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Show 122 or at least to build a fort for our protection. My reply was that I had confidence in the great body of my Indians, and that I would do nothing that showed fear or distrust of them. Having had for months leave of absence to visit Washington, with discretion as to the propriety of my leaving when I thought safe and proper to do so, I called my Indians together and told them I was going to Washington, and wanted to know whether they would take care of my family and employes during my absence. They consulted a little on the matter and said, "All right; you go to Washington and we will take care of your family." I left with perfect confidence in their promise, and when I returned they appeared almost as glad to see me as my own'children, and I was hardly aware that I had so much sympathy for them as I was conscious of at my return.26 Ashley referred to above was a newly founded Mormon settlement eighteen miles east of the Uintah Agency on Ashley Creek. It was indicative of the fact that the Utes could not be isolated as the theories of the l860's indicated. Causing the Utes far more concern, however, were the problems of encroachment on the western part of the reservation, and the rumors concerning the possible opening of their reservation to white settlement. In his annual report for 1878, Critchlow makes this interesting V observation: First, to the Indians: One great source of discouragement and uneasiness is the constant apprehension that some radical change, either in their location or in the administration of their affairs, will take place, and thus interfere with all their industrial pursuits. They are afraid that this reservation will be thrown open to white settlers, they be removed to some other place, and thus lose all their labor. They have for two years heard exaggerated reports on this subject, hence their uneasiness 26Ibid. , p. 273. |
