The Utah Military Frontier, 1872-1912

THE UTAH MILITARY FRONTIER, 1872-1912 Forts Cameron, Thornburgh, AND Duchesne

BY THOMAS G. ALEXANDER AND LEONARD J. ARRINGTON

As with other western territories, pioneer Utah was the site of a number of important federal defense installations. These included a temporary military grazing camp in Rush Valley, southwest of Salt Lake City, during the winter of 1854-55; the occupation of Camp Floyd (later, Fort Crittenden), northwest of Utah Lake, during the years 1858-61; the establishment of Camp Douglas (later Fort Douglas), east of Salt Lake City, which was occupied from 1862 to 1866, and intermittently until the present; and the three forts which form the subject of the present article: Fort Cameron, 1872-83; Fort Thornburgh, 1881-84; and Fort Duchesne, 1886-1912. With the exception of Camp Floyd, each of these forts was related to "Indian problems." While Utah's early white settlers had generally pleasant relationships with Indians, several bloody conflicts mar an otherwise relatively clear slate. These include the Battle of the Bear in 1863, and the Black Hawk War of 1865-68.

In the light of modern political experience, early Utah's reaction to the establishment of U.S. military installations is somewhat strange, for Utah's pioneer residents regarded federal troops as a threat to local sovereignty, and had good reason to anticipate the eventual closing-down of the installation as a source of economic advantage. Indeed, more than one observer attributed the first accumulation of capital in Utah to "the breaking up and withdrawal of the Johnston army from Camp Floyd [, the] . .. discovery of mines in the neighboring Territories soon after, and the quartering there of a volunteer army [Connor's California Volunteers, which], have given such fine markets for their abundant surplus as to have made them [the Mormons] in the aggregate very wealthy." One need not take such an extreme position to agree that the armies sent to Utah were sources of a considerable windfall.

FORT CAMERON, BEAVER GARRISON, 1872-1883

In 1865, Utah Superintendent of Indian Affairs O. H. Irish, with the help of Brigham Young and Governor James Duane Doty, negotiated treaties to extinguish four large Indian farms which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the federal government had run as a joint project since the 1850's. The Senate never ratified the treaties, a number of the Indians especially those connected with Chief Black Hawk were unhappy at the negotiations anyway, but the government went ahead and began the removal of the Indians to the Llintah Reservation which had been established in eastern Utah in 1864. The government was dilatory in meeting its obligations to care for the Indians, and several outbreaks occurred.

Perhaps the worst of the Indian outbreaks in Utah Territory was the Black Hawk War of 1865-68. This conflict, which commenced with attacks by Indians on central and southern Utah settlements, cost at least 70 lives and considerable damage to property. In a report to the federal government, Utah territorial officials estimated the cost of the war at $1,121,037 for military service alone, and asked for compensation of $1.5 million, the rest presumably to pay for destroyed property. During this conflict, the Utahns abandoned at least 25 settlements in Wasatch, Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Iron, Kane, and Washington counties. No attempt was made by such troops as were at Fort Douglas to protect the lives and property of Utah's pioneers on this occasion.

In 1867, the national House Committee on Territories undertook an investigation into the need for "a larger military force ... in Utah Territory ... to protect the people against Indian hostilities and other outrages." Congress again considered the Indian problem early in 1872 when Secretary of War William W. Belknap transmitted letters from Cyrus M. Hawley, associate justice of the Utah Supreme Court, and George L. Wood, territorial governor, recommending that the government establish a new fort in Utah. In his letter, Hawley said that "annual Indian raids upon the settlements," took place a few miles south of Beaver City, and that Beaver would be the "proper place" to set up an installation.

Utah's resident citizens also favored the establishment of a larger military force for this purpose. They believed "that the Indians of their several neighborhoods were preparing to commence a war of extermination against the whites." The Indians broke out into central and southern Utah in 1872, and Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano asked Brigham Young to do what he could to try to stop the depredations. Finally the military had to be called out from Fort Douglas, and the fort commander, Henry A. Morrow, accused Uintah Agent J. J. Critchlow of incompetence. Despite the adverse conditions, Critchlow had done much for the Indians; and he defended himself in a letter to Morrow.

In addition to the prevailing Indian problem, Hawley's letter broached a question which had caused friction in Utah since before the Utah War. He said that during each session of court, judicial and executive officers had attempted unsuccessfully to bring the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows massacre to justice. The case could not be closed, he averred, until "witnesses who were present" at the massacre believed that the "Government of the United States will guarantee their protection." He concluded from his three years' experience as associate justice that the fears were well-founded, and that "a military force established in that [the second] district, say at the city of Beaver, of at least five companies," would be needed to render the requisite protection. He stated that the location of Beaver was strategically placed for quick movement into any of the southern Utah areas to enforce the law.

