History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 17

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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HISTORY OF COLORADO.

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CHAPTER II. AFFAIRS AT WHITE RIVER AGENCY.

T THAT the Indians meant mischief seemed to be no secret to anybody except the high and mighty officials of the Indian Bureau at Washing- ton. During the summer, Gov. Pitkin more than once protested against the outrageous conduct of the White River Utes; but no attention was paid to his telegrams further than to aeknowledge their receipt and offer some gossamer excuse for the Indians. Agent Meeker wrote to the Governor that the Indians could not be controlled or kept on their reservation without the aid of troops, and the army would not aet without orders from the Indian Bureau, which never eame. Mr. Meeker begged Gov. Pitkin to use his good offices to have troops sent to the Ageney to carry out the orders and instructions of the Bureau, but the Governor was only partially successful. Gen. Pope ordered a troop of colored cavalry from Fort Garland to scout through Middle and North Park for the protection of settlers, but of course the Indians merely avoided the troops, and went on with the burning of forests and the destruction of property.

Finally, a new move was made by the State authorities. Maj. J. B. Thompson, whose house had been burned by Indians, on Bear River, swore out warrants for the arrest of two ringleaders, named Bennett and Chinaman. These warrants were issued by Judge Beck, out .of the Distriet Court for the First Judicial District, in which the crime was committed, and placed in the hands of Sheriff Bessey, of Grand County, for service. Sheriff Bessey made an unsuccessful effort to ar- rest the criminals, but was informed by Chief Douglass that no Indian could be arrested by civil process in the reservation, whatever crimes he may have been guilty of outside that eharmed circle. Strange to say, this view of the case seems to be sustained by as high authority as the Indian Bureau.

Mr. R. D. Coxe, a very intelligent gentleman, who spent the summer in Middle Park, was a member of the posse which accompanied Sheriff Bessey to White River Agency. His account of the trip is so interesting that no apology is neces- sary for transferring it to these pages. It shows the state of affairs at the Agency more than a month previous to the massacre :

" The Sheriff of Grand County, Mr. Marshall Bessey, with a posse of four men, left Hot Sul- phur Springs at 1 o'elock P. M., August 22, and after a four-days journey, through the rugged country that comprises the northern part of Mid- dle and Egeria Parks, and over the well-timbered Bear River bottom, the Sheriff camped at Pike's Ageney (Windsor), twenty-five miles from the line of the reservation. The party were enter- tained at Windsor by some accounts of Indian deviltry, as well as by the information that Colo- row, with his band, was eamped a mile below. The Indians so near the Agency pay little attention to the amenities. Mrs. Peek, wife of the Agent, a timid woman, had been seared into a sick-bed by the red devils. It is no uncommon pastime for them, reaching a house from which the men are away, to command the women to eook them a meal. An Indian never lacks an appetite, and, with the knowledge of the terror his hideous visage and apparel strikes to the women, he manages to get many a square meal by turning 'Big (very big) Injun.' One of them went to the house of a ranchman named Lithgow, close to Windsor, after a meal, but the sandy little woman declined to feed him. He began his ' Big Injun' taetics and drew a knife on her. She struck him a smart blow on the face with a teacup, laying the flesh open, 'and the subsequent proceedings interested him no more.'

" Peek is, apparently, a clever, business-like man. He has a tremendous stock of goods-a

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general stock, of which the magazine and arsenal are a large part. This stock is to sell to the Indi- ans. There is no law to prevent this, but the many widows and orphans whom this outbreak will make can thank Peck and such as he for put- ting the Indians in fighting trim. I went into Mrs. Peck's kitchen, to heat some water, and, per- ceiving a stack of arms, remarked that she was well prepared for the Indians. She said they were Colorow's guns, which he had left there the day before. When she mentioned his name she shuddered, and she talked with bated breath when she spoke of Indians. Her life is a constant fear, and I could not help but estimate the profits of the business I should have to be in to keep a wife and children in such a country. I could not hold enough ciphers in mind to name the figure.

" Mr. Bessey had a warrant for two Indians, by supposed name ' Chinaman ' and 'Bennett.' We took some pains to inquire of the white people at Windsor about these Indians, but could learn nothing. The dead, Sabbath calm of gossip, which is so noticeable among the Utes, extended even this far, and they were very ignorant of any crimes that might be alleged against the Indians.

