March 6, 1880
An act to accept and ratify the agreement submitted by the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado, for the sale of their reservation in said State, and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same.
Whereas certain of the chiefs and headmen of the confederated bands of the Ute tribe of Indians, now present in the city of Washington, have agreed upon and submitted to the Secretary of the Interior an agreement for the sale to the United States of their present reservation in the State of Colorado, their settlement upon lands in severalty, and for other purposes; and
Whereas the President of the United States has submitted said agreement, with his approval of the same, to the Congress of the United States for acceptance and ratification, and for the necessary legislation to carry the same into effect: Therefore
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That said agreement be, and the same is hereby, accepted, ratified, and confirmed: Provided, That the said agreement shall be amended by adding to the first clause thereof, after the words “guilty parties”, the words following, to wit: “Until such surrender or apprehension, or until the President shall be satisfied that the guilty parties are no longer living or have fled beyond the limits of the United States, the proportion of the money, hereinafter provided, coming to that portion of the Ute Indians known as the White River Utes, except for removal and settlement, shall not be paid”; and by adding to the third express condition of said agreement after the word “forever”, the words following, to wit: “Provided, That the President of the United States may, in his discretion, appropriate an amount thereof, not exceeding ten thousand dollars, for the education in schools established within or beyond the limits of the lands selected, of such youths of both sexes as in his judgment may be best qualified to make proficiency in practical industries and pursuits necessary for their self-support, and out of the portion of said moneys coming to the White River Utes, the United States shall pay annually to the following-named persons, during the period of twenty years, if they shall live so long, the following sums respectively: To Mrs. Arivella D. Meeker, five hundred dollars; to Miss Josephine Meeker, five hundred dollars; to Mrs. Sophronia Price, five hundred dollars; to Mrs. Maggie Gordon, five hundred dollars; to George Dresser, two hundred dollars; to Mrs. Sarah M. Post, five hundred dollars; to Mrs. Eaton, mother of George Eaton, two hundred dollars; to the parents of Arthur L. Thompson, two hundred dollars; to the father of Fred Shepard, two hundred dollars; to the parents of Wilmer Eskridge, two hundred dollars”; and by adding to the fifth express condition of said agreement after word “reaffirmed”, the words following to wit: “This sum, together with the annuity of fifty thousand dollars hereinbefore provided, may, in the discretion of Congress, at the end of twenty-five years, be capitalized, and the principal sum be paid to said Indians per capita in lieu of said annuities”: And provided also, That three-fourths of the adult male members of said confederated bands shall agree to and sign said agreement, upon presentation of the same to them, in open council, in the manner hereinafter provided: Provided further,That nothing in this act contained, or in the agreement herein set forth, or in the amendments herein proposed to said agreement, shall be so construed as to compel any Ute Indian to remove from any lands that he or she claims in severalty. Said agreement is in words and figures as follows, namely:
The chiefs and headmen of the confederate bands of the Utes now present in Washington, hereby promise and agree to procure the surrender, to the United States, for trial and punishment, if found guilty, of those members of their nation, not yet in the custody of the United States, who were implicated in the murder of the United States Indian Agent N. C. Meeker and the murder of and outrages upon the employees at the White River Agency on the twenty-ninth day of September, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and in case they do not themselves succeed in apprehending the said parties, presumably guilty of the above-mentioned crime, that they will not in any manner obstruct, but faithfully aid any officers of the United States, directed by the proper authorities, to apprehend such presumably guilty parties.
The said chiefs and headmen of the confederated bands of Utes also agree and promise to use their best endeavors with their people to procure their consent to cede to the United States all the territory of the present Ute Reservation in Colorado, except as hereinafter provided for their settlement.
The Southern Utes agree to remove to and settle upon the unoccupied agricultural lands on the La Plata River, in Colorado; and if there should not be a sufficiency of such lands on the La Plata River and in its vicinity in Colorado, then upon such other unoccupied agricultural lands as may be found on the La Plata River or in its vicinity in New Mexico.
The Uncompahgre Utes agree to remove to and settle upon agricultural lands on Grand River, near the mouth of the Gunnison River, in Colorado, if a sufficient quantity of agricultural land shall be found there, if not then upon such other unoccupied agricultural lands as may be found in that vicinity and in the Territory of Utah.
The White River Utes agree to remove to and settle upon agricultural lands on the Uintah Reservation in Utah.
Allotments in severalty of said lands shall be made as follows:
To each head of a family one-quarter of a section, with an additional quantity of grazing land not exceeding one-quarter of a section.
To each single person over eighteen years of age one-eighth of a section, with an additional quantity of grazing land not exceeding one-eighth of a section.
