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Show REPORTS OF AGENTS IN COLORADO. a police force, ss long as faithhl, might be favored. through the chiefs, in the distribution of Gavemment supplies. I am glad to mention tbat st Onray's suggestion the beeflias lately beenissued arid kllled i n s wnal, instead of allowing the Indians to give chnee to the eattle outnide. I aow thi& we can make srrsogemonts at tho new agency to catch' them with s lsdnt end dnw them to s slaughter-pen where they shall rewire wounds sure to kill iusteotl y snd not to torture, sod where everything will be convenient sod elesnly far dressing them. W e have been Pisited at this apocy by four surveying psrties, those of Mr. Gardner' and Mr. G~ene t ,b oth under Mr.Rayden; Lieutenant Marshall, noder Lientenant Wheeler, and Mr. Miller. who surveyed the bundam-line. Reepeetfully submitted by your obedient servant, H. F. BOND, Uni.ed Slales Indian A y ~ n t . Hon. COXMISSIONEK OF INurnN AFFAIRS, l<'ashiapton, D. C. WHITE RIVER, COLORAD>, SdptemLer 20, 1875. Sln: Agreeable to the instructionsaf the Indian Departmect, I have the honor to submit the fullowiog ss the annual report of the White River Indian agency, Colorado, for the year eoding August 31, 1875. The Ute Indians who make their headquartere and home at this agency numberaboot nine hundred; of thia numher about 650 have been aeeorstely eonuted; the remainder has been determined by estimate, they not having remained st tbe agency sufficiently long st any one time for me to obtain ausccurste oount of tho children of those whoreceived rations from me and signed my receipts. l%e average number of eaoh family is five and s half, and of the entire numher the division is a b u t eqnal between male and female. Doriog the month of August two hundred Indians not included in the sbove number, (nine handred,) chiefly Musehes, came into the agency and have since been staying bore. They express s gurpoas of remainingat WhiteRiver. l o ease they do this, the number whioh will have to e oakedafter sod provided for st this agency will be ineressed to eleven hundred. Msny of these will, however, visit the agency, and that irregularly, for their mtidns. The Indians here are very largely self-sup ortiug,but not by any of the pursuits of ci~il-i d l i f e . They r-ceive pro~isionaf rom tbe 80wrnment to feed them %bout one-third of the year, and blankets, clothing, &c., abcut one third, perhaps, of wh&t they consume; the remainder of their support is attained from the hunt. A eonatmi effort hss been made throughout the last year to induce tbe Indisns ta settle down in their plesaant vsliey, to till the lsnd and bmd their cattle, it was tbooght last spring with eoosiderable promise of success. I anticipated that another year wollld see quite anumhsr of them engaged in theae oooupstiona ; huts numher of their young chiefs violently opposed this ehsnge in their life, while those aho have recently come here strongly oppose sud ridicula it nlm. It is airnost im~osaible to iadnes any individual amorlg the Indiana to atand out by himself, oppose the sentiment of the tribe, snd engageio anything they do not favor, however well oan~inoed he may be in his own mind thst it is for his interest to do so. 1 can report bat six separate families who haveeogaged daring the year in pursuits that mi+# he called those of civilized life. Four (amiiies i n t h e Gmnd River Valley till the land to some extent, raising wm, potatoes, melons, and keeping cows, gwts, and sheep, and two in thia valley have raised a few potatoes. But I em setia-fied that if some six hondred of those who are more properly White River Utes oould be kept fromeontnct withothers fromdifferent quarters who go wenderin ahout tha country, who are more idle in their habits and more unruly nod "nmnnegeafle than themselves, they wonld settle down, and many of them adopt the coorse of life proposed for them. An ef-fort will be made this fall to induce the Indians to receive and care for their herd of enttle, numbering aboutooe thousand, whioh up ta the present time, has been in the care of the agent and looked after by the emplojBs of the apncy. The relations which the lndi sn~h ave sustained to the white settlere io the neighborhood of their reservation have bean universally friendly. I do not know of a single act of vio-lence committed by an Indian upon sny white parson, not of a ~ i o g i e c a s eof dowudght theft of which tbey have been guilty. The sffair on Craod River, where one pony was taken from a party of white men, I do not consider such, and in it the Indians fiaored to much betteradvantage thati the white men, sod the fact thst the pony in qoestion hss been given up, and thst to the femsle teacher during Ipe absence of the sgeot, is much to their wedit. Last year some trouble was anticipated ~houldw hite psopls settle in the llesr Riser Valley. Now. there sre between twenty snJ thirty settlers there, some with families, tilling the land and herding oaula, snd neither tbey nor their property has been molested. The health of the Indims has been fairly good during thc year. About twesty-five, so far ss I hsse been infmmed, haw died ; none have been killed.by accident, and no one in-jured in any personal quarrel among themarlves. |