Considering the "Indian problem" and the "Mormon problem," Secretary of War Belknap recommended that the government appropriate $120,000 to construct a military post near Beaver. When Congress had authorized the appropriation, Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan, of Civil War fame, sent four companies of troops (some 181 men) under the command of Colonel John D. Wilkins to open the post in mid-1872.

After traveling the 200 miles south from Salt Lake City to Beaver, a town of about 1,000 inhabitants, they camped about one mile north of the city, until Wilkins had found a suitable place for the permanent post. He found a spot on the north side of the Beaver River, about one mile from Beaver Canyon and two miles east of the town. The government at first called the camp "Post of Beaver," but after President Ulysses S. Grant officially set aside the reservation on May 12, 1873, the name was changed to Fort Cameron in honor of Colonel James Cameron who was killed in the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War. The post was again enlarged by a presidential proclamation which added about 21.5 acres of timber reserve in November 1879.

The fort was laid out in a rectangular shape with sides of about 700 feet by 620 feet. In the center of the parallelogram was a parade ground around which the buildings were constructed. On both the east and west sides of the quadrangle stood two barracks, and on the south were constructed six officers' quarters. To the north were built the hospital, the headquarters building, and the commissary store. Next to the east barracks stood a bakery, and about 300 yards west of the post were the stables.

The buildings themselves, with the exception of the stables, were constructed of black, basaltic lava stone quarried from the nearby mountains. Construction was principally by local labor. Local men with teams hauled the stone from the hills, and every available "mason, carpenter and painter" worked on the buildings, with local men directing most of the work crews. With some exceptions, the buildings were merely rough plastered. The two-story, twelve-bed hospital, however, was finished in plaster of paris. Water was furnished to the post by a system of aqueducts, and trees were placed around the parade ground, with grass being planted in the middle. The original cost of the construction was estimated at $120,000.

The four-company post also hired various local civilians to perform such services as washing laundry, for which 15 women were employed. A blacksmith and carpenter were employed, at salaries of $ 160 per month. Boardinghouses and hotels "did a thriving business," and some of the people who came with the army opened new inns. With the army came other new businesses such as a brewery which was established in an old carding mill near the fort.

As the post had relatively long lines of communication with "the outside world," most of the supplies were purchased or grown locally. The soldiers themselves grew various vegetables, including potatoes, turnips, cabbage, lettuce, beans, and peas; but they purchased many of their provisions from the local Mormon cooperative general store, which was "supplied with an extensive stock." The prices charged — $3.00 per bushel for apples; 15 to 20 cents per pound for grapes, etc. — were regarded as "moderate" because of the distance from markets. The army also rented milk cows from local citizens.

Those supplies which could not be procured locally were freighted to the post from the railroad terminal. As the Utah Southern moved southward the supply line became shorter, and Fort Cameron became more readily accessible. The contracts let for supplying the post in 1876, for instance, stipulate a distance of 137 miles from York Station, Juab County, which was the terminus of the Utah Southern, to Fort Cameron, for which the army paid Joshua C. Hall $1.50 per 100 pounds. By June 1880, the post could ship from Milford because the railroad had since been completed to that town and the distance was only 36 miles to Fort Cameron. The freight charge was thus reduced to 59 cents per 100 pounds.

The route of the mail to the post illustrates Fort Cameron's relative isolation. In 1875 mail was carried by train to Provo (then the terminus of the Utah Southern Railroad), then on to Beaver by stage. Postal service was scheduled daily, but was often irregular because of varying weather and road conditions. From Fort Cameron, it took five days to reach department headquarters at Omaha, and nine days to get to the capital, Washington, D.C.

The soldiers stationed at this remote outpost had little to do after completion of the initial construction. Despite the petitions of local citizens and the problems with criminals which Hawley and others anticipated, the troops were relatively inactive. John D. Lee was incarcerated at the post for a short time after his capture, but was soon moved to the Beaver County jail. After the sensational Lee trials at Beaver, the soldiers had little to occupy their time except target practice and inside work details.