To each orphan child under eighteen years of age one-eighth of a section, with an additional quantity of grazing land not exceeding one-eighth of a section; and to each other person, under eighteen years, now living, or who may be born prior to said allotments, one-eighth of a section, with a like quantity of grazing land.
All allotments to be made with the advice of the commission hereinafter provided, upon the selection of the Indians, heads of families selecting for their minor children, and the agents making the allotment for each orphan child.
The said chiefs and headmen of the confederated bands of Utes further promise that they will not obstruct or in anywise interfere with travel upon any of the highways now open or hereafter to be opened by lawful authority in or upon any of the lands to be set apart for their use by virtue of this agreement.
The said chiefs and headmen of the confederated bands of Utes promise to obtain the consent of their people to the cession of the territory of their reservation as above on the following express conditions:
First.
That the Government of the United States cause the lands so set apart to be properly surveyed and to be divided among the said Indians in severalty in the proportion hereinbefore mentioned, and to issue patents in fee simple to them respectively therefor, so soon as the necessary laws are passed by Congress. The title to be acquired by the Indians shall not be subject to alienation, lease, or incumbrance, either by voluntary conveyance of the grantee or by the judgment, order, or decree of any court, or subject to taxation of any character, but shall be and remain inalienable and not subject to taxation for the period of twenty-five years, and until such time there-after as the President of the United States may see fit to remove the restriction, which shall be incorporated in the patents when issued, and any contract made prior to the removal of such restriction shall be void.
Second.
That so soon as the consent of the several tribes of the Ute Nation shall have been obtained to the provisions of this agreement, the President of the United States shall cause to be distributed among them in cash the sum of sixty thousand dollars of annuities now due and provided for, and so much more as Congress may appropriate for that purpose; and that a commission shall be sent to superintend the removal and settlement of the Utes, and to see that they are well provided with agricultural and pastoral lands sufficient for their future support, and upon such settlement being duly effected, that they are furnished with houses, wagons, agricultural implements, and stock cattle sufficient for their reasonable wants, and also such saw and grist mills as may be necessary to enable them to commence farming operations, and that the money to be appropriated by Congress for that purpose shall be apportioned among the different bands of Utes in the following manner: One-third to those who settle on the La Plata River and vicinity, one-half to those settling on Grand River and vicinity, and one-sixth to those settling on the Uintah Reservation.
Third.
That in consideration of the cession of territory to be made by the said confederated bands of the Ute Nation, the United States, in addition to the annuities and sums for provisions and clothing stipulated and provided for in existing treaties and laws, agrees to set apart and hold, as a perpetual trust for the said Ute Indians, a sum of money, or its equivalent in bonds of the United States, which shall be sufficient to produce the sum of fifty thousand dollars per annum, which sum of fifty thousand dollars shall be distributed per capita to them annually forever.
Fourth.
That as soon as the President of the United States may deem it necessary or expedient, the agencies for the Uncompahgres and Southern Utes be removed to and established at suitable points, to be hereafter selected, upon the lands to be set apart, and to aid in the support of the said Utes until such time as they shall be able to support themselves, and that in the mean time the United States Government will establish and maintain schools in the settlements of the Utes, and make all necessary provision for the education of their children.
Fifth.
All provisions of the treaty of March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and the act of Congress approved April twenty ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, not altered by this agreement, shall continue in force, and the following words from article three of said act, namely, “The United States agrees to set apart and hold, as a perpetual trust for the Ute Indians, a sum of money or its equivalent in bonds, which shall be sufficient to produce the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, which sum of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum shall be disbursed or invested at the discretion of the President, or as he may direct, for the use and benefit of the Ute Indians forever”, are hereby expressly reaffirmed.
Sixth.
That the commissioners above mentioned shall ascertain what improvements have been made by any member or members of the Ute Nation upon any part of the reservation in Colorado to be ceded to the United States as above, and that payment in cash shall be made to the individuals having made and owning such improvements, upon a fair and liberal valuation of the same by the said commission, taking into consideration the labor bestowed upon the land.
Done at the city of Washington this sixth day of March anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty.
Signed:
CHAVANAUX his X mark
IGNATIO his X mark
ALHANDRA his X mark
VERATZITZ his X mark
GALOTA his X mark
JOCKNICK his X mark
WASS his X mark
SAWAWICK his X mark
OURAY
Witnesses:
Will F. Burns, Interpreter.
W. H. Berry, Interpreter.
Otto Mears, Interpreter.
Henry Page, United States Indian Agent, Southern Utes.
Charles Adams, Special Agent.