" Before we were ready to start for the Agency, which we did just at noon on the 27th of August, an Indian rode up to Peck's and dismounted. I was sitting, with a companion, at the door of the store, when he left his horse and came toward the store. My companion, Dr. Chamberlain, said, as he approached us :

"' Why, that's Washington.'

" And it was; but what an opposite to his namesake- the man who never told a lie !

" I think that Washington is about as ugly a biped as we have at present on the continent, and what homeliness of face he lacked he had at- tempted to supply by dress. I am not a good hand at description of dress, but I shall endeavor to tell you how Washington was attired. His head was surmounted by a soft hat, turn-down rim, which was ornamented by a band of cal- ico. He had on a red flannel shirt, soiled and

torn, and about as poor a pair of pantaloons as the law allows. But the leggings-the one arti- cle of the dress of equestrians which the Indians make better than the whites-were handsome. An old and ragged pair of boots protected his feet. As he came up, I saw he was cross-eyed, and that the 'whites' of his eyes had become ' browns,' as well as bloodshot. He muttered something which I did not understand, as he reached us, and picked up my gun, which was standing at my side. He looked it over care- fully, sighted at a hillside 500 yards off, and then coming to a parade rest, said, 'Good gun !' Con- sidering this a challenge to converse, I replied, and got the benefit of what I should term the 'aphorisms of Washington' (who never told a lie). I could not repeat his full conversation, because I lost much of it by not understanding Indian-English. I had come to look upon the Indian as one that seldom talks and never smiles. But this old Indian overturned 'that belief. He talked like a machine and chuckled constantly. He was especially merry over a 'tear' that hc and six comrades had been on in Denver. His descriptions were unique, thus: 'We come to man. Man have whisky. Utes drink um. Come to man-two-two man. Man have whisky. Utes drink um.' And so on, till Utes had plenty of whisky, and the police took them in. He said the Utes were 'heap scared.' His 'heap scared' was a favorite expression. They were locked up during the night, 'heap scared.' They came before the Judge next morning, 'heap scared.' But they came out all right. The Judge saw that they were Utes, and, according to this vera- cious historian, he said as much, and remanded them to the reservation. Then he drew a map in the sand, explaining as he drew. He first made a very large dot, to indicate Denver City ; two inches off he drew another, for Georgetown ; two inches more, and Hot Sulphur Springs (the name of which he did not seem to know well, and preferred to say 'heap water-drink water'); two inches more, and the Agency -- ' Utes heap glad.'

Danke Suchwelt

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He then explained about how dreadfully he had hurt his arm, a long time ago, and this was inter- esting talk to us, for we remembered that just one year before, a band of ten intrepid men, under command of William N. Byers, of Denver, had gone to the Ageney to capture the murderer of Mr. Elliott, of Middle Park, and to get some stolen stoek. The stock they got, and they sent a surgeon who was with them to see whether a wounded Indian had stowed away a ball, or had really been hurt by the fall. This Indian was Washington-the surgeon was my companion ; and nothing would have saved Washington from their vengeance if he had had a gun-shot wound.

" He soon passed on to polities, and, as politics go (or should go) in the Ute Nation, I should elass him as an independent liberal kieker. He did not like Meeker. 'Meeker heap fool. Me no like'm work. Make Washington heap tired. But me shoot'm blacktail,' ete. Then he told us about Ouray, whom, he assured us, was no Ute, but an Apache papoose. He told us how Ouray had sold Uneompahgre Park and pocketed the $10,000 received for it. After blackguarding Ouray for some time, he eame to Douglass, whom he seemed to have no faith in. I think, if he had understood the beautiful slang of the street, he would have pronounced Douglass a fraud. He claimed that if Douglass 'went on' (at what I know not), the Utes would soon have no ground, no agency, no agent, no nothing. But this Ute, who had no good word for any in authority, soon came to speak of one whom he seemed to like. It was no less a personage thian Washington. He was a good Ute liked the white man, never troubled the whites, wouldn't lie or steal, and so on. After an eulogy on his virtues, he took care- fully from his vest pocket a soiled envelope, from which he took a piece of legal-cap paper, which he handed to us with much satisfaction of manner. We read it. It was a ' character,' and read about as follows: 'The bearer, George Washington, is a good Ute. He will not steal the white man's horses, nor anything else from the white man.'