Some of the soldiers did draw special duty which, despite the low pay, must have been a welcome relief from the usual camp routine. Several soldiers worked as carpenters, laborers, clerks, and tinsmiths; and at least one was detailed to go to San Francisco to identify a deserter. A soldier was employed to teach at the post school which in 1880 had 8 enlisted men and 17 children as regular pupils. Total pay to 12 enlisted men employed by the Quartermaster Department in such extra duties averaged $6.23 per month per man. The schoolteacher received 35 cents per day.

Inevitably, there were conflicts with local townspeople. Though "some of the officers were honorable men," wrote one resident, the "soldiers with few exceptions were intolerable drinkers of ardent spirits. It was terrifying [to the women] to hear them on the streets at night." Worse than the soldiers, in the local view, were the ubiquitous camp followers who tried to jump land claims. Many conflicts arose as the result of such offenses. Despite these problems, many of the enlisted men and most of the officers had their families with them, and some of both participated in Beaver's community life. Some married local girls and settled in Beaver where their descendants live today. A few were musicians, actors, or comedians, and organized a minstrel show which was presented to the townspeople of Beaver. Above all, soldiers and townspeople alike enjoyed racing horses on a track near the fort. Though the Mormons refused to have anything to do with the soldiers' Fourth of July celebration in 1874, relations in 1876 had become cordial enough for the commanding officer and members of the Fort Cameron Band to participate in a joint celebration of the centennial of American independence. In 1873 the Reverend Clark Smith, a Methodist minister, established a parochial school in Beaver, and on the board of trustees sat two officers from Fort Cameron.

NUMBER OF OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN STATIONED AT FORT CAMERON, BEAVER COUNTY, 1872-1882*

With the end of Beaver's isolation in 1880, when the Utah Southern was completed to Milford, Fort Cameron became an unnecessary installation. In December 1882 General Sheridan recommended that the post be shut down. It would have required about $10,000 to restore the buildings to sufficiently good condition, he wrote, and for any "purely military purposes it is not required, as troops can be sent from Salt Lake to Milford in a few hours." Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln ordered its abandonment on May 1, 1883, the removal of the troops to Fort Douglas, and the sale of the buildings.

John R. Murdock, president of the Beaver Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Philo T. Farnsworth, former bishop of the Beaver Ward, purchased the land and buildings for $15,000 — about one-eighth of the post's cost. They held the property until the L.D.S. Church converted Fort Cameron into an academy in 1898. Undoubtedly, Murdock and Farnsworth had made the purchase on behalf of the church.

In 1896 the Utah House of Representatives considered establishing a normal school at the installation, but they rejected the proposal as too large a cash outlay for Utah at that time. The state was just recovering from the depression of 1893, and was deeply in debt. The Deseret News editorialized that "the Legislature has acted for the best in deciding not to deal with the matter at present."

Recognizing its own responsibilities in providing secondary education for the youth of the region (a grammar school had been established during the first year of settlement), the L.D.S. Church opened the Beaver Branch of the Brigham Young Academy (now Brigham Young University) . The structure was officially dedicated for this purpose on September 26, 1898, with Elders Francis M. Lyman and George Teasdale of the Council of Twelve Apostles present. The Beaver Stake of the church accepted the responsibility of maintaining the school for 10 years, after which the central church agreed to take over. The hospital was used as an office and classroom building; the four barracks for apartments, a gymnasium, and an assembly hall; and the officers' quarters housed both faculty and students. The old commissary building was made into a bookstore.

Thus, for the price of about $15,000 plus repairs, the church and its members obtained a ready-made campus. During the first years of operation the school offered a high school preparatory course, and the ninth and tenth grades. The institution came to be known as the Murdock Academy.

In 1908 the church took full control of the school and expanded its curriculum to include a full high school course. Later, in 1913, it completed an additional and "modern" $100,000 building. In 1922, when the legislature required each county to maintain tuition-free high schools, the church decided to discontinue the Academy. The land was sold,* the school equipment was donated to Beaver High School, and the church's new building was torn down and the stone used to construct the L.D.S. chapel at Milford and the town hall of Minersville.

FORT THORNBURGH AND FORT DUCHESNE, UINTAH OUTPOSTS, 1881-1912

After the outbreak from the Uintah Reservation in 1872, the government began to provide for the Indians' needs, and it was not until 1879 that the necessity for further military establishments arose in Utah. As agricultural settlements advanced throughout eastern Utah and western Colorado, conflicts between the frontiersmen and roaming bands of Uncompahgre and White River Utes became more frequent. Not until after a bloody uprising in September 1879, did these Utes leave Colorado for the Uintah Valley. Because of his efforts to convert them to an unwanted agricultural way of life, Agent Nathan C. Meeker had become extremely unpopular with the Indians. When an uprising appeared imminent, Meeker asked for military aid, and Major Thomas T. Thornburgh, with 200 cavalry troops from Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, answered his call. The Indians ambushed and killed Thornburgh and a number of his troops; and, in the meantime, Meeker and seven employees were killed and several women and children taken captive.

