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Show made known and explained the provisions of said Act to the male Indians, located or residing upon said reservation; therefore, be it resolved, that the provisions of said Act of Congress approved and consented to by the undersigned, and we hereby evidence our vote therefore, by affixing our mark to our names hereto signed. We the undersigned, members of the tribe of Southern Lite Indians, in Colorado elect and agree, for ourselves and families, to take land in severalty, under and pursuant to an Act of Congress, approved February twentieth, Eighteen hundred ninetyfive, and ask the Secretary of the Interior to have the same alloted to us under the provisions of said Act. i Major Kidd records in a letter to D. W. Browning, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Indian's responses to the Act: Upon my arrival here I obtained an interview with Ignacio, Chief of the Southern Ute Indians, and requested that he convene the tribe at the Agency, for the purpose of hearing an explanation of the Act of Congress, under which we are proceeding. He expressed a willingness to meet me in council, at the south end of Ute Mountain, the the western part of the reservation, but positively refused to attend any council at the Agency. Thereupon I arranged to meet the Mohuaches lsic~ i and Capotes at the Agency on the 8th inst., and the Weeminuches at the south end of Ute Mountain on the 15th inst.. I met the former bands at the Agency as agreed, and after explaining matters to them, asked for an expression of opinion. They declined to give any until the Weeminuches had spoken, but I learned from statement to third parties, that they were very favorably impressed with the offer of the Government, and anxious to take land in severalty and begin farming. On the 15th inst., I met the Weeminuches as agreed, and there were present about five hundred, including one hundred one, from a band that has been at Blue Mountain, Utah, ever since the Meeker massacre, and only a few of whom have been enrolled in the census. I counciled with them for four days and found them, without exception, anxious to accept the proposition of the Government, but they unanimously refused to consider the question of allotment, saying they were going to live on the reservation west of the Mancos River. I submitted to them a paper to be signed, of which the enclosed is a copy. All present, to the number of One hundred fifty, signed with eagerness. Many of them expressed a strong desire to locate on the reservation, build houses and commence farming. This was notable among the leaders of those from Blue Mountain, in Utah. When I explained to them the earnest desire of the department to build school houses and have their children attend schools so they could all be educated and the children live at home, Ignacio, the chief, exclaimed, ' Bueno, good, good,' and there was general approval of the idea. Mancos Jim and Red Rock, chiefs of the Blue Mountain band insisted I should point out where they could have their farms, as they were anxious to commence building their houses. This band 11. " Ute Agreement, 1895," Special Case No. 112, National Archives, Indian Records, Record Group 75, Washington, D. C. - 52- |