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Show CHAPTER V MORE WORDS WITHOUT ACTION, 1883- 1894 TCailure continued to be the theme of the next eleven years of Congress' attempt to answer the Ute question. During this time a number of bills for removal of the Utes from Colorado were introduced in Congress. All would fail to gain support. However, the discussion of these bills did help shape the eventual solution to the Ute question. One of these bills was Senate Bill Number 242 introduced by Senator Hill. It provided for agricultural lands for the Southern Utes. i There was Senate approval of the bill but the general disinterest of Congress prevailed and the bill failed in the Houses This disinterest in Congress was not matched in Colorado. Colorado citizens still feared an Indian uprising, still trespassed on Ute lands and still wanted the Indians removed from the state. The Legislature of Colorado continued to pass resolutions asking Congress for removal. 3 One of the main causes of the trouble between the whites and the Indians was the antipathy between the cattle interests of the area and the Indians. With the coming of the railroad and the growth of settlements, the cattle industry had become an expanding business in southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico. By 1884 large cattle companies were grazing their herds in the valleys of La Plata County, Colorado and in San Juan County, Utah. The rescords of the military post, Fort Lewis, 4 located just north of the reservation on the La Plata River, reported a number of conflicts between the cowboys and Indians. On June 8, 1885, the commander of Fort Lewis sent a telegram to his adjutant- general, reporting that: . . . present troubles with the LItes were started by cowboys in vicinity of Dolores' River, who have at last carried out their threats to shoot Utes on sight. They razed the walls of a tepee and muider-ed a family of six, and wounded one buck who escaped and is now on the Mancos [ River]. The Indians then retaliated on the whites as reported. I get this from the Indian Police, who have been here with their agent and are now going to Major Perry's Command. 5 In defense of their cowboys the cattlemen sent a dispatch to Congressman G. G. Symes stating the Utes were threatening their ranges and blocking the round- up of the cattle; consequently they were suffering large pecuniary losses with the possibility of a million dollar business ruined if the Government did not take action. 6 It mattered little who was to blame in the incidents. It did matter that these incidents were disruptive nuisances and limited the grazing lands, so the cattlemen added their voices to the cry for Ute removal. These voices were finally loud enough to warrant Congressional xesponse. Senator Teller, who had returned to Congress upon completion of his term as Secretary of the Interior, picked up where he had left off and again pressed for removal. On 1. U. S., Congress, Senate, " Bills Introduced," Congressional Record, Vol. XV, Part 1, 48th Cong., 1st Sess., December 5, 1883, p. 32. 2. Morgan to Secretary, op. cit., p. 6. 3. Ibid. 4. First located at Pagosa Springs, Colorado, the post was later moved to Hesperus, Colorado, on the southern portion of the reservation. Sec, U. S., Congress, House, Congressional Record, Vol. VIII, Part 1, 45th Cong., 3d. Sess., Jan. 20, 1879, p. 806. 5. Col. P. T. Swaine to the Adj.- Gen., Santa Fe, Telegram, June 22, 1885, Fort Lewis Records, Letters Sent, Microfilm Collection, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado, p. 59. 6. Denver Tribune- Republican, June 9, 1885, p. 1. - 31- |