Council Transcript dated May 23, 1903

Council Part 4

Uinta Council, 64. to say. it ia just like if a nan had a horse and some one asked for that horse. He would aay " Ho." Ebenezer: What I t o l d you yesterday was good. congress don't know, and I want you to t e l l these paople. It is the t r u t h I an t e l l i n g you about t h i s . Those Indians want to keep t h i s land. They t a l l you t h i 3 . They know what you t e l l then. We d o n ' t want you to t e ll anything that i s not true-. This that you are t e l l i n g , how long before i t is to be t h a t way? When t h i s happens, w i l l the game wardens bother us? InsDector McLaughlin: * y -> Ho person will bother you. You will be protected by the laws of the Government. Ebenezer: ^ We are afraid to go and See our friend3 off the resevation. y. We are afraid on account of these cowboys. Red Gap: Tnat is not good. That i3 what I say. This Agency down here, It is an the reservation. You dn not know hhare it is; you have not 3een it. It is right there, however; nobody can pick it up and throw It aside,, no natter how big a man he i3. Your talk ia nqt good. I like this land. I want you to say " Y3a". It will- notbe good if you don't say " Ye3." Inspector " McLaughlin: Replying to ny friend Red Cap, I would say that I know that you are attached to the land, and it is to secure the best part of it for each of you that I waa sent out here by Washington. P^ My friends, if the entire reservation was of any benefit to you and you oould make proper use of it all, you would not be dis­turbed in it3 possession. But there is nore land here than you need. Congress has provided for the opening of this surplus land in the way I have explained. Washington desires to secure for Uinta Council, 65. each of you, and for each of your children, such a tract as you may select. Sockive: San you hear what I say? We will, not give this land up. Inspector McLaughlin; I have heard all your speakers have 3aid, but do not think it i3 the real sentiment of a majority of the people of thia reserva­tion. Spckive: You keep saying the same thing TJ a t ' s the reason I keep say­ing the . same thing to you. I t"> lk to you the sane as you have t a l k e d to me.. Inspector McLaughlin: There ia a great difference my frienda, between your talk and ny talk. I bring to you a message from Waahington and an speak­ing % Q ycu now as a friend. There ia a great difference between the talk I am giving you and what you are giving me, I am here to represent the great Government of- the United Statea in this matter. I explained to you the law which ha3 been enacted by the Great Counoi- 1, the law that haa been approved by the Pre3ident of the United States, whom you call Waahington. I have explained to you that it will make no difference what you 3ay as to whether the law will be carried out or not. Your protest3 that you keep making to me, even if made to the President himself, would not change it because it is already a law. Our record is loaded down with all that haa been said by you people and be ne in regard to thia mat­ter. ( Hold3 up records of previoua meeting3) I will forward all thia to Washington, the Commissioner, the Secretary, and poaaibly the President himself will read it. This will show what we all have said./ I talk to you very plainly trying to explain the Act • of Congress. Your talk has been simply along one line, and that is protesting against the opening of your reservation. My frienda you seem not to have grasped the thought that what vou have been Uinta Council, 66. discussing ia already past, and all your talk on that line amounts to nothing. You are or. record as being op osed to it,. The reser-ration, my friends, will be opened up notwithstanding your pro-teats. I will repeat what I have said before, that it is unnecessary to discuss on tha- t line any further. The question that you should give your attention to is whether you want to accept allotments or not,- n< » t the opening of the reservation because that is already provided for. 0„ uinn: These people, what do they say to ycu* 7 Wnere did you find the key to this reserva , ion to open it? That's the reason I don't un­derstand even if you do say it is provided for. I don't believe it. You say you are here, and that you have this paper as your author! tv. If they find the key to thia reservation, to open it we Till give it to you. Y° u cone and throw it on the table and say," H£ r3, I have the key to this reservation. Throw it down here so I can see it. When you throw your key to the reservation out here, I wdll believe you. These people who are taking thia land, have they noney to byy this land? Will they give ua ail the noney the land calls for? I will not give it to you even if you aay that. Inspector McLaughlin: It is not to me the land is going: I an not taking it. Wanrodes: }£ y friend, I like these mountains and I like this water; I f \ like the timber; I like the coal in the coal mine. The mountains have range for ny horses. I do not think Washington will take away vhat he told me I had got. Here an I and Henry Harris and some others around here. We want to keep this. They all say we want to keep ail these things. We want a place for our hcraea to graze. Uinta Council, 67. Here are these people, David Ccpoerfield, John Duncan, and othe. rs; they want to hold these mountains and this water# We want to keejj then. We have farms down here on the Bench -. There there is no timber: we want to hold those farms, and we want to hold soma of this timber up here in the nounta na too. I want you tell the truth, and not tell anything crooked. I do not like this 250,000 acres of pasture land. I have a cattle range at Rock Creek we3t of here and north of Strawberry River." Wnat will they do with ny cattle range? 1 want you to fix it so I can hold that piece of land. ~ I « re is Henry Jin. He was talking to me yesterday evening. Henry Jin aaid that your talk is good, it i3 all right, ^ e liked it. Ii w6uld feel more aatisfied if you could aay it was more than 4Q* acres ' for one person. I have lota of cattle. I hear that if we do'not come to you and say that we agree, you will go back and say: " The33 Indiana would not agree to this." Then they will come bac'y and give me land. I do not like that. I want to pick ny o^ n land. Bow here is Hump. He has come to live ?/ ith the Indians. I do not like anyone to carry a gun on the rsaervation. I have ry farm that Colonel Randlett made for me and I want to hold it. I have a good farm fron which I sell hay and get § 8. CO a ton. Sons times I get 4 00 dollars from it and I put it in ny pocket, and I lite that. I: like what you say^ I like it that I can go where I ,- wJeh without a pass, I can go and see my friends the Bannoc?< s or anyone else. Ifow I want you to give ne my piece of land on Rock Creek « h « re By cattle. are. Uinta council, 68. Game: You are come to talk with these Indians . ^ ou 3ee 2rour frienda here. You are just come to talk with the3e Indiana here now, and you a*- e not going to take any of cur land. That is the reason I talk to you thia way. That ia the way everybody talks to the Whitp Man. You sit here and : AOU have heard what everybody is saying, I want thia reservation to be here still as it has always been. This is fnere we have heen raised. Charley Mack: • They a3k now what the Indians say. ' heard what you were saying. The Indians here- have been listening to your talk and I have been listening too. I don't quite understand that Congre3o talk. These Indians used to be good frier. d3 to the Government. Then the Government was fighting the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, our ^^ Indians U3ed to go as scouts for the Government. The Government said: " ye will stop this spilling blood, we will not have any more fighting." The Indians 3aid," All right." and it was done. The Indiar- 3 kept their word in this, and now thia thing comes out here and we do not understand it. Why are they talking this way? Why are they opening thia reservation? What is the reason Con­gress did not talk that way before? They used to be holding back; they did not want to see this reservation opened. How they cone and say: " Open it up." What is it? Why is it? What have we done? I don't like the way Congres3 has heen talking. Before they passed such a law, someone ought to have cone here and spoken to the Indians first. That is the reason the Indians are so scared,- it has come so sudden. They were not expecting ^ anything like this. That is the reason they are so scared. What are the Indians going to do? It is like sand. You throw water upon sand and It vrill cave in and wash off: so with . Indians, after a while there will be none left. The reason the Indians are so scared i3 there is no more land. If they take ' this land away from us we can find no more land to go to . We are Uinta Council, 65. done for. We are afraid of the Mormon peop e. They do not like the Indiana. If an Indian goes into a Moman's pasture for hi3 horses, the Mormon would kill him. That's th- » reason they are afraid. This opening business is the sane way. The Indians will have a fam near a White M- an' 3. If the Indian tries tc ge . water for his farm;, some White Man will stop this, and naybe take a shovel and strike him on the head. There will be a lot of draw­backs. Many of these young men here, cannot talk English. There will be disagreements and quarrels all the time. How, when you go back there you can tell those people in Waahington that I an not mad. I do not want anyone to do me up, I do not understand why Congresa cane to this. How was it? These Congressmen nuat have been scared by sone rich man. They nay be