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Show will not overlook any choice tract until the list is exhausted. Of the methods and practices that have been utilized to defeat allotment and corral the deserving Indians upon a diminished reserve with the stronger and more turbulent majority the Department is advised, and repetition would be superfluous in face of proceeding investigations. The effect of allotment so far is gratifying, as pride of ownership seems to have actuated the able- bodied - even the squaws - in getting out posts and preparing to fence a part of their holdings. They are interested in seeing each and every corner and anxious as to wagons, wire and implements. Families have very generally been alloted together, as they so desired, as so far all are pleased, despite the fact that the very worst side of citizenship is being pictured to them daily by an element who labor to deceive and betray. Their qualifications for citizenship are being very generally commented upon by many who can neither read nor write, by others who advocate open violation of law, and by some who have been arraigned for cattle stealing; but as the records of this office show four years without a crime greater than theft of a saddle the belief is naturally forced that there is an element of whites and Mexicans in this section who will be improved by contact with the alloted Utes. 17 Despite the problems between Kidd and the rest of the commission, they allotted, by April 14, 1896, 72,811.15 acres of land to 371 allottees. These allotments were approved by the Department of Indian Affairs on the 12th of June, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office was ordered to issue the patents to title at that time. 18 For those Indians who did not want to take allotments the bill provided that the western portion of the reservation was to be retained as lands held in common. As the above comments indicate, this was necessary because of the reluctance of Ignacio and the Weeminuche people to accept allotments or to move onto the eastern portion of the reservation. Their traditional lands were more closely related to the western portion of the reservation, and it is there that they wanted to be settled. To accommodate these desires an agency was established, in 1896, at Navajo Springs in Montezuma County.> i) Its purpose was to supply the Indians located on the western end of the reservation with their Government rations. Established in 1897, most of the needed buildings were not completed until 1899 when the reservation was opened to settlement. Because it was a long distance from the eastern allotments to the newly created agency at Navajo Springs, it was necessary for sub- agencies to be located close to the allotted Southern Utes. These Indians could not be expected to become self-sufficient immediately after receiving the allotted land - access to food and clothing supplies was a problem. Time was needed for them to adapt to their new status as land owners. The sub- agencies were located at the site of the old agency on the Pine River and at Arboles, Colorado, located on the Piedra River near the New Mexico- 17. Ibid., pp .140- 41. David F. Day was not the most popular person in southwest Colorado, for he was urging the Utes to settle on land that was wanted by the people of Durango and the surrounding area. His patience and ability to withstand criticism, ( he had been an editor of several newspapers prior to becoming an agent), won out in the long run, and, in doing so, allowed the Utes the advantages of taking allotments on the best land of the reservation. 18. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1896, op. cit., p. 95. 19 Ibid. pp. 132- 34 - 55- |