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Show 161 is nothing but a desert, and it is just an utter impossibility for an agent to keep the Indians inside the lines of this reservation, as on three sides it is bounded by mountains where there is plenty of water, grass and game.4 The agent was a man of very blunt opinions; he opined about his charges: The Tabeguache band of Utes as a class are a well disposed people, who express a desire to please Washington in every way except in going to work and having their children sent away to school. They are as fat as pigs, and most of them are the personification of laziness. They spend three-fourths of their time gambling, horseracing, and hunting. There are some exceptions in this general rule, as I have some Indians that are good workers. As a class, they are good-natured and friendly to the whites and Mormons. They do not class the Mormons as white men; they know too much about them. The anti-Mormon statement is probably part of the spirit of the times; this was at the height of the anti-polygamy campaign. Frequent visits by members of the Indian service did not cause rapid development as in other places. Minniss complained: Thereihave no improvements of a permanent kind been made at the agency during the year, not withstanding there has been a very large amount of money expended for that purpose which was worse than thrown away. As far as the agent is concerned at this agency in the matter he is utterly powerless to do anything, as the agency for the last year has been continually afflicted either by commissioners or special agents who have spent a large amount of money and accomplished absolutely nothing. I do not know whether other agents ar*e afflicted in ^Ibid. 5lbid. |