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Show the Utes for title to their reservation lands, the repeal of all laws making Colorado Indian territory and placing the land in public domain. 14 A new reservation was to be created for the Utes once they agreed to removal. 15 The bill was then sent to the Indian committee and reported back to the House on December 16 by Representative Scales. 16 On the 18th of December the resolution was debated with the House meeting as a Committee of the Whole to consider the Ute matter, and it was decided to combine Senate Resolution Number 51, and House Resolution Number 142 into one bill for consideration by the House. 17 Apparently the House passed the Senate's new bill, because the Secretary of the Interior sent instructions to the agent of the Southern Utes, through General Hatch of the Army, to summon the major leaders of the Ute Indians to Washington, D. C., that they might consult with the Government about its desire to make a new agreement with the Utes which would allow the permanent location of the Indians on lands in severalty. 18 The leaders left the reservation on January 16, 1880, with Ignacio, Buckskin Charley, Severo and Ojo Blanco, representing the Southern Utes. 19 Arriving in Washington on the first of February, the group spent that month and part of March conferring with Government officials before finally agreeing to a relocation policy. 20 It was the first time in the history of negotiations with the Ute Indians that they had agreed to move to a new reservation or to lands in severalty without first having the lands chosen and inspected for them. The agreement signed by the Utes and dated March, 1880, called for the relinquishment of their reservation in Colorado except those lands defined for use in severalty. For the Southern Utes this land was to be located on the La Plata River in Colorado and, if needed, in New Mexico. 21 In addition the leaders of the Utes promised to obtain the consent of their people to this cession of their land, after assurances that the Government would provide the lands for allotment- in- severalty, issue patents in fee- simple, and assure land title free of any incumbrances. 22 Those lands received were to be tax- free lands for twenty- five years and then taxable only if the President of the United States saw fit to remove the restriction. 23 The leaders w7ere also assured that annuities committed in past treaties and agreements were to be distributed and continued as the past agreements had stated. 24 Added to the agreement were the necessary provisions for implementation. It gave the President the authority to name a commission of five to present the conditions of the agreement to the Ute tribal members for ratification. 25 Once the agree- 14. Ibid., p. 44; New York Times, December 9, 1879. p. 1. 15. Ibid., p. 44. 16. Ibid., p. 132. 17. Meanwhile another bill was presented to the Senate asking for Ute removal. Senator Henry Teller's bill - Teller was the third member of the Colorado delegation - was simple in its request; it asked that the Utes be removed from the state. Like the others Senate Bill Number 772 was also sent to the Indian Committee. Ibid., p. 30, pp. 176- 77. 18. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1880, op. cit., p. 140. 19. Ibid., New York Times, January 31, 1880, p. 1. 20. New York Times, March 7, 1880, p. 7 21. U. S., Congress, Senate, Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting a Report from the Secretary of the Interior Containing an Agreement Signed by Chiefs and Headmen of the Ute Indians, Ex. Doc. No. 114, Part 2, 46th Cong., 2d Sess., Ser. No. 1885, January 27, 1875, p. 2. Hereafter cited as Ute Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1880, p. 316; Charles Kappler, Jr., compiler and ed., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Vol. I. ( Washington D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1904), p. 182. Hereafter cited as Kappler,... 22. Kappler, p. 182. 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid. 25. Ibid., pp. 83- 86. - 22- |