afraid of - the people who elect then, that if they did not pasa it they would not be elected to Congreaa again. That's why I an afraid to change my mind, I cannot, because I do not understand why it was passed so soon. I want it the sane old way and keep the reservation just as it ha3 been. Tim Johnson: The3e White Men who have farms on the bench take too much water for their gras3. If many White nen come in here they will hold all the water and make the Indiana pay for hhat they want. These Indians will gain nothing by letting their land go. You will not listen to the Indians. You are getting a lot of money you are getting paid for this. O^ rer in Heber City they have a tunnel and they are stealing vnater from the reservation. The fishes in the streams, the Wnite men will steal then from us. They cone over and kill the fish with dynamite. You talked to me before in this house. You told me to put my children in school. You said then, " The White Men will not bother you about your land at all." How it is changed. You said," If any Wnite Man cones here about your land don't you listen to him." Where have you thrown that talk now? You were there when tills law was paased Uinta Council, 70. i n Congres3, and you ought to have told Congress that you had promised U3 tc hold back. It seems that you had thrown Washing­t o n ' s mouth away, I am not t e l l i n g ycu t h i s because I am mad. I an t e l l i n g ycu thia because you are my f r i e n d . Hew I want you not to 3ay anything more. You c a n ' t gain anything by t a l k i n g here any longer. Inspector Mclaughlin: I feel called upon tc correct scm- i statements of my friend, Tin Johnson. True I visited this Agency two years ago and advised you to place yoypr children in school. I also said ycu need not fear anything from the Whites; that you would be protected from the White ilan on your reservation. But I never 3uid to you thai you need not listen to an official of the Department Xno visita order? you to talk to you under of tine Government. Ths President has power to send his officials to any place in the United Statea, and when he gives then an order it has to be obeyed, and I am here under such an order. I v/ ill also aay that I waa not in Waahington last winter when this lav; was enacted. I was there the winter before when they were di3cuasing your affaira and I did what I could to have that item of § 70364.45 appropriated to pay you for the UncompaghnA allotments ( 212) on your reservation and for the strip of land eaat of the Uinta River opposite Fort Duchesne which you complained to me about when I was here two years, ago. The first Act provided for the withholding of that money until you consented to take your allotments and I spoke to the Denartnent-' officials about it, as I regarded that noney due you from former agreements. The President required Congress to pass a joint resolution elini-nating that clauae before he signed the Isdian Appropriation Act of last year. I did everything I could for you in that natter a year ago la3t winter. I spoke to several Senators about it when it was under consideration and told then that you ought to be paid Uinta Council, 71. that money as it was due you from the Government, And I was very-glad when I saw ir. the newspapers that you were going to receive that money without waiting for your consent to accept al otnents, I was your friend in that natter and Tin Johnson's insinuations as to my being unfriendly to you ± ze unkind. There was no power or influence that could change the will of Congress in enacting this law which pas add last winter in regard to your reservation because under the decision of the fcprme Court . - hich I have mentioned so often, 6cngresa had the right and the power to so legislate, and did so. The law haa been enacted and your reservation will be opened under its provisions, and it is to make it better for you that I would wish you to accept your allotments under the provi­sions of the Act. It would be pleasing to the President, the i Secretary, and the Commissioner, and also to congress, on whom you have to depend in future. I feel, my friends, that I have done ny duty in this natter. I have explained it so clearly that you cannot fail to understand It fully; but it is very difficult to convince persons who do not want to be convinced. We have been discussing this matter for the past five days, but our councils have been dominated by a few persons who seen to have intimidated and deterred those fron speaking who night have expressed opinions in conflict with theirs. Those who have spoken failed tc discus3 the question I have placed before you. You do not seen to have considered the advantages that allotments would bring, ^ our speeche3 have been on another line?