The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-01
CIVIL IZING THE UTFS
Soon This Once Naughty Savage Will Be a Plain
Farmer.

1t can be stated on what is regardes
as authoritative information from
Washington that within a very shor
period the bulk of the southern Ut,
reservation. in southwestern Colorado
VIII be parceled out among its <ndial
inhabitants. Each man, woman anC
child Of the tribe viii be given 100 acre.
of land. The remainder of the reserved
territory is to be thrown open for set
Element by the whites.
This change in their lot means tbs
giving over of the formerly great ano
warlike Ute tribe to the ways of civil
lzation. When they have become per-
sOnai landed proprietors, their ancieni
tribal institutions and customs. theil
proneness to indulging in occasional
scalp taking and their generally preda-
Tory disposition viii speedily pass away
from them. perforce. In fact, they are
likely in few years to settle down
into ranchmen, not a whit more in
clined to the war dance or the chase
than their paleface nelghborS in Mon
tezuGna county.
Amy day now the announcement that
viii preface the passing of the Utes as
warriors and hunters may be looked for
in the press dispatches. 1t viii be an
event in the chronological history of
their tribe.
THE UTE NATION.
The Utes are not indigenous to this
section Of the country, as many sup
pose. When the first Colorado settlers
came here these Indians consisted Of
several tribes, numbering in all about
5000 persons, having possession of the
mountain districts. The tribes were
-,Onfederated for mutual protection, and
IA 7a1 0f he
well fortified by strong bands of war
Tlors, and a well organized runner
system kept all well informed of any
threatened danger, the head chief of
the nation being in constant communi
cation with each other. One tribe was
stationed in North park, another on
White river, another in Middle and
South park, the fourth scattered up
and down the valleys of the San Luis.
Uncompahgre and Grand rivers. The
entrances to the valleys of the Platte
and Arkansas rivers were closely
guarded TO prevent intrusion. The Utes
were not hostile to the eerly settlers,
who found them kindly disposed and
speaking a mixed language, consisting
mainly of the lingo prevailing in Old
Mexico among the Indians and the
poems. In fact, for many years, men
who followed the lonely vocation of
trapping the streams and lakes of Col
oTado had lived among these Indians,
and they had come to think well of
the white man, and rather favored the
advent of the settlers as a support
against their greatly outnumbering
enemies, the Pawnees, Cheyennes, Ar
rapahoes and other tribes living on the
plains. Any stray hunting party of
plains Indians getting too close to the
foothills We're swooDed down upon and
a scala dance about the Ute lodges
proclaimed the victorious result. A ira
dition sung in the native tongue pro-
claims how the enemies tried to invade
their home, and the dogs Toasted on the
scalpless remains strewn in gulch and
on mountain side. They seemed to con-
slider that if the whites could fight their
way across the plains they were good
TO have.
THEIR FORMER HOME.
There is no doubling that the Utes
have lived in this section of the coun-
try for a century or more, but accord
ing TO their traditions they were driven
southern Colorado, and were forced by |
other xarlike tribes to flee from the |
plains TO the mountains. 1t is told by !
them that they We're led by great |
chief, who came in a cloud, to the |
carrying a burning camp |
fire IN his hands, the cloud surround !
ing them and entirely obscuring them
from the view of their pursuers. AS
soon as they were safely in the noun
tains the great chief told them it was
their land forever and disappeared. The
cloud lifted and settled upon their en-
amies, Dewildering them, and they were
stricken by fire which came out of the
Tapory surroundings.
I often questioned the chiefs about
he history of their tribe, and one day
Shavenau took me to an old squaw,
Who, he said, was the wife of chief
before Ouray's time and who was more
han 100 years old. She might have
been 500, so far as appearances went.
She was blind, partially deaf, tooth
ess, shrunken and mumified, with hair
short cropped and as white as a ball
# cotton yarn. The old woman had
lot reported at the agency for a num-
Der of years, but remained at the camp,
md was moved about the same as any
# the luggage when a change of loca-
ion was made. She received more care
han the aged usually do, said to be
Iue to the request of Ouray before he
lied, &c whom she was probably re-
ated.
| CENTENARLANS RECOLLEC-
TIONS.
j was sometime before the Inter- |
rsater of Shavenau could make her I'M
erstand what was wanted By per-
istent questioning and reference to
ormer talks they had had with her,
hey finally got her mind in working
Orm. Shavenau steadily using the
lords: "Maypoots natchits peshadny," {
Meaning very little girl talk" Fin
liy the old spring was reopened and {
be waters began to flow. Her utter
-, J, nd .
racked, were indiStinct owing to her I
-ornout gums, the result of the per- {
icious habit Of chewing wax in which I
ne Indian women greatly indulge. This I
ak is formed of raw bitumen and 7
Jet, and is as 'resistless as rubber,
sueaking between an active pair of
Tvs like new boots.
The old woman said that when she g
as a 'maypoots natchits," a little c
ri, she lived way down where it was C
III summer" as Shavenau interpreted +
She told Of her father. a big chief, a
I'd a long war the tribe had with other Il
idians in the Uncapah country, mean n
= "Redwater," possibly in the viein- [
Y OF the Red river. That her tribe X
as defeated and driven up until snow t
nd was reached, and a fierce snow 2
orm forced them into camp by a s
yer which ShaVenau said was the Rio t
4 Norte. Il
Many of the old men. squaws and e
lildren died from frostbites, and when o
e sun, meaning spring. came again, L
ey were AL very sick and heap q
red A few ponies remained to Il
em, poor and nearly starved, and a
wing seen nothing of their pursuers h
! this time they started out to pros fl
ct for buffalo grounds. Strange to
y they had not Travelled more than Il
4, fxx-n haf / .