The signature was a scrawl, which meant nothing. When we returned the paper to him, he put it away as carefully as if it had been his last dollar- bill, and he a thousand miles from home. We soon left him, and saw him no more. The unan- imous opinion among those who know the Indian is,that he is the meanest Indian in the mountains -meaner than that monument of meanness, Colorow, his friend and co-chief. We camped, on the 27th, some fifteen miles toward the Ageney from Windsor, and early the next morning started on.

" We soon crossed the east line of the reserva- tion, but traveled fully ten miles into the reserva- tion before meeting an Indian. As we reached the top of a divide the trail led through a natural gateway of roeks, and from this point we saw in the distance Indians coming toward us. As they came nearer, we saw there were but three, and soon that they were a brave, a squaw and a girl. As we met, the brave extended his hand, with the customary salute, ' How ?' I had learned enough Injun to answer him in his own language, and found no hesitancy in telling him how! The brave was a jolly-looking fellow, easy to smile. He wore a straw hat (quite the thing among the Utes), and his loeks were oiled and plaited. He was, evidently, dressed for a holiday, and so, indeed, it was for him, for he was taking his ' outfit' (his home, his family and all his posses- sions, I judge) to the store, where the hides packed on his ponies were to be disposed of, and he was to get ammunition, possibly a gun for himself, and gewgaws for the squaw and children, for there was a papoose at the mother's knee, swinging to the saddle in one of those contrivances which take, with the Indians, the place of cradles.

" We saw quite a number of Indians after pass- ing this family, one of whom realized, to some ex- tent, the ideal Lo. He was standing on the mountain-side, with only a shirt on, his long hair flowing down his back, and his brown limbs ex- posed. He appeared to have struck wash-day, and he was at it with might and main. We passed

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about a quarter of a mile from him, but his pony took a liking to us and attempted to follow us. Then the savage within him roused, and he talked Ute to the horse like a father.

" As we neared White River, we saw fleeting forms on horseback, and, as long as we had a view of the road, they were noticeable. Indians dislike to walk a horse, and even the girls and boys of the tribe keep their ponies in a lope. We inquired the distance to the Agency of an Indian girl, and she told us a mile. It was three, but anything short of five miles is a mile to an Indian.

" Large camps lined the river-bank. The camps were mostly composed of tepees; but once in a while was a tent, sometimes a log cabin, or shed with a brush roof.

" All the Indians we met had on paint, a red smear over their faces; but we met one that was got up for pretty. His face was painted a drab color, from forehead to chin; from ear to ear, his chin had a pink wash, and his eyelids were a bright vermillion. His hair was closely gathered back, and he might have trained for a Humpty- Dumpty in a theatrical community. He was very quiet-said nothing to us at all. I asked him if any one was dead, but he did not reply.

herd of horses skirted the fenced field, and it seemed to me they looked with jealous eye upon the growing crops. On the hills, upon the other side of the river, were large herds of cattle, and everything looked pastoral and quiet.

" It needed no introduction to tell us that the tall, angular, gray-headed man who welcomed us to the Agency was ' Father' Meeker. To look at him was to see the plows and harrows and fence- wire. He told us to unsaddle at the corral, and, after an eight hours' ride over a rough trail, we were not unwilling to do so. As we approached the corral, a figure came toward us from the direc- tion of the river, that I gazed at with increasing interest as it approached. Dressed in what I should call the fall attire of a workman in the States, I set myself to solve the problem of what nationality. White, red or black ? Once it was a sunburned white man, then a 'nigger,' but when it reached us the inevitable red smear betrayed it. It was an Indian, and, moreover, an Indian who spoke respectable English. There was something I should describe as a reserved force in his man- ner (not matter) of speaking. Our conversation was trivial. I had put my estimate on him, and it was that he had grown civilized enough to doff the blanket (emblem of the aborigine) and to become generally no account. Imagine my sur- prise when the Sheriff turned to me and told me our visitor was Douglass. I had expected to find the great chief in a mud palace, exacting the reverence and homage of all comers. Instead, he is an Indian who would be taken for a respecta- ble negro church-sexton in Kentucky, and he keeps up the likeness by his grave reticence and respectful curiosity as to what our mission is.

