OCR Text |
Show 142 them to work for fear of the return of starvation. As the announcement came that the White River Utes were to be transferred to Uintah, Critchlow had grave misgivings about their coming, which he expressed to the Washington officials in a long series of letters. It was early, however, that the reluctant agent knew that the coming of the new residents was inevitable. A. B. Meacham, a member of the Ute commission appointed by President R. B. Hayes to handle the settlement of the Ute problems, was sent to the Uintah Agency to deal with the transfer of the White River Band on the spot. The commission was composed of George W. Manypenny, chairman, and members, A. B. Meacham, J. B. Bowman, J. J. Russell, and Otto Mears. Manypenny was a nationally known figure in Indian affairs. Otto Mears had gained a substantial fortune in building mines and toll roads in southwestern Colorado, and was well known to the Utes. Mears was far from impartial, but was placed on the commission at the urging of his friends, Frederick Pitkin and Henry Teller. Meacham encountered so much difficulty in getting the White River Utes to relocate that he felt it necessary to relate: SUBREPORT OF COMMISSIONER MEACHAM ON THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WHITE RIVER tfTES Washington, D.C, November 21, 1881 To the Ute Commission: I hereby submit my report upon the work assigned me by the commission at its meeting on the 29th of March last in connection with the White River Utes |