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Show The leaders of the other two bands agreed to removal. The Department was notified, and responded by requesting the agent to once again bring to Washington a group of the leaders who would have the power to make an agreement with the Government. A party of Utes, Ignacio, Buckskin Charley, and Tapoche, who were again serving as spokesmen, their agent, an interpreter' and State Senator A. D. Archuleta left Ignacio, Colorado, the site of the Southern Lite Agency on the Pine River, for Washington on February 20. The result of this tour was that the authorities who controlled the future of the Indians, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Congressional Committees on Indian Affairs, decided that a full investigation of the situation was needed before agreements of removal were presented to the Indians and to Congress for approval. 23 After returning from Washington both Buckskin Charley and Ignacio threatened to move their people even though no agreement had been reached. 24 Buckskin Charley wanted to take his people to Ouray, Utah, where the other LItes now lived, and Ignacio was going to move his people to the Abajo Mountain area in southeast Utah. 25 This threat forced Government action. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs decided to visit the Southern Ute Reservation, an unprecedented move, to see the conditions of the reservation and hear the attitudes of the Utes for himself. 26 The Commissioner's visit and discussions with the Indians seemed to have been a victorv for the Government. The desire of Ignacio and Buckskin Charley to move their people was calmed. They seemed content to remain in southwest Colorado. The visit did not so pacify the Commissioner. His desire to remove the LItes remained strong. Reassured that the LItes wanted to move and impressed by the Commissioner's visit that the Government was interested in that move, the citizens of Colorado again applied great pressure on Congress for action. During the'month of February, 1887, the General Assembly of the State twice petitioned Congress for removal. The petition of February 11 was addressed to both the Senate and the House. The Senate memorial, House Joint Memorial Number 1, submitted by Senator Teller asked: That the remnant of the Southern Lite Indian tribe should, in the interest of humanity, receive early consideration at your hands and be removed to a suitable reservation beyond the boundaries of this State. Your memorialists sets forth that these Indians continue in their predatory habits, that they continue to commit depredations upon the property and person of adiacent [. sic] white settlers, insisting from time to time in placing themselves beyond control of their agent by leaving their reservation at will and devoting themselves to murder, intimidation, and theft; the destruction of dwellings, of timber, and grasses by fire; the wanton killing of cattle, and other arbitrary aggressive, and unlawful acts. Your memorialist would respectfully submit that the continued turbulent and unsettled condition of these Indians is chiefly due to the character of their reser vation, being about 90 miles long, only 15 wide, inclosed by populated and well cultivated districts, lying directly across the 22. Ibid. 23. The Fourth Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Indian Rights Association for the Year Ending December 14, 1886, ( Phil.: Office of the Indian Rights Association 1887), p. 14. 24. Morgan to Secretary, op. cit.. pp. 9- 10. 25. Ibid. ' - 26. Ibid., p. 10. - 36- |