" The Agency had been moved since any of the party had been there, and, as we came in sight of it, it presented a pretty picture to our eyes. The White River Valley at the Agency is some half or three-quarters of a mile in width, and is splendidly adapted to agriculture, as well by the ease with which it can be irrigated as by the natural qual- ities of the soil. Facing the Agency buildings, under fence, was a field of fifty acres, in which was growing corn and garden truck, and from which a good crop of wheat had been harvested. Around " A word as to Douglass. I do not put the esti- mate on him that the dispatches would warrant. I do not believe that he led the charge on Milk Creek, mounted on a fiery, untamed pony. He is the father of a divided house, if those acquainted with the affairs of the White River Utes know whereof they speak. Douglass is a chief of ten were the signs of a practical farmer, and under the sheds of the Agency were the latest improvements in agricultural implements. Here, thought I, is the model ; another generation will find our dusky neighbors tilling their ranches and pursuing the peaceful avocations of civilization, and the blessing will rest upon the head of N. C. Meeker. But a | years' standing, and, from intercourse with the

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whites, as well as weight of years, has grown con- servative and pliable. None can know better than he the futility of war with the whites. Since his chieftainship, the tribe has grown up. The boys that used to fight the Arapahoes are middle-aged, and among them is an aquiline-featured stalwart called Capt. Jack. I am told that Capt. Jack, while nominally second chief, really commands the suffrage and good-will of far the larger portion of the tribe.

" Douglass is about five feet seven inches in height, medium stature and outrageously bow- legged. The most noticeable thing about him is that he shaves, but manages to escape an iron-gray growth of moustache on the sides of his mouth in that operation. In his dress, he made no pre- tence to the gandy-was satisfied with the sub- stantial. While I was yet eyeing him, eager to hear some words of wisdom from this patriarch, the Agent came out and told him he wanted to talk to him. Douglass followed him into the house, as did the Sheriff.

" Mr. Bessey had already acquainted Mr. Meeker with the object of our visit, and Mr. Meeker had promised to do what he could to bring the criminal Utes to account. In the house, Mr. Bessey again went over the business and showed his warrant. Douglass said the Utes were not on the reservation, and that therefore he could not give them up. Mr. Meeker said they could not be far away. Douglass did not know about that. Mr. Meeker then told Douglass that it was his duty to send Utes with the Sheriff to identify the Indians specified in the warrant. For some time, Douglass made no reply to this, but with a reed which he had made figures on the floor. Finally, he looked up, and a thunder-cloud was on his brow. He told the Agent decidedly and emphatically that he would not do it. This ended the council, and Douglass soon departed for his cabin, located near the old Agency, and, therefore, fifteen miles from the new Agency buildings.

" During this time, Miss Josie Meeker and Mrs. Price had been preparing dinner for us, and to

this we were now invited. We had had our break- fast at 6 A. M., and it was a very slim breakfast we had. It was now nearly 4 P. M., and the din- ner was fit for an epicure. It was the unanimous verdict of the party that the dinner was worth $10.

" Miss Meeker was a very intelligent young lady, but she showed marks of the fearful care and anxiety that had weighed upon her spirits for. months. Besides Mrs: and Miss Meeker, Mrs. Price was the only lady I saw at the Agency; and surrounded by Indians, with not even a stockade for defense, their protectors were a little band of seven or eight men.

" From Miss Meeker I learned something of the condition of things at the Agency. Mr. Meeker's life had been threatened by one John- son. Inquiry led to the information that Johnson lived in the new cabin half a mile below the Agency ; that he was a medicine man; that he owned the large herd of horses, and that he had a tame bear. We took Dr. Johnson to be a very high-toned Ute. If ill has befallen Father Meeker, Dr. Johnson is his murderer. Miss Meeker had established a school. She had two pupils from the multitude of little devils who spend their days in practicing with bow and arrow or riding ponies. One was a girl, the other a boy, stepson to Doug- lass, whose American name was the same as that of the Marshal of the District of Columbia, Frederick Douglass. As soon as the girl had learned a few words of English, she had been taken away by her parents. Frederick Douglass still held the fort, and was a bright, though shy boy of ten.

" I believe that if Meeker's safety rested with Douglass, he was not killed. But with Jack and his crowd howling for Meeker's blood, Douglass would not have dared resist, but would have stayed at home and kept his crown, while Meeker, his aged wife and accomplished daughter were offered up as bleeding sacrifices to the magnificent policy of the Government-the policy which feeds and keeps from year to year the red murderers, and

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commands its soldiers not to shoot the first shot. The Government should be instructed that soldiers mean war, and its grim old General has said, ' War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.'

