OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XLI livered to Agent Godfroy on the 16th of August. The remainder joined the other Jicarillas at Abiquiu. All of them refuse to go to Mescalero on acco~~onf tt he state of anarchy existing in that part of New Mexico-the resnlt of contentions between two factions in Lincoln County. Inas-much as the agency clerk and several others haw been killed and the Indians there attacl<ed and robbed by white men, the objections of the Jicarilla Apaches to making that their home are so reasonable, that it has not been deemed e-xpedient to try to force them to go there. S11ch an attempt, to be snceessfi~lm, ust be postponed till next spring, and by that time their consent call probably be gained to remove to the Indian Territorj-, a location n-hich they decidedly prefer to Mescalero. Unfortunately the oflice n-as prohibited by law from issuing supplies to the Cimarron Apaches after the 20th of Jnly last at any other place than the Mescalcro Reservation, which leal-es between three and fonr hluldre(1 Ap<wl~etos subsist tl~rn~selvebsy h~u~ting-orc lepredati~lg. THE ZTTE COMXISSION. TheUtecoimoission\vasoriginally composedof the following gentlemen: Brigadier-General Hatch, of the United States Army; Mr. N. 0. McFar-land, of Kansas, and Mr. William Stickney, of Washington, D. O. Mr. Stickney-, hon-ever, haring been taken ill, Hon. Lot M. Morrill, of Maine, aas appointecl UI his place. This commission was appointed by the Secreta.rr of the Interior under act of Congress of May 3, 1878. The com~uissiona, fter a counsel held by them w i t h the Indians, in which the latter expressed themselves fully and freely, came to the con-clusion that it would be impossible for them to obtain the consent of the Indians to a removal to the White River country; and there is no doubt that the conclusion arril-ed at was right, whatever may have been their method of reasoning. The situation of the White River Agency is the worst possible in all respects, unless it shonld be the intention to keep the Indians as national paupers. It is accessible for teaming only two mouths in the year; the soil is not good ; and why the location was chosen at all for an Indian agency is a profound mystery. The Ute Indians of Colorado are divided into t,hree agencies; their reservations cover nearly 12,000,000 of acres, and fully one-third of the best ambleland in the State; and it is situated in the heart of one of the richest mining regions in the United States. The mining population n a h l l y want the arable land to raise food for their support ; and as the white popnlation is rapidly augmenting, their encroachments upon the Indims wiU be constantly on the increase; besides, their lands, if put in the market, readily sell at a fair price. These remarks have reference mainly to the two southern agencies. The location of the Northern Utes is not desirable, unless the laud shall be found to contain minerals. But all the Ute Indians should be remo~~eadt once to the Indian Territory, where there is fertile soil and abundmce of mood and water, and where there need be no white encroachn~ents. |