These events outraged Colorado's settlers, who demanded the immediate removal from their state of both the White Rivers and the guiltless Uncompahgres. On June 15, 1880, Congress ratified a treaty with the White Rivers moving them to the Uintah Reservation. For the Uncompahgres, the government created a new reservation by executive order in January 1882, east and south of the old Uintah Reservation. The tribes received a $50,000 annuity for the cession of their rights in Colorado, but after the White Rivers had paid an annual pension to the families of the massacred, their shares amounted to only $6.00 or $7.00 per person. In July 1886, the Uintah and Uncompahgre agencies were consolidated.

FORT THORNBURGH

As soon as the War Department learned that the secretary of the interior had ordered the removal of the two tribes to Utah, it made arrangements for establishing a new post to protect the people living near the reservation and to make sure the Indians remained. Brigadier General George Crook of the Department of the Platte ordered troops from the Cantonment on the Uncompahgre, Colorado, to establish a "post at the new agency" to be named in honor of the late Major Thomas T. Thornburgh.

As rapidly as possible, Crook began moving troops into the area and establishing a line of communications to the frontier post. Captain H. S. Hawkins of the Sixth Infantry, with four companies, moved into the valley during August 1881, and set up camp near Ouray, near the junction of the Green and Duchesne rivers. The Interior Department, fearing an adverse influence on the Indians from the troops, asked the secretary of war to establish the new fort some distance away from the reservation. As a result, Fort Thornburgh was built 35 miles from the agency and about 6.5 miles north of Vernal in the mouth of Ashley Creek CanyonThe military reservation itself eventually encompassed 21,851 acres, including Little Mountain to the north of the post which served as a pasture for the horses.

It was originally expected that the post would be completed during the fall of 1881, but problems with squatters and the absence of congressional appropriations kept the troops in tents during the long Uintah winter. Again in 1882, Congress made no appropriation for the construction of the post and the troops were removed for the winter. The War Department planned an elegant $84,000 fort for Ashley Creek, but the post made do with a sawmill in 1882. In 1883 Congress appropriated the meager amount of $1,500 for the post, and the troops constructed eight adobe buildings.

In order to permit adequate communication with sources of supply, the four companies of infantry, during the summer of 1882, constructed a primitive road over Taylor Mountain to Fort Bridger and the Union Pacific Railway at Carter, Wyoming. By the fall of the same year, a telegraph line had been established and mail was brought in by a buckboard which traveled the 120 miles from Green River City on the Union Pacific. During the following year, after 22 wagons drawn by six-mule teams had struggled through drifts to the fort during the winter, the soldiers labored to "corduroy" the road by laying logs across it. Later, General Crook determined that the best line of communications was from Park City, Utah, rather than Carter, because the road was open longer each year. Thereafter, both the Park City route and the route from Carter formed the supply line for the isolated fort. In 1882 and 1883 contracts were let with John H. Arnold, Merrill L. Hoyt, and Joseph Hatch to haul goods from both locations to Fort Thornburgh at $3.10 and $3.00 per 100 pounds.

When the soldiers were moved to Ashley Fork, it soon became clear that local settlers had squatters rights to some of the land upon which the fort was to be established and were loath to relinquish them. It finally became impossible to secure a valid title to the land, and the War Department "gave up the building of the post." General O. O. Howard, who had replaced General Crook as department commander, reported in October 1883 that Major E. G. Bush, then fort commander, was moving to Fort Douglas with his troops. The army anticipated no disturbances from the Indians during the winter, and believed that during the summer months the roads which they had built and repaired could transport all needed troops from the strengthened forts of Bridger and Douglas to answer a call.

After the army abandoned the post, on July 22, 1884, the squatters again took over and continued to hold the installation. One of them established a resort on the reservation. Finally, in 1894, settlers received titles to pieces of property. In 1953, Leon P. Christensen of Maeser owned the land which the fort formerly occupied.

ESTABLISHMENT OF FORT DUCHESNE

By early September 1884, the agent at the Uintah Reservation reported that he had "the best lot of savages in America." Unfortunately, during the winter of 1885-86, intertribal warfare broke out between the Ute tribes. Reports told of Uncompahgres shooting "one another with that pleasing freedom so characteristic of the noble red man, ..." Other accounts indicated that Indians had wandered into Colorado, committed depredations, and gotten into trouble with the "cowboys."