-' that of retaining your reservation. Peeling that I have done rrj duty and that there ia nothing that I have left ' JtrAone, and believ­ing that if we continued our councils for a month. with the sam° J ~ speakers dominating our councils, that I would be unable to bring- '.- you to ny way of thinking, and feeling that it would be tine wasted to continue longer, I will call you together only once ncre. Uinta Council, 72. Tomorrow will be our last council, My friends, for your good, for your welfare, and for your future prosperity, I feel it ny duty to leave nothing undone,- and will therefore prepare a paper for the signatures of tnosa consenting to the Act, and bring it here tomorrow, and read it to you in full council? Thoae desir- ing tc accept allotments can come to the office at any time after I read it to you in council and digh their nane3. I will prepare the paper referrp- d to to night or tomorrow morning, and read it ind explain it to you here in council tomorrow at two o'clock p. m Then, any of you wishing to oiy; n, can come to the office and at­tach your signatures to it. Thoae who do nit wish to sign, well and good, each individual should be priviligsd to do as he 7rishe3 in the premises. We will no- 1' adjourn till 2 o'clock to morrow afternoon, and I hope that you will ail be present, as it ?; ill be our la3t council. Council adjourned at 6- 15 p. m. Council reconvened at 2 o'clock, Saturday JJay 23d, 1903, with 134 Indians in attendance. John Reed and Vernie Mack interpreting.. Inspector McLaughlin: My friends, according to agreement yesterday evening at the time of adjournment, we now meet that I may read the paper which I have prepared for the signatures of those who wj csh. to subscribe to it. It is very short, but neeta requirements, ( reada) ( f Uintah Indian Agency, Wniterocks , Utah Kay 23, 1303. ' We, the undersigned, adult male Indians of the Uintah and White River Utes of the Uintah Reservation, in the State of Utah In consideration of the provisions of the Indian Appropriation Act of Hay twenty- aeventh, nineteen hundred and two, amended by a para- Uinta Council, 73. graph in the Act of Congress of March third, nineteen hundred and three, making appropriations for the current and contingent expen­ses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thir­tieth, nineteen hundred and four, and for other purposes, hereby give our assent to the provisions of said Act3, and hereby ratify and accept the same. In witness whereof we have hereunto aet our hand3 and aeai3 this twenty- third day of May, nineteen hundred and three." 3. have prepared this in duplicate, the two copies just alike. I- hand one of them to your Agent that he nay file it in his Office. My friends, we have held 3ix councils and have been di3ca3sing this natter for the past six days. This is the la3t public council that I intend holding with you for this purpose. When we adjourn to day it will be the final adjournment. I feel that I beve done ny full duty inn placing this matter before you people j- e**'. that you might understand every clause and pha3- e of it. ;\ rd I am oonfident that each and every one of you understands the full meaning of this new lav/, and it is now for you tc determine whether you consent or not to the acceptance of your allotments under the provisions of the Act. All consenting can sigh this paper which will be in the Agency Office while I remain, and I will be here f£ r three or four days yet. Any person desiring to sign can cone to the Office and subscribe his name to this paper. Every Uintah and tjhite River Indian here has - the right to determine for himself in the matter and express his individual preference. It is not ny intention aor the wish of any Government Official that any undu* Influance or coercion be used in obtaining your signatures, you are each and all free to 3ign thi3 paper or not, just as you nay . feel disposed. Every word spokan in our councils has been record- « t ' ed by the Stenographer and I have 45 pages of typewritten tran­script here which contains the first three days' Councils. All Uint1. Council, 74. f^ . that you have said and what I have said is sho- nn. in this record, and will be forwarded to Washington for the Officials there to read. That is why I will have to remain here for three or four days yet to have the transcript written up fron the note3 which the Stenographer haa taken dorm. There are two copie3 exactly alike, both made at one time by the sane tick of the typewriter. This copy will be left with your Agent here for reference, so that any one of you wishing to recall what has been spoken, may do so by calling on your Agent. I wish to say that I am much pleased at the way you have conducted yourselves throughout our councils, and I will so report it tc the Department. How, a3 your friend, I have a few more remarks to make before leaving you, ( r Any person wiahing to sign thi3 paper must be