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Show 106 The Uncompahgre Ute People Ouray (The Arrow) LaFayette Head encouraged the promotion of Ouray (U-ray) as the "Chief of the Taviwach with whom United States officials could negotiate. Ouray and Head both spoke Spanish, so federal and Ute negotiators could speak through them. However, Ouray was not the choice for leader by all Ute People. Many came to resent his continuing accommodation to the intruders. Ouray was born in Taos in 1833. His mother was Ute, his father a Jicarilla Apache. He became separated from his family and was reared by a Mexican family which gave him a command of Spanish. At eighteen he rejoined his People. At 26 he married Chipeta, a Taviwach.5 From 1863, when he first distinguished himself at the treaty negotiations, to his death in 1880, he became increasingly dominated by the intruders. He traveled several times to Washington, D. C, was built a nice home, and was paid a salary. In return, Ouray urged his people to live in peace with the intruders and sign treaties which gave up more of their land. Los Pinos (Cochetopa) Agency Under the terms of the 1868 Treaty, an agency for the Taviwach and the three Southern Ute bands was to be established on the Los Pinos River on the new Confederated Ute Reservation. However, in the summer of 1868 as the Taviwach traveled from Conejos westward toward the site of their new agency, they halted at a branch of Cochetopa Creek and refused to go any further. To avoid trouble, the army officer in charge agreed that the agency be built there. The tributary of the Cochetopa Creek was named Los Pinos Creek to conform to the name of the stream designated in the treaty.6 The agency was thus located some miles east of the reservation. Travel to the Los Pinos Agency from the nearest supply center at Saguache, Colorado, was difficult. Delays often occurred. This problem led to the establishment in 1871 of a supply point located just west of present-day Gunnison. It became the first location for cattle and sheep ranching in the area.7 Since the agency was so far north from the lands occupied by the Southern Ute, they continued to get their rations and supplies from their old agencies in |