The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-01

Wahatola, which Shavenau said wa
] the Purgatoire river. She said a ban,
Of white-faced warriors came to thei
village and one of them spoke thei
language. The men were ABOUT shoe
! less, and the squaws made them stou
moccasins of elk hide
Pike, in his report of his trip up TIL
Arkansas river and the discovery of tn,
famous peak bearing his name, Which
! he mapped as the highest" mountain
IN the Snow White range, bore of
south towards Santa Fe, and says h.
fell in with a tribe of savaSes, making
the happy discovery that Baroney
Vasquez, the Interpreter, who spoke
French and Spanish, could converse
with them. The Indians were friendly
disposed and he remained in theil
camp several days. resting and ex-
changing supplies and gathering infor-
nation about the country. He referred
10 the tribe as the KaDotas, which
leaves no doubt that they were the
Utes, for they were, when located by
the early settlers Of Colorado, found to
consist of the Uncompahgre Utes, the
Weeminuche Utes, Capota, Moache
Uintah Tabawatchle and other gands,
and Utes, and a lapse of 80 years has
not materially changed the manner of
spelling CaDota.
MIXED ON RELATIONSHIP.
The old woman spoke of Ouray, but
L could not understand the connection,
either from the interpreter or Sha-
venau. In consanguineal explanations
the Indians get badly mixed. She said
that Ouray was her boy and Shavenau
claimed to be Ouray's brother, but he
couldn't tell whether this woman was
his mother or not. He said she was his
sister but when I compared their ages
by appearances, he said she was
Ouray'S mother, so 1 let the matter
drop at that. The old lady did not for
get to mention ''bonocker, as we turned
away, and 1 gave Shavenau a silver
coin which he placed in her hand re-
marking that she would send TO the
traders store for a can of peaches.
Ouray only survived the neighborship
of the whites for few years, compar-
atively, but he made the most of it
while it lasted. He was diplomatic
and worked both sides of the street at
the same time, keeping his people in
line for peace and getting what he
wanted from the authorities at Wash
ington. He died soon after the White
river Utes perpetrated the Meeker
massacre, and since then the bands
have been confined to three agencies,
two in Utah and one in Colorado.
Chipeta, his wife, married again and
again as a widow, living with her peo-
pie on the mesas contiguous to Green
river.
While Ouray was VIGOROUSLY passive,
other chiefs of the tribe were vindic-
tive and mischievous, and sometimes
he found it hard to keep them in con-
troll. Often they were ordered away
to remote parts OF the mountains to re-
main until they could come back home
and be good" and thus it was that
a number of bands, numbering from so
to 400 Indians, were found in different
parts of the state, a menace to pros
pectorS and hunters. ColoroW roamed
in Middle Park and along the Grand
river; Piah claimed North Park as his
Douglas claimed the White
river country, and White Antelope took
to the Yampah river country. In early
days, ColoroW and Piah often came to
Denver, but none of the rowing bands
have visited the city within the past
Is years. Ignacio, Buckskin Charley
Mariana, Tapuche and Tabewatch have
always remained very close to the
southern portion of the state and but
little has been known of them until
The last few years, when they have
come into prominence as the chiefs of
The only surviving bands left IN Colo
rado.
THE WARLIKE SHAVENAU.
OF all the chiefs that entertained a
;traightout warlike disposition towards |
he whites and ever stood ready to take !
Ip the Warclub and WELD il to the bit /
er end, Shavenau headed the list. His |
greatest concern was the welfare of |
lis people, so much so that he was Of
entimes meddlesome. However, he
vas admirably controlled by Ouray |
ind when that chief died Shavenau was |
70 h,
ngtOn authorities were afraid of him |
ind manipulated the affair by an cleo
ion. Unaccustomed 10 political in
rigues, enough of the headmen were |
handled to throw the election to |
;appovonaro, a regular stick-in-th the
mud compared to the willy old Shave
Tau, and during his influence Shavenau
lad the most influence of any man in
he tribe of Uncompahgres. He was
-igilant and ever maintained to his
PEOPLE that the country and everything
n it belonged to them, and aside from
he conviction that he had a right to
appropriate everything he wanted, he
ad many favorable traits. He was
rank and fearless in his utterances
havenau's name was Tar boo-cha-ket,
ut he was never called that. The
sobideauX fur traders gave him the
anne of Chaveneaux, and when he
dS CuIOl6Q dl LUIS Illus lLG Idluc
as written Shavenau.
During my acquaintance with him
lany interesting incidents occurred.
me day 1 stepped behind the house
coupled by the agent and myself to
ct an armful of wood. Shavenau rode
. to ask me about the new agent who
rrived the night before, one of Mr..
leveland's appointments. We were
ear the bedroom window where the
gent slept, and standing on the win
oWsill within was a tall flask of ele-
ant looking red stuff which caught
lie old chiefs attention at once. His
yes cleaned as ne called my notice
it and asked if it was "whisk."
fought it was medicine and paid no
ore attention to the matter.
THEIR LOVE OF FIREWATER. ,
1t was ration day at the agency and
! hour later all the head men and !
liefs were gathered in the office dis t
lssing the new agent Shavenau came Z
and there was a flush on his face.
glitter in his eyes which attracted
Y attention at once. Smiling in
elbow way to me he went through 7
e motions of drawing his hunting '
life, ripping the wire netting with r
e point of t, tapping the window /
me with the butt of the handle, alb
racting the flash. pulling the cork, q
king d smell, then a taste, then a +
ng pull at the imaginary fluid, which t
planned his may condition. Later b
!, going to the house, I ascertained v
e truth of the pantomime, also that :,
e bottle contained rum and syrup, +
e new man was taking FOR a cold.
d that Shavenau had drank nearly =
If of tia very palatable mixture
: an Indian. $
indians are readily infatuated with h
E taste of "cunapah," or firewater, I
-,,o1, Ia1rraa +Japv d,-i-