allowed to do so without interference on the part of any other person. If any of you wish to speak further, I am ready to hear what you nay have to say, and no per3on should. disturb another 7/ hile he ia apeaking. It is discourteous and improper for any person to interfere or inter­rupt another while he is speaking. Every/ one of you has the sans right to be heard. Sowsonocutt. I say that I don't believe your talk her^ t and I am not go­ing that way, inspector McLaughlin: You need ntfct sign if you do not want to. You have talked so often and a i l in the aame s t r a i n that i t i3 unnecessary for ycu to speak further along thia l i n a . All that you have said in pro-t a s t is shown in the record, and i t will go before the Department. Remenber that any man signing this paper, his signature will show that he has consented to the provisions of the Act which I have fully explained to you. Uinta Council, 75. Henry Harris: Charley Mack and others here hscs requested ne to say that they would like to hear our Agent, Captain Mercer, express himself about thia. Captain Mercer; Sir, Inspector, I an going to speak a few word. 3 in behalf of the Indians in response to the request for ne to do do. There are a fow Indians here who, it would seem, do not under­stand the difference between accepting allotnents and acceeding to the opening of the reservation. Others who do not belierPa that there ia a law to open their surplus lands, or believing it, say they do not want their lands opened nor allotnents nade. These Indians have talked and their talk has gone on the'records to be N sent to Washington. There is no one yet who has stated and gone on record that he would accept his allotment, yet there are Indians who understand the law and know it ia not the gueaiion as to wheth-. er their lands should be opened oi not. That i3 settled by the law, and they do not care to talk of it. These Indians I apeak for knowing the law and understanding it, know that it is no question to discuss. They are friendly to the Government, the Government 13 friendly to them. They have asked ne to sen! a friendly nassage through these records to their friends in Washington. They want their words to go to the Commissioner, the Secretary, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They want to say to then " Friends, you have forgotten some very important things In your law very important to us. We would like to have you consider then. We believe that when you have considered them you will change the law to the extent that you will grant na these favors." Thev sav that they have quite an industry here,- they have a coal nine. + . JTron that nine, they have hauled to the schools and agenaie3 200,000 pounds of coal. Since I have been here, Ie3a than two Uinta Council, r; S. months, thev have delivered at the P03t fron the mine, 100,000 pounds of coal for which the War Department pays $ 6,80 per ton. Thi3 has offered then a chance to get a little ready money which they will need and are glad to take advantage of. In ad' 1 tier, to that, they have been in the habit of selling wood to the schools and to the Post, and I have put in a bid to the Post in behalf of these Indians, for 1500 cords of wood for next year.. I expect to secure thereby an opportunity for these Indiana to furnish thia wood at $ 8.50 per cord; I have also offered in their name, to fur­nish 500,000 pounds of coal for which I Rxpect them to receive $ 6.30 per ton. How, our friends in Washington prill see that we have induatriea here, which th. e Indiana handle themselves ' under the supervision of the Agent. It haa been said that these Indiana would _^ net work These Indians will work, and work sell. They say," Our new Agent pays ua promptly" , That is all the;/ want. They muat have food for themselves and horses; they are not capitaliata, and they cannot work two, four, or six months without pay, as they have b « en obliged to do. They like the plan of getting weekly payments which I have arranged for them at my own risk,- the money being al­lowed but not on hand,- More than two hundred have been working since I took charge,- thia in addition to those who have worked on their farms. The law provides that the allotments shall be made on lands which can be watered; that is right. These are good lands for farming,- but their friends in Washington have forgotten that they have taken away the ti mber from then. There is no timber on these ^ S lands. I su ppose there will be 1,000 allotments nade upon these lands. I judge that on these allotnents, there will not be 50 cords of fuel. There are no trees for fence po3ts, no log3 with which to build their houses. All the coal and tinber ar? on these lands .. which are to be opened for settlement. How these Indiana here, Uinta council, 77. . who know that the coal and timbe- are to be taken, want