The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-03
HOPE CONGRESS PROBES IN utah
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team to get back to his camp. he
thought the other chiefs should con-
cede him this much They did, and l
gave my own team to the old fellow
together with supply Of food and
clothing.
My lease was signed by every IN
dian present at the council including
the twenty-one chiefs 1t gave me
lease on the $4,000 acres for ten years
with the option of renewing at the end
of that time i was to give the In
of all the mines opened under the
lease. My lease was signed at 2
O'Clock in the afternoon and the allOt-
ment of land TO the Uncompahgres
was agreed to at 4 O'Clock of the same
day. The council closed with bar
becue.
Opposition in Washington.
u went at once to washington to
secure a ratifica ton of my treaty by
Secretary of the Interior Cornelius N
Bliss. l found that my troubles were
by no means over; that / had people
to deal with more uncertain than the
Indians. l had won on the reserva-
ton, but that was only part of the
battle Secretary Bliss showed me a
letter to him from George .. Cannon
in which that gentleman said that the
men at the head of my scheme Were
poor and ignorant and unable TO swing
a proposition worth from s50.000,000 to
$1O0, 100000 Mr.. Bliss said he would
recognize my claim before any other
or the reservation but he said he was
going to resign, that he did not like
the work.
bliss resigned and Hitchcock came
in and my lease was pigeOn-hOled.
One of the hardest workers against
me was Dick, who is now
United States senator from Ohio. He
was lobbyist then and particular
friend of H. p. Myton's.
Il had not been long in Washington
before 1 discovered that L must have
help if I expected to win The pres
sure was too strong against me unless
1 could secure the influence of men
high up in Washington. meeting
of a number of prominent men from
New York was arranged tC be held in
the Manhattan hotel in New York
City and / went over from Washing
ton to attend that meeting. The re-
suit of it was that 1 agreed to turn
over portion of my interests in eX-
change for help in getting my lease
ratified by Secretary Hitchcock.
James S. Sherman, Warren Hooker.
Judge H. c. Henderson and William
| Ward were to give their assistance
They were all congressman from New
York at the time. Sherman was the
chairman of the committee on Indian
| affairs, and for that reason had much
| influence. Others became interested
( later. Among these were Judge Tho
man of Chicago, Postmaster General
denIN - Hayne ana ODlOnel deOTSe
| F. Timms. The New York parties
organized the Florence Mining COM
pany.
The upshot of the Whole matter
/ was that my lease was never ratified
\ by the secretary of the interior; bat
when the law passed providing for the
! opening of the Uintah reservation $40
! acres of consecutive mineral ground in
| the reservation was to Se given the
! Florence Mining company before the
I 90 to
| recognize the justice of this arrange
! ment. If the matter is ever opened up
| for investigation there will be some
| disgraceful revelations
Operations of Raven Company.
The basis for the special privilege
/ given the Raven Mining company is
/ equally fiimsy in the minds of those
/ conversant with the facts. Judge J.
| T. Mcconnell secured a lease on a
| tract OF land fifteen miles square east
| of Strawberry and south of the DU-
| chesne in what is known as the Indian
J Creek country. Judge Mcconnell was
/ unable to comply with the terms of
/ his lease because of a lack of capital
His lease lapsed, but some friends took
| hold of the matter; the American
! Asphalt company was interested and
| the Mcconnell lease was revived Then
1 the American Asphalt company went
| on the rocks after experimenting ex-
/ tensively with gilsonite Private per-
! sons got hold of the matter and Judge
| Mcconnell was bought out. These men
/ got seven Indians down to Washington
| and had them sign a lease to take the
place of the Mcconnell lease and this
! was ratified by the secretary of the
| interior, although the law says the
! Indians must sign in open council on
! the reservation. Matters were in this
shape when the bill opening the reser-
walton came before congress. The
| Raven people were given the right to
locate 100 hydrocarbon claims because
of their lease. Their right to locate is
| confined to the fifteen square miles
| covered by Judge McCOnnells original
lease but they are said to have been
prospecting over the entire reservation,
and their title to any locations outside
of the prescribed territory will be con-
tested in the courts.
1t is also claimed now that the Raven
people and the Florence people are the
same; that while the Florence people
have no right to locate hydrOcarbOn
ground and the Raven people have no
| right to locate precious metal claims
| they are so situated that they may ex-
! change if any location is, contested.
1t is also claimed that as the original
law provided for the opening of the
reservation Oct. 1, 1903, and the Flor
ence and Raven people under the law
were required to make all their loca-
tions thirty days prior to the opening
and that this means thirty days prior
- 10 oct l. 1SO-i- Whatever the outcome
it is reasonably certain that litigation
will follow the actual opening of the
reservation.
, The Sylvanite company is another
institution that will claim slice OF
the reservation. This company +.
made up Of F. w. G. Hathenbruck, A
| c. Hatch. John Austin. Charles Garter
J and Monte Roberts. The claim of thi,
company is based upon the origina
lease of Mr.. Hathenbruck to 10000
acres. The contention is made tina
( this claim viii be sustained by the lar
under which the reservation is to b.
| opened.
George f. Timms, who is the vic
| president OF the Florence Mining com
| pany. is now in the reServa ton lookin;
! after the interests of his company.
is limited that while a great deal o
| prospecting has been done by tn,
| FepFeseH ia tiVes of the Raven and tn
| Florence they have thus far failed [,