The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-11
UTES YIELD TO CRUEL FATE.
LAST OF oUR INDIANS TO GIVE UP
THEIR BILD LIFE

DURANGO. Col. June n-The witndra wal OF
Chief Ignacio and his 1.O40 Ute followers last
month from their ancient tribal reservation.
The formal opening Of the reservation for white
settlement. and particularly the acceptance
by the ties OF an annual stipend from Con-
gress and Of Government rations. all mark an.
other chapter In the rapid passing OF one OF
| the most powerful and interesting savags
| tribes that ever roamed the Western plains
| The ties are the last OF the great Indian
| tribes. as the Comanches. the Cheyennes. Kio-
was. hpaches and Arapahoes masters OF the
central West through countless ages). who
have accepted tho white mans terms have
abandoned all hope OF maintaining their own
aboriginal mode OF living and tribal customs
and have settled down to be victims OF an over
whelmine civilization. All over the West
there are old time hunters. scouts and plains
men who feel the pathos OF the passing away
Of the great Ute tribe as a distinct and sepa-
| rate people, The fact that the Utes were the
survivors OF all the half dozen greatest bodies
| of American Indians. who retained their tribal
| characteristics for years after other tribes had
accepted a maudn. unpictureslus oiviza.
| ton. Ia touchingly sentimental to veteran
whites on the plains. The prowessof the Utes.
their great battles with the Apaches and Co.
| manches and their intensely proud spirit Of
| superiority to all plains tribes and their devo-
| ton to Ute customs and legends are being re-
| counted nowadays in every mbage OF old
| timers In this region.
On May 4. by proclamation OF President Nc
| Kinley the Ute reservation. consisting OF 640,-
| 900 acres. was thrown open to settlement
| The Utes withdrew to email farming locations
reserved for them in La Plata and Archuleta
| counties. and by that act forever abandoned
the hunting ground. the birthplace and the
| home OF themselves and their ancestors from
time immemorial For forsaking their tribal
customs. the cessation Of their tribal orGani
cation and their adoption of white mems ways.
the ties are to receive 500. 900 annually from
the United States Government besides rations.
But $4,000 OF the Government money is to
be.set aside for the maintenance OF schools for
the Ute children. The rest Of the sum is to be
distributed among the members of the dimin-
shing and now hopeessy dependent Ute race
for ten years. Ute Indian no more big and
strong. Ute all gone: by and by there he no
more Ute Indian. White man get ALL" says
Chief 1gnacio pathetically. summing up the re-
cent important events in tho history OF his
once formidable tribe.
The reservation recently abandoned by the
Utes to the whites lies in the extreme south
western corner of Colorado. 1t has been for
twenty years the only Indian reservation left
in the State. 1t is fifteen miles wide by 10
miles long. and is fertile. we'll watered re-
gion 1t comprises several valleys sepa-
rated from one another by ranges Of low
mountains and watered by several streams
that flow southwest to the San Juan and the
Colorado rivers. There arc few regions in
the West so we'll ADAPTED for Indian purposeS
asthe Ito reservation has been. and the In
dams held it as long their diminishing men,
bers permitted. Its mesas. valleys. streams
and mountains have made 1t almost. deal for
hunting and fishing. 1t will be a famous re-
gion for farms In another decade. The Utes
have a legend that ages ago an Indian boy,
from slumber one day by great spirit who
loved bravery and strength and. amid thun-
was led BY spirit hand Over "f hill and dale
across deser:S and over rivers until he was
6F3 ths z this region on The western slope
The Ites once mum bored about $4,000 per
sons, When Gen. John c. Fremont made his
MIA. in 1s41 tho Utes we're thought to be about |
$1,000, in number They had been at war
four years. and they had lost between 900 |
and 1000 men. Jim Bridger. one of the ear
we're the most reckless fighters among the |
plains Indians except the Apaches. He said |
ana s 1ee used TO tel or OF ALL
deliberately sacrificed their lives in order that |
the tribe %Gh 1t g s4 sn p9Ps in strategy
the Union Pacific Railroad was built. In 1855 |
plains to themselves by checking work on the |
road toward the Sierras, so they made syste-
troops that were guarding them. Hundreds |
Of Ute braves were killed. SMALLPOX RACED !
enc 'h e.. nsn sHa BY 1876 the
,n Ih2e ties ~, have b:en largely mountain
I are amons :? the s' oy d
Rocky Mountains. They were famous bear
hunters. and as long as the white men kept |
ing lands against allcomers but little by lit |
Tie the constantly growing number Of pale |
lands were taken away. and gradually the |
ties withdrew into the choicest of their an.
There the Government by trsaty in 1853 |
G ronI"r them the reSserya'i24 which they
The tribe divided in the early seventies. when
the part OF i known us the Southern ties re-
ma in Colorado. while the Part known as
dwelt oyer the boundary line in Utah. At thai
time all three branches of the ties acknow-
chief. ,o,pray was the last chief 70 hold sway
visions have, maintained separate tribal or
G9nizattGn. but have kent up close intercourse
Traditions, The Southern Ties have Chief L..
nncio at their head, and he it was who negoti.
Natlon 20 the Government for money and food
wd rG,2yGa m y Is common among the ties aed
prep0nderance Of squaws in the trSe tn ere
are in other tribes 4 few men have three
wives and one me or two have four. Al The wives
band but Ute brave who can support more
than one wife and an extra lot Of children usu-
ally has enough means TO own separate wicki-
ups FOR his respective families. The men marry
at il and the women at from Is to l'i. 4 Ute
SIuaw who remains unmarried at 20 Is ma
ran in the tribe. and is well on the way toward
being condemned to death as a witch ere she is
40 years old. The young people usually he
gin married life In the home Of the brides
mother. but when the first child is born they
must get our and build their own wickiup III.
Norce is not infreIucnt among the TICS and is
an easy. informal process. The hush and sim
ply takes his horse and goes back to his own
elan, but he may marry again until the sub.
chlei OF That clan gives MIN permission. In
former days perm sson to marry again was !
Withhcd until the. self-diNorced man had
shown bravery on the warlath or endurance
calculated TO benefit the tribe \ violation of
this law was punishable 10y death
to fathers and mothers are good to their
children. but Informed, diseased and cruplnl
infants are k He'd Immediately upon birth While /
a rlNld that becomes crippled in youth lives a
sad. f3rIItn life and is looked uron with lis
favor by his relatives, even by MS mother Wh-r
twins are born the less promising one physi- !
Ga,Iy Is put TO- death, and when the twins are a