Ratification of Ute Agreement
Ratification by the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado of the agreement submitted by certain chiefs and headmen of said bands then in Washington City to the Secretary of the Interior on the 6th day of March, 1880, as amended by the act of Congress of June 15, 1880.
Whereas, on the 6th day of March, A. D. 1880, certain chiefs and headmen of the confederated bands of the Ute tribe of Indians in Colorado, then in Washington City, did submit to the Secretary of the Interior an agreement for the sale of the present reservation of the confederated bands of said tribe of Indians, situate, lying, and being in the State of Colorado, their settlement upon lands in severalty, and for other purposes, which said agreement was approved by the President of the United States and transmitted to Congress for acceptance and ratification, and the necessary legislation to carry the same into effect; and,
Whereas, by an act approved June 15, 1880, entitled "An act to accept and ratify the agreement submitted by the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado for the sale of their reservation in said State, and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same," Congress did accept, ratify, and confirm said agreement, with certain amendments thereto, as in said act set forth, which said agreements and amendments are embodied in said act of Congress; and,
Whereas the said agreement and the amendments thereto, with the several sections of said act of Congress relating to the same, to all of which reference is here had and made for certainty, have each and all been submitted to said confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado, by George W. Manypenny, Alfred B. Meacham, John B. Bowman, John J. Russell, and Otto Mears, commissioners appointed by the President of the United States in pursuance of said act of Congress, for their consideration and ratification; and,
Whereas said agreement and the amendments thereto, together with the provisions of each and every section of said act of Congress, have been carefully and fully explained and interpreted in open council to the confederated bands of said Ute tribe of Indians, and considered by said Indians in their own councils:
Now, therefore, be it known, that in consideration of the beneficial provisions in behalf of the confederated bands of said Ute tribe of Indians contained in said agreement and said act of Congress, and relying upon the good faith of the Government of the United States for the faithful fulfillment of each and every stipulation in behalf of said Indians contained in said agreement and in said act of Congress, the chiefs, headmen, and other adult male members of the confederated bands of the Ute tribe of Indians in Colorado do accept, ratify, and confirm said agreement as amended by said act of Congress, and do hereby cede, sell, and convey to the United States all right, title, interest, and claim of said confederated bands of Indians in and to said Ute reservation, excepting and reserving such lands on the La Plata River and in its vicinity and on the Grand River near the mouth of the Gunnison River, as may, on exploration,in pursuance of the provisions of said act of Congress, be selected and set apart for the whole or a part of the Southern and Uncompahgre Utes to remove to and settle on as contemplated by said agreement, and also such tract or tracts of land as any individual Indian or Indians, male or female, of said tribe claim and now occupy in severalty.
And the confederated bands of said Ute tribe of Indians do stipulate and agree, and hereby bind themselves individually and collectively, to remove to and settle upon such lands as may, after exploration, be designated by said commission for their respective homes, in pursuance of the provisions of said agreement and said act of Congress, and in each and every particular to accept and carry out the same, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.
Dated and signed in duplicate at Los Pinos Agency, Colorado, July 20, 30, and 31,1880.
[Uncompahgre Ute signers]
We, the undersigned, sworn interpreters, do hereby certify that the agreement submitted on the 6th day of March, 1880, by certain Ute Indians, then in Washington City, to the Secretary of the Interior, and the amendments made to the same by Congress in the act approved June 15, 1880, together with the several provisions of said act of Congress, were each and all submitted by the Ute Commission, and fully interpreted and explained in open council on the 21st day of July, 1880, to the bands of the confederated tribe of Ute Indians in Colorado who receive their rations and annuities at Los Pinos Agency, and known as the Uncompahgre Utes, as well as to certain bands of White River Ute Indians then on the Uncompahgre River, and who participated in said council; that the council was continued on the 22d and 23d of July, 1880, and the provisions of said agreement and said law were fully discussed. The council then adjourned until the 26th of July, when it again convened and the commission had read and interpreted to said Indians an instrument ratifying said agreement, whereupon the Indians took said instrument to a council of their own, with the understanding that they would meet the commissioners again in open council on the 28th of July.
We further certify that, on said 28th of July, said Indians did assemble with the commissioners in open council, and, after some discussion, said instrument of ratification was signed by the chiefs, headmen, and other adult Indians of the Uncompahgre bands, on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of July, 1880, whose names appear above, with a full understanding of the object and intent of the same.
We further certify that we witnessed the execution of said instrument of ratification by the Uncompahgre Ute Indians, whose names appear as above.
URIAH M. CURTIS,
Ute Interpreter.
J. SABINO ESPINOSA,
Spanish Interpreter.
LOS PINOS INDIAN AGENCY, Colorado, August 2, 1880.
