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Show removal controversy. The other Colorado senator, H. B. Tabor, seems to have also not been at all interested in the controversy. Certainlv, he did not show the enthusiasm for the affair that his predeceors had. And the interest among the citizens of the state appeared to have declined, if the limited number of articles calling for removal which appeared in the Durango and Denver newspapers are anv indication or public opinion. The interest of the Department of the Interior had also declined. The 1880 commission was ordered to disband and submit its records and reports to the Secretarv of the h \ t e n o r - This action was carried out bv a clause in the Indian Appropriation Act of March 1, 1883. All work left unfinished was continued bv a special agent from the Department. By this time the necessarv surveys for allotment had been completed and paid for out of the appropriations giv en to the commission for the purpose of removal. Had the Department deemed it expedient, the Utes could have been given land- in- severalty, but this was not the case. This period of inaction marked the end of the first stage of Congress' dealings with the Utes Prior to 1879 Congress had spent little time discussing the Ute Indians of Colorado However, after the Meeker incident and the increased pressure of the Colorado and New Mexico citizens Congress seriouslv debated the question of what to do with the Utes. By the end of 1882 the question'had been solved for the Northern Lite bands but interest in solving the question for the three Southern Ute bands had declined. However Congress' involvement had changed the Government's approach to the Utes. No longer were the LItes met bv two or three commissioners who asked them to give up their lands; now they were debated about in the Halls of Congress, and the entire nation was made aware of their problems. This public awarness was i^ ua^ L3 " i m I K ) r t a m Pa r t i n shaping the future solution to the removal question. By 1883 there was a change in the Government's conception of the Lite Reservation. A Southern Lite Reservation was to be separate from the rest of the Ute Reservation. - Bureau ot American Ethnology Photo Camp Scene - Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado. - 30- |
