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Show Shivwits 113 lived as far south as the edge of the canyon of the Colorado and as far north and west as the Virgin River. The Tonoquints and Paroosits, who had been the aboriginal inhabitants of the area in which the Shivwits Reservation was established, either had left the area or practically had disappeared because of disease. The population of the relatively isolated Shivwits also had been decreased by 1890, but at least one band had managed to survive in the southern end of their territory. John Wesley Powell visited the Shivwits in 1870. He had been informed that they were responsible for the deaths of three of his men who had climbed out of the canyon of the Colorado River while he was descending it. The Indians had killed the men because they believed them to be from a group of miners who had killed one of their women on tjie east side of the river. They found it impossible to believe that anyone would try to come down by way of the turbulent Colorado River. Powell found the Shivwits to be peaceable and trustworthy when left with the care of his pack train and supplies.6 By 1891 Powell was still one of only a handful of white men who had visited the Shivwits Nuwuvi in their natural homeland. It is unfortunate that conditions did not remain that way. By the 1880's the burgeoning ranching interests of southern Utah had begun to spread further and further into the "Arizona strip" north of the Colorado. In the late 1880's Anthony W. Ivins, a prominent Washington County resident, bought the part of the Shivwits Plateau known as Mohave Ranch along with several hundred head of cattle.7 The operation was quite successful, and, after a brief change of ownership, Ivins organized a company with relatives as investors and himself as manager. There was only one problem holding up the complete success of the ranching operation, and in his position as Mayor of St. George, Ivins began to pressure the national government to remove it. That problem was the Shivwits who lived near Ivins' ranch and occasionally raided his cattle. Ivins brought the Indians to the attention of authorities in Washington. He suggested that land on the Santa Clara River be bought for them and that they be removed to that location. Congress appropriated $40,000 for the purpose, and Ivins was appointed Special Disbursing Agent to spend the money for the Indians' benefit. Ivins purchased and fenced land on the Santa |