[Uncompahgre Ute signers]
I hereby certify on honor that the above signatures of male adult Uncompahgre Ute Indians to the foregoing instrument of ratification of the agreement submitted to said Uncompaghre Ute Indians, by the Ute Commission, were obtained under and in conformity to the act of Congress approved June 15, 1880; that they are genuine, and that every name was written and signed under my personal supervision and in my presence, beginning at No. 111, on the 6th day of August, 1880, to No. 319, inclusive , ending on the 18th day of September, 1880, and that each Indian voluntarily signed and executed the same, with a full knowledge of the intent and meaning of the act.
Dated and signed at the Los Pinos Indian Agency, Colorado, September 18, A. D. 1880.
A. B. MEACHAM,
Commissioner.
We hereby certify that the Uncompaghre Ute Indians, whose names are attached to the foregoing instrument of ratification from No. 111 to No. 319, inclusive, voluntarily signed and executed the same in our presence .
Dated and signed at the Los Pinos Agency, Colorado, this 18th day of September, A. D. 1880.
W. H. BERRY,
United States Indian Agent.
AARON BRADSHAW,
Clerk.
Dated and signed in duplicate at Los Pinos Agency, Colorado, July 29, 30, and 31, 1880.
[White River Ute signers]
We, the undersigned, sworn interpreters, do hereby certify that the White River Ute Indians, whose names appear above, were in the councils with the Uncompaghre Ute Indians referred to in our certificate, in relation to said last-named Indians, and their ratification of the agreement contained in the act of Congress of June 18, 1880; that said White River Indians heard the interpretation and explanations made by the commission, in relation to said agreement and said instrument of ratification, and fully understood the same.
We further certify that we witnessed the execution of said instrument by said White River Indians, whose names appear as above.
URIAH M. CURTIS,
Ute Interpreter.
J. SABINO ESPINOSA,
Spanish Interpreter.
LOS PINOS INDIAN AGENCY,
Colorado, August 2, 1880.
[White River Ute signers]
I hereby certify on honor that the above signatures of male adult White River Ute Indians to the foregoing instrument of ratification of the agreement submitted to said Indians by the Ute Commission were obtained under and in conformity to the act of Congress approved June 15, 1880; that they are genuine, and that every name was written and signed under my personal supervision and in my presence, beginning at No. 35, on the 14th day of August, 1880, to No. 61, inclusive, ending on the 18th day of September, 1880, and that each Indian voluntarily signed and executed the same with a full knowledge of the intent and meaning of the act.
Dated and signed at the Los Pinos Indian Agency, Colorado, September 18, A. D. 1880.
A. B. MEACHAM,
Commissioner.
We hereby certify that the White River Ute Indians, whose names are attached to the foregoing instrument of ratification, from No. 35 to No. 61, inclusive, voluntarily signed and executed the same in our presence.
Dated and signed at the Los Pinos Indian Agency, Colorado, this 18th day of September, A. D. 1880.
W. H. BERRY,
United States Indian Agent.
AARON BRADSHAW,
Clerk .
We, the undersigned chiefs, headmen, and other adult male Indians of the bands of the confederated tribe of Ute Indians in Colorado who receive their rations and annuities at the Southern Ute Agency, having had the foregoing instruments of ratification of the agreement submitted to the Secretary of the Interior by certain chiefs and headmen of said Ute tribe on the 6th day of March, 1880, together with said agreement and the amendments thereto contained in the act of Congress approved June 15, 1880, as well as the provisions of said act of Congress, fully interpreted and explained to us in open council, do hereby consent and agree to all the stipulations contained in said instrument of ratification and in said agreement as amended, and bind ourselves, individually and collectively, to accept of and carry out the several provisions of the same according to the true intert and meaning thereof.
Dated and signed at the Southern Ute Agency in Colorado, in duplicates, August 27 and 28, A. D. 1880.
[Ute signers]
We, the undersigned, sworn interpreters, do hereby certify that the agreement submitted by certain chiefs and headmen of the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado, then in Washington, to the Secretary of the Interior, on the 6th day of March, A. D. 1880, with the amendments made thereto by the act of Congress approved June 15, A. D. 1880, together with the provisions of said act of Congress and the foregoing instrument of ratification of the same, which was signed by the Uncompahgre bands and certain White River Indians on the 29th , 30th, and 31st days of July, A. D. 1880 , were each and all submitted in open council to the several bands of Ute Indians in Colorado who receive their rations and annuities at the Southern Ute Agency on the 20th day of August, 1880, by George W. Many penny, John B. Bowman, John J. Russell, and Otto Mears, members of the Ute Commission, and were fully interpreted and explained by us to said bands of Indians; that the several provisions of said agreement and said act of Congress were discussed by said commissioners and said Indians in open council on the 23d and 26th days of August, A. D. 1880, the subject matter of the discussion being interpreted by us.
