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Show CHAPTER III THE CONCEPT OF A RESERVATION, 1 8 7 6 - 1 8 79 TThe residents of New Mexico wanted the Utes moved from northern New Mexico onto the area designated for them in the 1868 treaty. The citizens of Colorado wanted a new agreement which would move the Utes onto a new and smaller reservation centered at the White River Agency. During the period 1876 to 1879, the Government reacted to these pressures by removing the Utes from New Mexico, locating the three Southern Ute bands in a common area, and defining the southern area of the Lite Reservation as the land of the Southern Ute. Each of these events helped to create the Southern Ute Reservation. The displeasure of the people of northern New Mexico had been increasing since the failure of the Government to remove the Muache Utes from the Cimarron and Abiquiu agencies as the Brunot Agreement had stipulated. Under that agreement, the Government had agreed to establish, when the President deemed it necessary, an agency for the Weeminuche, Muache and Capote bands on the southern portion of the Colorado reservation. i By 1875 it had become apparent to both Government officials and citizens of New Mexico and Colorado that the Southern Utes would not adopt the Los Pinos Agency and area as their home. The Los Pinos Agency was located in southern Colorado near the headwaters of the Saguache River but at an elevation of 7,000 feet where the mows of the winter arrived early and remained late. The Southern LItes found this climate disagreeable for continued occupancy and chose to remain in New Mexico. The problems associated with having the LItes located in northern New Mexico were reported by the agents in 1875. The Cimarron agent, Alexander G. Irvine, stated that about 350 Muache Utes belonging to the Colorado reservation were located at Cimarron, 2 though this number fluctuated as these and other Utes moved from the Los Pinos Agency to the Cimarron Agency and back again as weather and other events dictated. The movement of these Indians caused a great deal of fear and uneasiness among the Anglo and Mexican settlers of the area. The agent reported: The Utes are much more trouble [ than the Jicarilla Apaches who were also located at this agency], being very independent, and considering themselves masters of the whole country and all that are in it; act as though every one they come in contact with must of a surety be their servant. . . . The country is fast settling up, and the Indians and settlers are crowding each other; the Indians claiming the whole country and regarding the settlers as infringing on their rights, in having herds of cattle to eat up their pastures, and in driving all the game from this country, although the Indians are in nowise [ sic] particular where they allow their horses to run or graze A field of grain suits them very well, and there not being any fences in this country the damage is often considerable; and aside from this, they are in the habit of levying contributions upon the settlers, by the way of appropriating to their own use corn, sheep, and cattle, much to the loss and annoyance of the poor settlers; and if I correct them they tell me it is their right to do so. 3 1. U. S., Congress, House, Report of the Secretary of the Interior, Vol. I, Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. 1, Part 5, 45th Cong., 3d Sess., Ser. No. 1850, 1879, p. 470. Hereafter cited as Report of the Secretary of the Interior, with appropriate year and page number added. 2. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1875, p. 830. 3. Ibid. - 7- |
