OCR Text |
Show CHAPTER II THE AMERICAN INVASION, 1 8 4 8 - 1 8 77 HP wo mining booms, one in California in 1849 and another in Colorado in 1859, the development of stagecoach and mail routes from the Mississippi River to California, the opening of the Oregon Trail and the completion of the trans- continental railroad route in 1869 brought increasing numbers of whites to the Ute lands. Some stayed. The competition for land became great. The LItes were unable to protect this land base, so that by the year 1878, a period of only thirty years, it had been reduced to an area of only the western one- third of Colorado and designated the I Ite Reservation. The first notice of the change was given in a treaty made by the Linked States Government • in 1849 with the LItes shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe- Hidalgo. Called the Calhoun Treaty, because it was negotiated by James S. Calhoun, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, it was ratified by the LInited States Senate on September 9, 1850. The treaty stated that the Government would protect the Lite Indians if they agreed to end their frequent raids on northern New Mexico, recognize jurisdiction of the Government over their lands, adopt its laws and, finally, adhere to its Indian policy. It was later used as the legal instrument to secure . American entry onto the Lite domain. The right of Government intrusion onto the reservation was written into the treaty by a provision which allowed the construction of military posts and the establishment of Government agencies. ^ Although the Indians seemed not to understand either the nature or the scope of the treaty, by signing it they agreed to these instructions. While it was the policy of the Government's Indian Department to establish agencies for the tribes, the remoteness of the Lite lands made this impractical. Instead, the agent for northern New Mexico, located at Taos, was instructed to give the LItes their presents, a provision of the treaty, and to serve what needs they might have in the future. Although this agency was to serve all three bands of Southern LItes, only the Muaches came for their gifts. Rugged terrain and long distances seemed to discourage the other two bands from frequenting the agency. Their isolation from Anglo civilization continued. However, the isolation was soon destroyed. In the desire to control the LItes, the Government slowly shifted the agencies north, closer to the LItes. The Government had assigned the Capotes to a common agency with the Muaches at Abiquiu, New Mexico, located west of Taos. While not all of the Muache LItes were using this agency, it was gaining importance as a meeting ground for Government officials and Southern LItes. Other agencies north of Taos used for the distribution of goods at this time included Maxwell's Ranch, New Mexico, and Conejos, Colorado. 3 The Government further penetrated the area by building a military post, Fort Massachusettes, at the foot of Mount Blanca in the San Luis Valley. The post was authorized in 1852 and established in June of that same year. Due to harsh winters and the isolated location the fort was abandoned in 1858 in favor of a new fort, Fort Garland. Although the American fort was the first to be established in Lite territory, and the first in Colorado, it engendered little attention from the LItes. 1. Hereafter when the word Government is used alone, it designates the United States Government. Other governments referred to will be appropriately identified. 2. The exact boundaries of the Ute domain were not stated. The treaty of 1849 only-referred to the Ute land in general. 3. Joseph Gilbert Jorgensen, " The Ethnohistory and Acculturation of the Northern Ute ( unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. University of Indiana, 1964). p. 93. - 3- |