to be frienda of the Government, and they would like to see sui* alter-tion3 in the law as to prevent the entire deprivation of their timber and coal resources. Logs for their houses, posts for their fences, and wood and coal to burn for fuel, r- are all to be disposed Of, Some of thia coal should be secured to them. There is a big vein of coal that runs along these mountains just back of ua for 4o miles. The Indians would like to sec- ire of that coal land juat a little patch, aay ISO acres,- within 8 nilaa of thi3 Agency, where acme very good coal can be mined, and a good road running to It miereljy coal can be hauled from the mine. If the one small tract where that coal is convenient to them could be reserved for the Indians, they would have plenty of coal for the next 50 years,. The. Indians say that id all this coal and timber- land ia opened to settlement, they will be obliged to buy their fuel of the new poaB « ssor3 $ 6.80 per ton for coal, and fron § 6.00 to $ IQ. OO. per cord for wood. They nuat have fuel to burn and lumber for their houses. Thesec i3 another natter, the Agency saw nill about 13 miles from the Agency, a fine plant,- tthat saw nill and the ground around it should be reserved for the Indians. The timber and wood for saveral miles about it should be secured to then. The timber is near the mill scattered over the rough mountainous coun-„- try,- lands unfit for farms, and it i3 believed without fa- lue as i mineral land3. There is plenty of timber and fuel for the Wnite Ken oh other lands that are to be disposed of. That saw mill gives then square log3 for building common houass, flooring, 3hing"^ les, ^ nd . laths. MOBt of the lumber used in this vicinity is shipped in from Oregon and costs a great deal of money. It is vary neces- ' sary that they have some tinner fron which to make their own lumber. toother thing about which they are very anxious ia the water that runs in the streams through this reservation. Of course the lands ( Uinta Council, 78. need water. There is more than enough writer in the-: e 3treams to irrigate all the lands, and for all other purpo3e3, but they ask their frienda in Washington to make provision to aecure them enough water so that the Wnite settlers, through waste or averice, will not in the future be able to take it away fron then. Under offi­cial hydrographic surrey,', measurements of the volume of water in these atreans have been taken at regular period3 for the last four year3, and data pertaining to this work can be obtiined In Wash­ington. They trust that their friend3 in Congress can secure to then for all time, a sufficient quantit; of thia water for their allotments so that they will never be deprived of it. by the White - T^ an. The Agency, the School, and the Hoapital landa a- e not mentioned in the law; that should ba provided for. It can, of course be dor. e vrithout changing the law; it can ba beowithdrmsci from ^^ settlement by executive order. Theae are the things which they hope their friend3 in Washington did not put in the law because they forgot to consider then. They send this friendly nessage to then, hoping they will amend the law and yet sscure to then those resources which ar# abaolutely necessary to their exiatance. How I want to say a few words to the Indians: My frienda, I have sat in the council for 3ix daya and heard every \ 7ord you have spoken. I think I know whit ia passing in your ninda. You Been to think that under the new condition you cannot have freedom to nove about as now, AS far as that is concerned you will probably never know the difference, you will have your roads; you will have your Agency, juat the sane as no7/, and you can cons ^^ and h£. ve your camping grounda at the Agency, and viait anang your­selves as now. Your Agent will remain hare with you, and you will be protected just the same as you are now. Instead of being one big tribe of Indians, one bunch, one herd, every nan can stand up straight and feel that he is a freenan, a citizen of this great country,- just the eame as the White ." Ian. Those who have farms Uinta council, 79. ^> now will have the sane secured to then as far as possible. How, I want to 3ay to you that I was in Washington on the third day of March la3t. I sat in Congress, The Commissioner sat by my side, and we heard Congress making that law which the Inspector has read to you, and I an sent here to you to be your Agent under the new conditions which ar e to replace the old ways. I understand that ny duties are to look out for you and protect you under that law. That is the way the matter 3tand3 new. It is not That many of you aeera to want , but it is the way it stands now. iSy friends, we will have to live under the law the Inspector has explained to you. I an glad that he cane here because he has told you all about it. If he did not tell you, it