| OCR Text |
Show CHAPTER VII The Unexpected Residents An unexpected and ill-timed uprising came to the White River Agency (Yamparka Utes) in 1879. Because only three years earlier the Custer defeat had shaken the nation, the Ute uprising was particularly odious to the public. That particular uprising, popularly referred to as the "Meeker Massacre," is the most publicized fact of Ute Indian history. Because it has been dealt with by so many authors, only an outline of the major events are included here. The White River agency had been founded in response to one of the provisions of a treaty signed in 1868, when white encroachment along the eastern arc of Ute territory made dealing with the Utes a necessity. The Utes yielded land to the rapidly growing white interests along the eastern slope of the Rockies, in return for money and services of the federal government. One of the provisions was for the establishment of two agencies for the distribution of goods and services by the government. One of these was in the northern part of the Ute area. Its name was the White v River Agency after the river valley in which it was founded, and the Yamparka Utes became the White River Agency Utes and ultimately the "White Rivers." In its short and stormy history, the White River Agency never |
