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Show satisfied that the mass of the Indians want a new home, where the climate is milder, the grass and the game more abundant, and where they can be more secluded and not so much interfered with by white settlers. Then, again, this reservation, traversed as it is by the following rivers, to wit, the Navajo, San Juan, Blanco, Piedra, Pine, Florida, Animas, La Plata, and Mancos, besides other smaller streams, and containing about 350,000 acres of rich farming land, which can be irrigated from the above rivers at but little expense, is so essential to the prosperity and development of this part of Colorado that it is beyond human reason to believe it will long be permitted to remain under the control of a people who only cultivate at most 600 acres, and do most of that by renting their farms to Mexicans on shares. 42 Upon returning from the survey Ignacio asked that another council be held on the 26th, which was granted. In this the Indians asked for an inspection tour of the proposed San Juan Countv Reservation. They asked that three members of each band be allowed to tour with me commission. The commission agreed, and the group left the agency on October 10. When the group reached the Dolores River at the Big Bend, the Utes refused to go any farther claiming that the east line of the proposed reservation should run north and south through the bend. The commission stated the line was to parallel the Utah- Colorado boundary line. In the heated discussion among themselves of whether to go on and tour the proposed reservation or not, one Ute shot a Capote Ute and killed him. The other Capotes in the camp refused to go on with the tour. By the time the group had reached the Carlisle Ranch near the northeast base of the Abajo mountains the Indians felt they had seen enough and refused to go any farther fearing the commission might be taking them to the Uintah Reservation. The Utes agreed that the San Juan County would make a good home for their people and returned to the agency pleased with what they had seen. 43 The commission, after traveling to Salt Lake City to review the titles of the settlers in the San Juan area, returned to the agency to find the Indians very friendly and willing to negotiate the new agreement. The terms of this new proposal were drawn and signed by all the male Indians who were at the agency at that time. By November 14, 274 signatures were obtained - well over the necessary 242 estimated as three quarters of the adult male population. 44 The agreement called for a reservation to be established in San Juan County, Utah, with its boundaries: Commencing on the north bank of the San Juan River where said river crosses the line between Colorado and Utah; thence running north on said line 75 miles; thence running due west to the Colorado River; thence running southwesternly along the east bank of Colorado River to the San Juan River where it empties into the Colorado River; thence running easterly along the north bank of the San Juan River to the place of beginning. 45 The proposed reservation covered about 2,912,000 acres, nearly 2,000,000 acres more than the Utes had held in Colorado. In addition to the new land the Indians were to receive $ 50,000 in ten annual installments, $ 20,000 worth of sheep, a new agency, and permission to hunt on and around the unoccupied lands of the La Sal Mountains. 46 42. Ibid. 43. Ibid., pp. 12- 13. 44. Ibid. 45. Ibid., p. 5; RCIA, 1889, op. cit., pp. 66- 76. 46. Ibid., pp. 5- 6; RCIA, 1889, op. cit., p. 77. - 41- |