We further certify that the said Indians fully understood the provisions of said agreement and act of Congress, as well as the provisions of said instrument of ratification, before they signed the same.
Dated at the Southern Ute Agency, in Colorado, this 28th, day of August , A. D. 1880.
W. F. BURNS,
Spanish Interpreter.
U. M. CURTIS,
Ute Interpreter.
We, the undersigned chiefs, headmen, and other adult male Indians of the bands of the confederated Ute tribe of Indians in Colorado who receive their rations and annuities at the Southern Ute Agency, having had the foregoing instrument of ratification of the agreement submitted to the Secretary of the Interior by certain chiefs and headmen of said Ute tribe on the 6th day of March, 1880, together with said agreement and the amendments thereto contained in the act of Congress approved June 15, 1880, as well as the provisions of said act of Congress, fully interpreted and explained to us in open council, do hereby consent and agree to all the stipulations contained in said instrument of ratification and in said agreement as amended, and bind ourselves, individually and collectively, to accept of and carry out the same according to the true intent and meaning thereof.
Signed and dated at the Southern Ute Agency, &c., in duplicate , September 6, 1880.
[Ute signers]
Dated and signed in duplicate, at the Big Bend of the Deloris River, Colorado, September 11, 1880.
[Ute signers]
We, the undersigned, Henry Page, United States Indian Agent at the Southern Ute Agency, in Colorado, and William F. Burns, interpreter, do hereby certify that we were present at the Southern Ute Agency on the 6th, and at the Big Bend of the Deloris River, in Colorado, on the 11th day of September, 1880, and witnessed the signing of the foregoing instrument by the Weeminuchee Ute Indians, whose names appear above; that Ignacio, the head chief of said Indians, was present on both occasions, and the Indians who signed the instrument fully understood the intent and meaning of the same. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands officially, this 13th day of September, 1880.
HENRY PAGE,
United States Indian Agent.
W. F. BURNS,
Interpreter.
We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that the Indians of the confederated bands of the Ute tribe, in Colorado, known as the Southern Ute Indians, whose names are attached to the foregoing instrument of ratification from No. 1 to No. 164, inclusive, and who signed and executed the same at the Southern Ute Indian Agency, in Colorado, on the 27th and 28th days of August and the 6th day of September, A. D. 1880, did so voluntarily in our presence, each one of them understanding at the time the provisions of the agreement embodied in the act of Congress approved June 15, A. D. 1880, as well as the substance of said act of Congress and the said instrument of ratification, before signing the same.
Dated and signed at Alamosa this 25th day of September, A. D. 1880.
GEO. W. MANYPENNY,
Chairman Ute Commission.
JOHN R. FRENCH,
Clerk Ute Commission.
We, the undersigned, members of the commission appointed in pursuance of the provisions of an act of Congress approved June 15, A. D. 1880, and entitled " An act to accept and ratify the agreement submitted by the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado for the sale of their reservation in said State, and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same," do hereby certify that said act of Congress and the agreement therein referred to, and the foregoing instrument of ratification were read, submitted, and fully explained to the Uncompahgre Ute Indians and the White River Ute Indians, of the State of Colorado, at Los Pinos Indian Agency, in 'said State, in full and open council, on the 21st, 22d, 23d, and 28th days of July, 1880, by all of the members of said commission. And that said act of Congress, and agreement, and instrument of ratification were read, submitted, and fully explained to the Southern Ute Indians of the State of Colorado, in full and open council, on the 20th, 23d, and 26th days of August, A. D. 1880, by George W. Manypenny, J. B. Bowman, J. J. Russell, and Otto Mears, members of said Commission, at the Southern Ute Agency in said State. That the several persons whose names are attached to the foregoing instrument of ratification are adult males of the confederated bands of the Ute tribe of Indians in the State of Colorado, and that they respectively signed the same, as shown by the several certificates thereto attached, after said acts of Congress, agreement, and instrument of ratification had been fully read and explained to them as aforesaid, and after having been fully interpreted to them by the persons whose names are attached to and who signed the foregoing certificates as interpreters. And that said instrument of ratification is signed and executed by three-fourths, and more, of the adult males of the confederated bands of the Ute tribe of Indians, in the State of Colorado.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 25th day of September, A.D. 1880, at Alamosa, State of Colorado.
GEO. W. MANYPENNY,
JOHN J. RUSSELL,
OTTO MEARS,
Commissioners.