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Show REPORT OF THE UTE COMMISSION. 333 By rha ronn* of thn acreemen1 emhndied iu rlw act cn'Conpe~s of Jn~rbo 15, 1??0, the Saurhern lires wrrc to rw,,o\.v ru >and lrttle upon rhe nnoccupied a,,rir.ulrural lnndr on thv La t'l8trn ltivcr, i n Volorndo, nod if tllelu al~ouUn or be .I ourli2rarT of ~ l ~ rlalntd * in Calnr:ul~r~h,v n npuu anrln other 8rtrvccupie~al pri#:!tlrnral lnndc sa no~syb v tinlnd un 1lsn LII Plsla ltirur or iu irs virlni1,vin N,.w lIc\i?o. In urdor ru 1'ieilar;lre rltls work, I did. 01, rllt: ?211 of Auril. inrlrucr llle rc,nrrilvror.i fur s u r r r r i n ~rh e lduda uu which ~~ ~ ~ - these~ndiansw ere to'be'lolocated in sever?lty, who were then in"wsshington, to pro-oeedlvithout delayto the work of surveying the unoccupied agricultural lands ou the La Plata and its vioinity within tho Ute Reservation in Colorado, as well as similar lands on said river and in its vicinity in New Mexioo. I reached Denver on my way to my field of labor on the first day of May; Commis-sioner Mesohem reaohed there before me. Commissioner Mears soon joined us. The United States oourt was then in session, pod it was understood that the grand fury of this court had before it the oaae of the murder of a man named Jeakson, who was killed on the Ute Reservation in September, V80. On cou~ultationw e reached the conelusion that Mr. Mears and myself should remain until the grand jury made a de-liverance. This came in the form of an indiotn~ent a. dnst Chief L'hlavanaug and four other Indianafor murder, with a count in the same oRhmging Mr. Meacham, Agent Be l ~ sa, n d Mr. Cline with being accessories before the fact. On the 11th of Mn"v., Mr. Meahham was admitted to bail,%nd the case was continued. Colonel Page, the agent for the Southern Utes and Mr. T. B. Medary, of the firm of Tyler & Medary, the oontraotorsfor surveying the Southern Ute lands, were in Wash-ington when I left there and I expeated them to reaoh Denver 80Cn after I did. They were delayed, and 1 felt'it was proper to await t,heir coming. They left Denver for the agenoy on May 20, and I followed in afew days. Immediately on my arrival st the agency I began aman ements for the exploration of the country, and started out on that duty without de?q. My first work in that line was the erplorstion of the La Plats. Valley, and the lands adjacent, from the northern line of the Ute Reservation to the 'unotion of that river with the San Juan, in New Mexico. On arriving at the moutd of the La. Plats. the Lower Animas was visited in the region of Farm~ngtan. The purpose was to learn something reliable in relation to t.he disorder that was said to prevail in thst region among eontending elements of white people, so thnt steps could be taken to prevent the Indians from being involved. In this expedition I was accompanied by Agent Pa e We camped on the dnimas abont the middle of the afternoon, and remained untif &n o'olook the next day, and then retraced our steps to the mouth of the La Plate end ascended that stream to Fort Lewis, a few miles north of the north line of the fndian reserva-tion. About six mile8 above the mouth of and in the valley of t,he La Plata River we reached the cabin of a settler named Rambo. He had been there but afew months. The first ranoh on the La Plats below the southern line of the Ute Reservstion is owned by Mr. Pond. He had been there for several years, and had 25 or 30 aeres of land under oultivation. His claim is bounded on the north by the reservation line. He informed me that in the La Plata Valley, in New Mexioo, there were twenty-three settlers. I observed but nineteen b~hitationsi,n cluding those of Pond and Rembo; and there was an absence of cultivation, or land broken for thst purpose, at many of these. I am nut informed, and hence cannot state, wh&t rights these settlers have acquired. On the way np the valley and withill the IJte iteservation we observed several herds of cattle grazing, and learned that the ~taokmen were about to have their an-nual "ronnd uo " at or near the mouth of Cherrv Creek. which is on the reaervat,it.ion. ~ ~ ~~~~- ~~ ~ ~~. \Vc. rerurned to tho ag'.l~cyo n tlw (.v(.ning 4;f J~tne 'd,3 1181 ron#ailtt*I8 Cew dapr, wht,nrlw worhuf iar18,:rting 111*, Iqnd a-ila n~atlrnell. 1 v:aited, in 1I1v onlernnmed, rho rallcgs of rhe Aniumr, Florid;t,l.ua Pinor, uoal Piedn~n, ud iuq,ccred the ln!>d3i n each, n-ac,ll ns tin. adjac .~nrg razing Innd-, and irt.m tinl+.1 0 tiwr ~.IRIIC~~II~ s rnwr i toon r*h e ronrrarrctr.+ lo proceed to surrey thm* lands in a?~~la~ljitcreo nwr u~hv alley wirhinrlne l i l u i r a of the Indian ~PR( . I I~~T!OI#. I t n . a ~m y i~tenrionw hen I visited rhc vnlluy oithu Picdrd ru explore the Sun .Itlatr Valley alw, bur ibe lwar a.,ms, tarrrcirr thnt I war ran~prlledt oforego tltia. I, I~uwerrri,n vlnldod l l b t Jurvey of the land i u the ';ao.luau Vnlles, \rilllie tin, 1:ra Renrrvation, i ; ~m r inatrscfiuzln. l l ln mll.,v uf rhc \Inn~.or. whichlies west of the La Pleta, ocntaine&, a8 I was informed, hut %"meager qnantit$ of &rahle land, and it seemed to me that it would be well to omit it, and I so advised the depertment. By direction of the Secretary of the Interior, instruotion~ were after\vardissued to the sllrveyors to include the land in theMsncosValley in their work. The Rio Nutria does not appear on the map that wea furnished me; hence, I did not refef to it. I learn from correspondenoe ~ t Mrh. M edary, who isconducting the aur-veymg, that he has included in his amvey the lands on the Nutria. Aeent Pace aocomoanied me durinz the whole time tha~t~ -I we-n e~nena~n4. i~~ n ~t..hn.~e wo..~r.k- Q of i;kpe#:tir;;' the laud. His at.rviet,n\ero vcrj v:dlnailhl~, und he rendnrctl them cheer-fully. Otlr unrtit wa.i a fi,tlr-lor~llli. ~~! i l ,~~laxudn vd~ri~ve r, rrnr and f l ~o, l stnincd front thb ntilitarj eon8msndcr a1 Fvrt Lrwla. 1 d,.sirrd to Lave frnw hiln two ~nddleho rses, |