" For the argument, it matters not whether Meeker and his family have been butchered. He has told his situation to every one in authority for more than a month. Had Gov. Pitkin had juris- diction, he would have had a host of frontiersmen at the Agency three weeks ago. He must first have the consent of the General Government. But the General Government has a gang of negro minstrels in Middle Park, 200 miles from the Agency. They are ordered to march to the Agency very cautiously, and before they get a good start, the other Government soldiers are cleaned out.

" Our business at the Agency was complete. We saddled up for a return, bade farewell to the Meekers and started through the villages of tepees homeward bound. We found great commotion in every band. At every camp, we were interviewed. Antelope's band was camped nearest the Agency, and his brother Powitz and his squaw Jane hailed us with the customary ' How?' Our reply of ' How ?' led them to ask ' What yer come fer?' We told them we came to see Meeker. Douglass told them we had come for two Utes, Chinaman and another (whom they did not seem to recognize by the name of Bennett). We did not affirm or deny, but passed on. This conversation wasrepeated eight or ten times in the three miles our road bordered the river. It was late when we struck the trail, and we saw no more Indians till we reached Peck's. There we met Capt. Jack and a companion on their return from their visit to Denver-the visit they made to have Meeker removed.

"Jack is an extraordinary Indian. He was very friendly, and spoke English well. He reiter- ated the statement that the Meekers had made, that the Utes would be glad to have white men take up ranches on the reservation. He said the whites and Utes ought to be friends now. The

whites had killed a Ute, the Utes had killed a white man. Good. Heap friends.

" The fires and burned forests extended from the Springs to the Agency. At nightfall, on the day we left the Agency, we saw a large fire started not ten miles from the Agency. We constantly saw the smoke of fires, and many times they were quite close to our road. A large fire was sweeping the forests on Gore Range. The atmosphere was blue with smoke, and on every hand we heard complaints of the fires started by the Utes."

As will be seen, this interesting statement was indited while doubt still remained as to the fate of Mr. Meeker and his associates, and before the colored cavalry made that splendid dash to the rescue of Payne's command which so effectually redeemed the ' negro minstrels' from the charge of cowardice implied in the foregoing.

Mr. Coxe's visit to the Agency was in August. A month later, Col. John W. Steele, a mail contractor, of Wallace, Kan., also paid a visit to White River, and found the state of affairs at the Agency alarming indeed. Col. Steele has also written an account of his visit, which throws additional light upon the direct causes of the out- break, and is given below as furnishing a faithful and very lucid account of Mr. Meeker's manifold difficulties in dealing with the Indians. No apol- ogy is made for including, also, Col. Steele's strict- ures on Indian mismanagement, and his powerful argument in favor of transferring the Indians from the Interior to the War Department-a change that is favored by 200,000 citizens of Colorado:

"Early in July last, I was called to Rawlins, Colo., to look after the mail route from that point to White River Agency. I remained at Dixon, on Snake River, several days. While there, Indi- ans belonging to the Ute chief Colorow's outfit, frequently came to Dixon to trade buckskin and furs for Winchester rifles, ammunition and other supplies. I learned that they were camped on Snake River, Fortification Creek and Bear River, from fifty to one hundred miles from their reser- vation.

THE CHRYSOLITE SILVER MINING CO.

THE CHRYSOLITE MINE, LEADVILLE, COLO.

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"The Indians seemed to be quiet, but the set- tlers complained that the Indians were burning the grass and timber, and occasionally killing their cattle and doing much damage to the country. I also heard much complaint from the mining dis- trict near Hahn's Peak and Middle Park; that the Indians were burning the timber, and had burned the houses of several settlers and killed one man. Smoke was at that time plainly visible from large fires on the head-waters of the Snake and Bear Rivers. On completing my business on the mail route, I returned to Washington. The first week in September, I was called (by disturb- ances on this mail route) to visit it again. Arriv- ing at Rawlins, Mr. Bennett, the sub-contractor for the route, told me that he had attempted to establish his line of mail-carriers on the route ; that he had gone as far south as Fortification Creek, where he was met by Utes belonging to Colorow and Ute Jack's band ; that three Indi- ans stopped him and told him that he must go back ; that he parleyed with them, and finally went on as far as Bear River, where he was met by more Indians of the same tribe, and, though he fully explained his business to them, he was so violently threatened that he returned to Raw- lins without establishing the mail route. Bennett has freighted Indian supplies to the Ute reserva- tion for several years, and knows many of the Indians. He was accompanied by a man who has lived among the Utes for years, and with whom they have heretofore been friendly. Both advised that it would be dangerous to attempt to go to the Agency.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 17

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080