Sioux were not only unwilling to enter into an alliance, but they had no hunting lands to share. In a state of bewilderment, the People were settled on a portion of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. Some worked for the railroads, others found jobs in Rapid City. In 1908 the Ute People were escorted back to Utah. This "anguished odyssey" reinforced the breakdown of traditional political organizations. The leaders were defeated and discouraged. Their inability to control their destiny, to make decisions for their people in the face of white power and control was sorrowfully demonstrated. They remained in encampments as late as 1916 and maintained a "cold war" hostility toward agency personnel.31 |