would be cry duty to tell you what he has told ycu. A good many do not seem to believe 7* it is the law.; I know that after he goes away, I will have to tell you about it. So I prefer to do it now. What the Inspector has told you,- every word of it- p- i3 true. I know many of you do . . not like it I kno^ r many of you would have it changed, and 3till many more would like to see the law modified to secure to you some of the coal and timber, and you know that from what I hava said to the Inspector, that I agree with you in that respect. These are important natters that have been left out by accident, and these things should be put in . How the best way to get them, r^/ friends, is to accept this law and shew that ycu are- going to do the best you can. ^ nt* then we will probably be able to secure our own coal, our timber, and our water. I have been with you for only a short •• ' time, but I know all about you. I have good feelings for all of • you, and knowing and feeling towards you as I do, I say if I were - an Indian, I would say to our frienda in Congresa, " You want ua . " to sign this; you want us to carry out what you b « iieve to be bast for us and for the Wnite People." And then by showing my good will, try to secure these things which were left out. If I ware a Vnits River or a Uinta, I would walk up there and sign ny name Uinta Council, 80. to that paper. Hy friends, I am going to stay with you long enough so that every one of you will be able to see that I am your friend and that I have a straight tongue. Inspector McLaughlin: Ky friend3, I have listened attentively to the speech made by your Agent, first to myself and then to you people. The appeal that your Agent ha3 made, speaking for you, for a timber reserve and a coal reserve, I regard as a very just appeal And when it is brought tfe the attention of the proper officials and Congresa, I am in hopes that they will see the justice of do­ing something of that kind for you. Everything said here has been: taker, down , and will show in the records of our Councils, and I oronsiae to unite with yyur Agent and do what I can, bv prooer re-pre3entation of the matter, in trying to have such reaervea sit apart for you. My frienda, your Agent'a advice haa been all that a father could give his children, and no father will give hia child counsel that i3 not for hi3 best interest. Yo u r Agent has advised you for your bast interest, and all good children should look up to their father and listen and obey his advice. My friends, I repeat again, that I an very much pleased with your courteous treatment of me 3ince I have been here with you, but before closing our council I am going to give you another piece of advice. This paper which I have read to you will be at the Agency Office while I remain here, and I would like to see all ^ S © f you come in and sign it, at lea3t a sufficient number to make it acceptable to the Department, so that I can have the required umber of naae3 attached to the paper that will go forward to Washington. The Government at Washington is your best friend and doeB not wi3h to inpoae any hardship upon « j^ ja you people, and does that which is for your best interests. I have already told v0u yinta council, 81. That the surve" of your land?, has been advertised for ( that is put in the papers) and the survey will soon be authorized. The sur-veyers will soon come upon the reservation and commence to 3urvey the lands,- this being necessary in carrying out the law. How, ny friends, you mu3t not interfere with these people because they will be under Government authority, and will be under the protec­tion of the strong arm of the Government. Do not think tha.% they are here to do you an injustice or impose any hardship upon you. I speak this so that you will not interfere with them. Remember iiie White People are not coming in to take farms right away,- not for sixteen months yet. I shake hands with each and every one of you with a good h& art. .. I leave with no enmity against any of you people and I ho'i'e vou feel the same towards me, As I said before, I will be here for some days yet, and any of you wishing to 3ign this paper will find ne in the Office. Should I bV out4 . some of the clerks Tfill be there so that you nay attach your names to it. This is fi'matter in which all Indiana act individually,- each male per­son ever 18 yeara of age acting for himseli. I have no mora to aay to you. This Council now stands adjourned sine die. Council adjourned at 4- 30 p. m. I hereby certify that the fore- roing is a true and correct transcript of the proceedings of Councils held by James McLaughlin, Uinted States Indian Inspector, with the Indians of the Uintah Reservation, Utah, from May 18th to May 2?, d inclusive, 1903. .__ A ) zizia, r kyy_^_ Stenograph e rA /' . . . . ^ U i n t ah Agency, Utah, May 26, 1903.