Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-12-26
CHIEF oURAY.

Old Chief Ouray was the child of a
Tabaguache mother. but his father
was the goold old head man of the
Jicarilla Apache tribe, named Curse
Murah Many interpretations of the
meaning of Ouray's name have been
given by old.timers and associates of
the chief The truth is this:
The first intelligible words that his
baby lips formed was Oo.ay. the Ute
word for yes. He often said that was
his baby name and that il had clung
to him. His pronunciation of it was
Op-lay, but after he had been in
structed in English aud desired to
write it, he said ii should be written
ouray. All the Utes. however. have
difficulty in sounding the letter X, so
to them he was alway Oolay
He was ever an advocate of peace
with the whites. but always ready to
take the field against such hereditary
enemies as the Sioux. Chcyennes
Arapahoes and Kiowas. Under his
leadership the utes were almost al.
ways the victors in conflict with the
plains Indians. but In one fight on
the debatable buffalo ground on the
headwaters of the Republican about
1865 they were worsted and ouray's
child. boy OF three or four years.
was captured by the Arapahoes He
was never heard of afterwards. al.
though every effort to find him was
made, both by the Utes and the In
dian bureau at Washington.
In 1873 IL was thought that the child
had been located in the indian Terri
tory. Through the efforts OF The Hon
Felix Brunot head of the Indian peace
commission. Gen. Charles Adams and
Stanley Stokes, the father and the
supposed son were brought together
Ouray asked that the boy be stripped
He examined him closely for some
well known mark, turned away. shook
his head sadly, uttered no word and
never afterward TO his most intimate
friend mentioned the lost child To
Ouray alone must he given the credit
of averting war with the utes. after
the Meeker massacre and the defeat
of Major Thornburg's little band OF
United States troops.
The plan was for the northern utes
to retreat to the southward. to be
Joined by some 400 of Ouray's people
and to fight il out in some chosen
mountain stronghold Ouray's iniiu-
ence. his wise advice and perhaps
more than all. the knowledge that he
would have killed the leaders
of the war party had they disobeyed
his commands broke up the combina.
ton He then sent his trusty messen.
ger. Chief Sapinero. to the White
river insurgents. commanding them
to disperse and to deliver the captive
women to General Adams. who had
been sent by Secretary Carl Schurz
of the interior department to receive
them.
Just here is a good place to insert
a little piece of unwritten history
Had Mr.. 3churz listened to advice.
there would have been no Meeker
massacre. Six weeks before that
the Bear valley and advised settlers
TO remove their families and belong
ings, as 1t had been determined In
council that the agency should be
cleaned out, and war void surely fol
low and they did not wish to harm
the settlers. This fact was reported
at once and several prominent Den
yer people. including the late William
n. Byers. begged that immediate |
steps be taken by the interior and |
war departments to prevent the ca
tastrophe so soon to take place The |
appeal was ignored and the result is
and Farm.