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Show The Old Spanish Trail and the Slave Trade 49 so common and accepted that it was "considered as no more objectionable than to go on a buffalo or mustang hunt." A New Mexican in Beale's party had in fact participated in the man-hunting and urged the party to "charge on it | the Nuwuvi camp | like h-1, kill the mans, and maybe catch some of the little boys and gals." "4 Just how many Nuwuvi were made slaves is unknown, but Indian Agent Garland Hurt in 1850 suggested that the Nuwuvi population was being rapidly reduced by slavery. He pointed out that the trade had become so profitable to the Utes and Navajos that it was indispensable. He felt that it was so extensive that "scarcely one-half" of the Nuwuvi children grew up in their bands. The depopulation was worsened by the fact that a large majority of those left were males.05 William R. Palmer, a resident of Cedar City, who was much interested in the native people, recorded the Nuwuvi reaction to and feelings about the enslavement of their people during the Spanish and Mexican eras. He found that the women were particularly opposed to and heartbroken by the seizure or trade of their children into slavery: I asked how the Indian women felt about the slave traffic and the old man said they were scared to death. When a Spanish party was in the country, the women tried to take their children and run away and hide. They were as much afraid of their husbands as of the Spaniards while the party was in their country. Only the old and crippled women stayed in camp, for the Spaniards would not trade for them. In all this slave traffic, many of the Indians, especially the women, were not so heartless as would appear. Some of them followed the caravans for days seeking an opportunity to steal their children back. When one succeeded she was hunted ruthlessly and if caught was taken into slavery with her child. Still this danger did not deter them from making the attempt. There are stories among the Indians about these women hunts which seem to be authenticated. Near Cedar City there is a narrow box canyon known as Squaw Cave. Its sheer walls are fifty to sixty feet high. Some Spaniards were chasing an escaped [woman | around through the hills. Seeing that she could not escape, the woman ran with her pursuers close behind, to the edge of the cliff and dived off head first, dashing herself to death on the rocky floor. Down on the Virgin River, near the town of Virgin, there was a high rocky point that jutted out into the river which was called |
