The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-10-29
THF WARLIKE UTES.
The Struggle OF . Fierce Mountain Tribe
Against Advancing Civilization.

The Struggle OF Fierce Mountain Tribe
Against Advancing Civilization.
As matters stand, and have stood for
over five years, the presence of the Utes
in Western Colorado has been q great
obstacle to the development of the State.
In the past they occupied among the
mountain Indians much the position Of
the Sioux among the Indians of the
plains. Bold and warlike, they spread
over great stretch of territory in West
ern Colorado fighting the Cheyennes and
Sioux on the north and the Apaches and
Navajoes on the south. Their tribal
wanderings extended in all directions
beyond what is now Colorado, but not
many years before the admission of the
State q great reservation was given
them, covering q large fraction OF the
State, and the wandering Utes were
gathered at three agencies. The work
of bringing the tribe together has only
just been completed, one band of Utes
having been brought from northern
New Mexico to the southern Ute agency
little oyera year ago.
The government confidently expected,
as it always does when the boundaries
of q new Indian reservation are defined
by treaty, that the Ute territory would
not be wanted for mines or settlement.
This seems not unlikely. The currents
OF emigration had flowed for genera
ton north and south Of the Ute reserva-
tion. The mountains were practically
inaccessible, and the best maps of trails
and rivers in the southern part OF the
reservation were made by the Jesuits
three centuries ago. To. day the entire
region is one Of the best mapped dis
tricts in the country, thanks to the Hay
Cen survey, and the most prominent
mining region in the West. A Ute war
became certain when the San Juan
mining region was discovered six years
ago, and miners swarmed into the In
dian country. A treaty" was made
and the Utes surrendered big slice out
of the southern end of their reservation,
leaving a square of white territory with
Ute land on three sides of it. Unfortu-
nately mining claims and indications do
not follow the smooth, straight lines
the commission drew on the map in
1873. Miners crossed the reservation
line, were attacked by the Indians, de-
Tended themselves, and kept up that
state of uneasy hostility sure to break
out into war. A year ago another
commission took the matter in hand,
negotiated another treaty." carved
another slice of the Ute land, confirmed
their title third time. and drew more
straight fine lines, to which the miners
paid small attention.
The Utcs still had a magnificent terri
tory of Il, 900, 900 acres; the whole State
of Colorado has but 66, 300, 900, stretch
ing from the northern boundary to its
southern, with break where the San
Juan mining region lies. Over this ter
ritory, containing a third of the arabic
land of the State and as large as New
Hampshire and Vermont put together,
but 1874 Utes wandered. They were
divided into three bands, the southern
numbering 634 Indians, the middle at
the Uncomphagre agency 1900 and 800
at the northern or White river agency.
the scene of the present outbreak. The
irruptions of settlers have raised dis
turbances all over the reservation, but
the troubles have been worse at the
north. The head chief of the Indians ct
the Uncomphagre agency, Ouray, is a
man of some civilization, who drives his
wagon, p.ows his land and wears " store
clothes" By the experience of rough
Justice and occasionally shooting a
backslider into barbarism, Ouray has
kept very tolerable order.-Springfeld
Republican.