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Show to the summer and winter grazing lands would only cause increased conflict between Indians and cowboys. 6i The president of the Pittsburg Cattle Company wrote: It [ Ute Indian removal to LItah] is bad for the Indians, as it removes him from the civilizing influence of his contact with the white race. It is promoting his savagery to place him in the wild and rugged mountainous country to which it is proposed to put him. It is a bad bargain for the Government, as it will be expensive for police regulations, and the Indian will be in a country, when in the event of trouble, which is sure to come, the Geronimo experience will be repeated, as the country is full of trails and mountain passes, from which it would be very difficult to dislodge hostile Indians. The Durango people in whose interest this legislation is demanded, settled there, knowing that the Indians were there, and now propose to put them on the innocent settlers of eastern LItah and western Colorado, who never expected to have them for neighbors with the privilege of hunting at will over the land they own in fee simple. 62 Besides the arguments of these groups for and against removal, Congress had to consider the view of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Although the view was subject to change from time to time, it, for many interested persons, was the most important. The current view was well expressed in the conclusion of a lengthy letter from the Commissioner, Thomas J. Morgan, to the Secretary of the Interior, John W. Noble. He wrote: . . . As showing something of the present condition of the Indians I quote the following from the annual report of their agent for the year 1889: The Southern Ute Indians, who but a few years ago were leading the original life of a savage, have made great progress toward a more civilized life. The comparatively small assistance they have received from the government has borne good fruit. They have now under cultivation about 600 acres of land, and have raised thereon during the last season about 400,000 pounds of oats, wheat, and barley, besides a large quantity of vegetables and some corn. They have learned in a measure the art of irrigation, and would no doubt become in the near future self- supporting by their agricultural labor if further and more extensive assisttance were given them by the Government. In this climate agriculture is the only employment which can be successfully carried on by the Indians. The rich lands in their possession should be brought under a system of irrigation by constructing large irrigating canals and thus utilize the abundance of water in the streams and the splendid soil of this reservation. The conduct of these Utes has been exemplary. They have abandoned many of their former obnoxious habits, as begging, etc. . . . When I began the investigation of the case I knew little of its merits and had no definite, preconceived notions as to what ought to be done. But as a result of my investigations I feel constrained to say that 1 cannot approve the ratification for the proposed agreement, for the following reasons: 61. Ibid., p. 25. 62. Ibid., p. 26. - 46- |