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Show I REPOI~TS OF AGENTS 13 COLORADO. 15, inclined to think, however, that they are slowly improving in this respect as they come uwre frequeotly in contact with the whites. The bnrbarous oustom of paiuting aud ma k ~ n gth emselves hideons with feathers and the skins of wild beasts is not so oammonly pr:toticed as formerly. Many of them now wear citizso'a dress in part, and the native o o s t ~ ~mise g radnally being abandoned. The Utes are deoidedlvnomadio. hsvioe no fixed settlements or cantos. and rarelv emsra'cen uearly 12,000,000-acres. With few exeeptlona, they are a quiet, peaceable, well-disposed people. Qoarrel. and contenttuns alnooe themselves are infrrouent. and not a s i ~ n l ein stance has come to ~ ~ ~~ my k o o n l ~ d g eof ; . ~ ~ ~ l rourr ccr imt. cutur;lirrri 1,s rltem ojai?.t r l e person ur pruprrtf or Ill,: \\.lairv.i dc1ll.d itlong the honlt.rr of tlwir rc...rvnltoll, ur e\..u ~ ~ a i n .trh e squat-ter*, wbo kt~a,wingll,a nnl ticti i~twoi a l l ~ i g i :~&cP <,lI. n*tict,, awl 4 2 5 ~ 1 1t lw ~ u t h a ~ r ~ t i ? ~ of thegorr!I,meror, l ~ v ~ e ~ ~ ~ . r u .in~in~luI n1t.e<.l ir n k ~ nl, ~,r..-rion of thoir nw.+t firtllw Innds. I I . . Ink;all~nrll,\ ~ l t htw oor tilrre *n,epriou+,a re c.a~.~e.irn their (la- .;ire tu 11re-erv~i r i l>n#l~l~e l ? t i o uII~CI IPI.V~L tlwir I I ~ , I ) I , I i~t~ll d rlw wIlttrs and to rn~unin tents and seen, to here no d e s k to occupy houses; the fo"rmerlthsy onu fofil up aud move a t pleasnre, and suoh 'Isbitatioon are of cowae more in accordance with their no-madic oharacter than the stationary dwelling of oivilisatian would be. AGRIOUI,TURR. Very little progress has been made in this branch of industry. The farmiog at the agency has al l besn performed by the white emplo~ds,a nd ill1 efforts on our part h m e not been ~nffieient to induce the Indisos to give up their superstitious prejadiees against the performanon of meuual labor. The acquisition of herds of horses aud Hooks of goats and 6heep shows that the Ute has advanced from abject savagery to the pastoral state. The very usture of his ter-ritory makes this the nntoral first step toward civilized life. With his flocks he can wander t,hroughout bin barren domain, going where the patches of grassaregreenest-- on the ntounrain side in summer, and along the streams where sedges are i~wsc.b un-danr during the long severe winters. He i s a t present very well asti~fiedw ith hia mode of life, and ally sflort to make him adopt the higher or agricultural stwe mnst be condooted with great skill and patience, and the expenditure of enough money for large irrigating ditches in the few river valleys where arable land exists. The exam-ple of the head chief Onray sbows that the civilization of the Utea and their develop-ment in the direction of agriculture can be accomplished S U C ~ ~ S R ~shDo~u~ldS t h e r ight means be adopted and energetically oarried forward. He resides iu a pleasant, oam-fortable house, well furnished, snd has about 60 acres under oultivatior~; sod, io spite of inexperience, poor t0018, and n scsot snpply of water for irrigating purposes, he baa. succeeded io raiaiug good crops of wheat, potatoes, and all kind8 of garden vegetables. Again, in the valley of the Gunnison, some eight or ten Indians are engaged in farm-iog- they having ohosrn the loostion of their own accord, and have already, ss I am informed, some 75 acres under oult,i~ilt,ian. Tha t they are sucoessfi~li s inferred from. the fact that they do not come regvllnrly to the agenor for rations, but merely draw their sonoity pods, sod oooasiooally apply for Huur. Giveo goad irrigatiog ditches in the valley of the Unonpabgri, for instance, and with oolllpetent men to teaoh them the nas of agrionlturnl implarneots, the n~ethods of plentiug and caring for orops, and there is hnc little doubt that in a. few years the Utes would be permaneutly looated, and to a, grost exteot self-supportiog. EDUCATION, The impossibility of c a r r ~ i n g o na school during the past year has been the aource of nlneh regret t o me, for I aru anre ~ l n o hm igbt bedormin the direotion of edt~cationw ere th0requisitefnoilitirs only within reeoh. There are no sohool buildings st the agency, nor ha. any appropriation been made far the purpose, and I have refrained from press-ing the matter, koowing that i t is the desire of the department to tranafer the bands nuder my care to nome other part of the reservation. To reap his livelihood from the prodl~ctosf the aoil, to adopt civilized modes of dreaa, nod to establish himself in e lrertraanent house abould bc the primary lessons taught the Ute, and the man qualified to plsoe him in suoh a position should be his first in-structor. Wbeu this fit.st atap shall ham been aooompiished, then it will not be difficult to collect togetber the young sod hring them nuder proper discipline so that they may be eduasted in the ordinary braoohes of learning end auoh industries as mny lead to. tbeir ultimate advantage. No missionary work has been performed among the Utes during the period of my administratiou. |