OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF UTE COMMISSION. ment. With a ead expression of oonntenlvnce and with a voice which impreaaed every one present, Sapavanaci, when abant to. tonoh. the peo,,mid "it was the bast they oould do, though notjust what they wantad." K6d fgoatio, when in the act of sign-iog the instrnmeot of rs.tificatian, remarked to na in a very impressive manner that "it was the desire end hope of all the Iodiaos that the wmmissioners would he care-ful to aee that the wvernment fsithfuliy fulfilled md carriedout its part of the agree-ment?' The Indians were assured that so soon as the agreement was rstiGed thecommiirrion noold advise the department of the fact, and request that the funds appropriated shoold be distributed per capita without delay. Our arrangements were made with- General Pope for two military escorts and tranapoctation to leave Alamosa. at the same time, one going to the Los Pinos and the other to the Southern Agency with the quota of money to make the payment afi each. With hut slight delay the journey was made to the Southern Agenoy and the quota of money due the Indians there waadistributed among them. It we8 deemed prodent at that time to delay the visit to the Lbs Pinon Agenoy, heoause of the exoitement which folloned the killing of Chief Chsvan~naux's son by a freighter md the subvequent killing of the lettar by the Indians. Hsuee the money did not read the Uooompahgre until the 7th day of December, when the In-dians were collected and it was without delay distributed among them. The portion of money due the White River Utes remains nopeid. These Iodims are now, es we are informed, on the Uiutah Reservation. Had wo been able to carry out the original plan for the distribution of the money. the work oould have been oompleted in time to haye given at least one month to the exploration of the valleys of the La Plata and Grand Rivers in Colorttdo and New Mexi20 and Utah, and the country in the vicinity of each. Baing i~nableto do this, we are therefore not io possession of such information ss to warrant os in giving you an approximate estimate of the quantity of land in these vslleya and the euuntrg adjacent thereto that can be brought into a state of oultiva-tioo. We feel, however, quite sure that it wlll benecessary to go heyondthem and into the vslleys of other etreerus in order to find suffioient agriouitural snd gmning laud on which to looare the Soothern and Unoompahgre Utes. The White River Utes cab, we think, be furnished with the nseessary quantity of allch lands vithin theUintah Reservstion. We &renot aware that the Uintsh Indiana will make any objeotion to the lac&ti,tion of the White River Indians on tbeir reservation, and yet in the future trouble may %arise, siu,oe in the annual payments to the White River Indiana of the one-sixth of the money that will aome to them from the agreement, the Uintah Iudiaos will not partiaipate. The Uintah Indians were parties to the treaty of 1868, as well ss to the agreement of 1813, known as the Bruoot agreement, and as late as October, 1878, they were regarded as having an interest in the Ute Rnservation in Colorado, and by their chief8 sod headmen gave their assent to sueh arraogements as were then in oon-tempistion for the surrender of so muoh of the spme to the government as was sitoate south and west of the Sao Joan mining distriot. If i t he assomed that their present reservation is an equivalent far their interest in the reservation in Colorado, and now the larger portion of the Uint,ah Reservation is to be occupied by the Whits River In-dians, and the land assigned to them in severalty, i t is respectfully suggested that the Uintah Indiana should bave such ooo~pensstiooa s would plans them on anequal foot-ing with the Southern Uncompahgre and White River Utes. In the act of June 15,18dO, it is providedthat sfter theaompietion ofthe allotment and patenting of the lmdsto the Utes they shall be subject to the oivil sod crimiual llawa of the State or Territory in whioh they may reside, with the right to aue and be sued in the courts thereof. We fear that serious evil may result from this provision of the law. During the paternal relation that will exiat between the government and the Indians for a number of years, we think they had better remain subjeot to the laws of the United States, as provided by the treaty af 1868. With exterior boundary lines distinctly marked around the territory in which these Indians will be located on their allotted lands, and the laws of the United States extended over suoh territory, they would be free from nluch of the annoyance and injury that evil minded persons might suhjeot them to through the prooess of the State or Territorial tribuuels. We drpm this espeoially important in vmw of the radical change proposed, whereby the Indians are to ocoupy tbeir lsrfds in eeveraity, and we think they should be molested as little as possiblb ootil tbeg have had time to adapt themselves to thenew mode of life. I t was by your instructions obsdeoor d ~ r tyo use any possible effort to secure the aur-reudar of sueh of the W bite River Iod~aoxss ware guilty, or who were implicated in the murder of Agaut Meeker, acd the murder of, and outrages upon, the empi0y6~s t the White River. Agenoy on the 29th of September, 187% This we did, but without suooess. The White River Iudians who were iucouuoil with us at the Los Pinos Agenay affirmed that they did not know who were the guilty parties. They said that the ~ e - d ~ a n ss uppoasd to be guilty had gone away-lsft the aountry and never returned. Some of them, they said, were dead, and others gone they knew not where. They had huntad for but could not find them. They thonght aome had goo8 to and joined Sitting |