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Show - 326 REPORT (IF THE UTE COMMISSION. BUDREPORT OF COMMISSIONER6 RUSSELL, MEARS, AND MIMORIIIB, OH THE SETTLE-DIEHT OP THE UNGOMPAAGRES. To Eon. GEO. W. MANYPEHNY, Clwivman of Ute Commission : Snr: In pulguauoe of the resolution of the Ute Commission adapted March 29, 1881, $ldm'g t.he w ork of the Con~missiona nd rtesigning three of its members to the dltty selecttng lands for, and the removal of, the Unoompahgre baud of Indians, the nndersigned commissioners met at Los Pinos Agency, Colorado, on the 29th of May. Here we were delayed some days for want of the neoemary military forces to aocom-paoy us to Grand River-the troops apparently dsaigned for that purpose not arriving at the agenoy until the 3d of June. Upon their arrival application was at once made to Major Beanmont,, then in oornmand st that point, for the necessary tranaport;~tion and escort, but he informed us that he had no orders or authority which wotlld permit him to comply with our reqoest. General Makenzie =rived on tho 6th, and with s promptness characteristic of that officer at once issued orders for the neoessary escort and transportation. Preparatory to our movement we had n consultation with Sapavanaro, the head chief of the Uneompahgres, and mnoy of their hbadmen, in which it wnsarrangedthst Ssp-avenaro and four of their chiefs or hesdmen should aooompaoy us. In t,his council the Indiana made many attempts to have the agreement by which theydisposedof their reservation reeonaidered and so modified as to enable them to remain anrl occupy the Unoompahgre Valley. They aere especially vehement in their demands to be. per-mitted to remain about the ranch of their late Chief Ouray, and to have tho agency mored to that point--a distance of about ten miles from it8 looation at that time. They were informed that they had accepted and signed the agrsement. that the oom-nlission had no asthorityto modify or ohangeit; that wo conldnot coisider any qaes-tiuns of that character, and that when their lands were selected they must go sa con-templated in the a.greemant. On the 10th day of June we left Los Pinos A encv accompanied by a military escort, in command of Captain Smith, of the ~ ~ " r Ct a%'v'a lry. Mr. Berry, ageat of the Uncompahgrea, Chiefs Sapavanaro and Guero with three of their headmen, were togo with us; but the first nightout three of thelllhians lost their horses and the twochiefs above named were the only Indims who remained with us. We found the Gl~nnison and Graod Rivers too highfor fording, and another delay of severaldays ocourred be-fore ferry boats could be made read for our orussing. We examined the land on the Graod River near themouth of the dunniaon, and found it to be, in our opinion, unsuit-able for t l ~ eIn dims for agrioulturctl or grazing purposes. Nothing could be sccom-plished here in agriculture without irrigation, and the water far that purpose wnllld h a ~ teo be taken from the Grmd River. The banka on the squth side of this stream are ffonl75 t,o 100 feet inheight, and while an irl"l'gatiting ditch could be made it would he rery expensive and of such 8, character as to require the most experienced labor to use it with any degree of 8110C888. The land an the north aide of the river oollld be more ensily irrigated and cultivated but there is not s, sufficient quantity which could be made uaefnl by t l ~weIn dians to hire them the amount required by law. Much of the soil between the Grand River and the Roan Plateau isvery sandy and oould n0ver be made useful for grazing or cultivat.ion. There is no other land suitable for itgricult-nral purposes within i reasonable distance which oonld be used in connection with thst near the mouth of the Guunison, andgive the Indians the quantity contemplated. Tho land in this locality which could he made useft11 for grazing, and especislly for winter grazing, is altogether too limited in quantity to oomply w ~ t hth e provisions of the law or snpply the wants of this band of Indians. The two chiefs who were with us ~ n mda ny others of their tribe who had been i n this locality, were very decided in their opposition to the seleotion of the lands in this valley. Our exanlination here having satisfied us t,Imt there was not enough land in this vicinity w h h eauld bemsde available for grasing and agricultursl purposes to enable us to locate the Indians as by the agreement oontemplated, we decided to explore the conntry further north and west,. From this point we were unable to use wagons, a?d our supplies were osmird by paok animals. With Mr. Taylor as our uide, we fol-lowed up the east branch of Salt Creek to the top of Roan Mountain an8 down Doug-lan Creek to its jnnotion with White River. We then examined the coontry west in t,he valleys of the White and Green Rivers. It now became apparent thst our absence from the agenoy would have to be pro-longed hepod the time we had snticipated, and thst our suppliwwereiowfficieut for the proposed journey. We therefore dispatched it messenger to Mr. Critohlow, agent at Uint,ah, informing him of our condition and requesting him to send provisions for us to Green Kiver, with a team which we could use in going over a portion of tile Uintah Reservation. He st once complied with our request; and IeaTing t,he escort at Green Ri\.er, we want to the Uintilh Agency and thence as far west as the lake fork of the Duohesne. |