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Show Cedar City 131 to get the government to act, the authorities were only willing to have the Indians "go to some Indian reservation, this being against the desires of the Indians." 3 The government was actually planning on purchasing land in Cedar City. On May 15, 1925, The Iron County Record carried an article by William Palmer stating that the government had refused to do anything for the Nuwuvi because they were a roving band and could be helped only by being moved to a reservation like Indian Peak.6 Palmer wrote this over two months after Congress had authorized an appropriation of $1,275 on March 2, 1925 for the purchase of nine lots in Cedar City for the Nuwuvi.7 It is not clear whether or not Palmer and the other Mormons wrere aware of this fact. The money was not actually appropriated for another year. The Mormon Church went ahead with their plans, and Palmer reported that "With a view of making the Indians self sustaining a little farm has been purchased, and a workshop, together with sufficient homes to house the families is in the course of erection." 8 The Superintendent of Kaibab Agency, upon discovering the Mormon purchase, recommended that the government take no further action in the matter. The $1,275 was placed in surplus, and no land was purchased by the government. This action left the Cedar Nuwuvi without any land, because what they were living on belonged to the Mormon Church. In later years this situation led to questions about their status in relation to the government. For a short time in the late 1920's and 30's the Paiute Agency was located at Cedar City under E. A. Farrow, Superintendent and Physician. This was the only time the Cedar Nuwuvi had direct federal supervision. In the long run it did little to improve their situation. In 1954 the other Nuwuvi bands in Utah were terminated, but the Cedar City band was not. Confusion about their status meant that the Cedar Nuwuvi were overlooked. They had no federal trust land and had not been receiving BIA services. Because many of the Indian Peak Nuwuvi were living at Cedar City by the 1950's, the government assumed they were the same band. When the Indian Peak band was terminated, the separate status of the Cedar band was overlooked. This confusion continued into the 1960's: |