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Show meant death. In July 1868, 2,000 Utes and all the principal chiefs gathered at Denver to protest their removal to the reservation. The protest failed. 28 Two new agencies were established- one of which was at Los Pinos and came to be called the Uncompahgre Agency. The Taviwach who were there assumed that name. The other agency was at White River, and the northern Colorado Utes assumed that name. Another agency for the Utes was opened in Denver in early 1871. It served the Utes who made Denver their base as they continued to hunt buffalo in their traditional lands. Officials decided it was less expensive to let the Utes go off the reservation to hunt than to retain them to be farmers on their reservation. 29 Non- Ute settlers and speculators continued to encroach on Ute lands. In 1870 the Little Giant Lode was discovered on the Los Animas River, and miners came into the San Juan area. The Utes put up resistance to these intruders. Chief Ouray and others convinced the Indian agent to investigate the trespassing. The miners, however, scoffed at his warnings. 30 The Colorado legislature sent a memorial to President Ulysses S. Grant dated January 26, 1872. It stated that the Ute Reservation was far in excess of Ute needs, and since valuable discoveries of gold and silver had been found, the government should treat with the Utes to reduce the size of their reservation. 31 By the Act of April 23, 1872, Congress authorized such negotiation. 32 A commission was appointed, and conferences were held with the Utes. The Utes, however, refused to give up any land. Their attitude was expressed by Ouray: " We do not want to sell a foot of our land- that is the opinion of all." 33 With the failure of the negotiations of 1872, the Government was forced to fulfill the obligations of the 1868 Treaty and keep trespassing miners off the Ute lands. This stirred turmoil among the miners, and it was soon decided to suspend the expulsion orders and permit the mining development to proceed. 34 Negotiations were begun again with the Utes. The Indians were determined to give up only the mineral lands. Ouray explained: " The mountains with the mines we will sell, but those where the mines are not in we will not sell; ... the whites can go and take the gold and come out again. We do not want them to build houses there." 35 Felix Brunot, the sole U. S. negotiator, demanded that all of the San Juan district be ceded. The negotiations continued for several days without resolution. Only after Brunot offered to find his lost son and to pay him a salary of $ 1,000 a year for 10 years, did Ouray sign the agreement. 36 Other Utes followed his example. The Brunot Agreement secured the whole San Juan district ( about 4 million acres) for the miners and drove a wedge in between the northern and southern halves of the Confederated Ute Reservation. It also provided for the removal of the Utes from New Mexico onto the southern half. 37 Within the San Juan district was Uncompahgre Park. It contained rich land and hot mineral springs which were sacred to the Utes. The agreement had 11 |