Early in 1886, the Bureau of Indian Affairs changed agents at the reservation, and the new agent reported that the old one had been so afraid of an outbreak that, instead of subtracting the amounts for the Meeker massacre from the portion of the White Rivers, he had subtracted it from the total money paid to all three tribes. This meant that, in effect, the Uncompahgres and Uintahs had to help pay for the White Rivers' misdeeds. The Bureau sent an examiner to investigate, and after receiving his report, Commissioner J. D. C. Atkins recommended the establishment of a fort near the reservation.

At the instigation of the Department of the Interior, the War Department sent an investigating officer to the Uintah and Ouray agencies to inquire into the troubles. He reported that it would be desirable to establish a new fort near the two agencies to "discipline and control" the Indians. After taking the report under consideration, the War Department ordered Brigadier General George Crook, who had returned to the Department of the Platte, to select a site convenient to the two agencies. In August 1886, Crook selected a spot about three miles above the junction of the Duchesne and Uintah rivers and about midway between the two agency headquarters at Whiterocks and Ouray.

In mid-August, Special Indian Agent Eugene E. White, of Arkansas, called the Uintah and White River chiefs together and told them the news. The two tribes were immediately stirred up by the information, whereas the Uncompahgres, the main "culprits," went on about their business as usual. On August 20, 1886, two troops of cavalry from Fort McKinney under the command of Major F. W. Benteen, "the man who saved what was left" of General George Custer, together with four companies of infantry from Fort Fred Steele and Fort Sidney, Nebraska, began establishing the post. The troops of the Ninth Cavalry who came to the fort with Major Benteen were Negroes, and were to serve on the Uintah frontier for almost 12 years.

The Indians, frightened at first by the advance of Benteen's small army, threatened to thwart the proposed plan. As one infantryman reported it, the troops were "confronted" by "about 700 Indians ... in full war dress and paint, and hostile, as hostile can be." The infantrymen immediately threw out a picket line and dug in until negotiations on the part of the army officers and Agent White convinced the Indians that they had nothing to fear from the army as long as they remained passive.

By October of 1886, reports from the post indicated that there would be no immediate trouble from the Indians, and the soldiers settled down to the usual camp duties and the problem of constructing their post on a permanent basis. Troops busily hauled logs from the nearby canyons — an activity which was supplemented during the next year by the introduction of a sawmill and a planing machine. Among other buildings, they constructed officers' and enlisted men's quarters, a commissary, a storehouse, and a hospital, at a cost of about $22,800. Most of these were built with adobe bricks. In July 1887, General Crook, together with Major George B. Dandy, chief quartermaster, and Colonel T. H. Stanton, the army paymaster, toured the newly constructed post. On September 1, 1887, President Grover Cleveland officially set aside the reservation of six square miles.

After the establishment of a post in the immediate vicinity of the two Ute agencies, the War Department found no further use for Forts Steele and Bridger. Fort Steele, the smaller of the two posts, was abandoned immediately after the troops left for the Uintah country, and Fort Bridger suffered the same fate in 1890. The army designated Fort Duchesne to guard the Indian frontier in eastern Utah, western Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The economic impact of the six-company post (275 men) at Fort Duchesne on pioneer Uintah may be gauged from the fact that in 1886 there were only 391 families in all of Uintah County. In June 1887 the Duchesne Quartermaster Department employed 10 civilians as interpreters, engineers, blacksmiths, teamsters, and wheelwrights, paying them a total of $545 per month. The army also spent $22,800 during fiscal 1887 in constructing the post, in addition to the amount spent for other services and supplies such as food and clothing. Fort Duchesne spent $3,600 for hay alone.

In addition to those regularly employed by the fort, local farmers and merchants assisted in the construction of the post. One of the old-timers in the area reported that he and his father loaded their wagon with "butter, eggs and vegetables and lots of watermelons," which they had no trouble selling to the soldiers. The Indians also obtained income by trading with the post. In 1887 they were accorded the privilege of hauling wood to the post at $5.00 per cord.

The story of Wong Sing, a Chinese immigrant, illustrates the mushrooming of frontier entrepreneurship. At the time Wong Sing went to Duchesne in 1889 two troops of cavalry and one infantry company occupied the post. The enterprising Oriental, though he could speak hardly a word of English, established a "primitive laundry" on the bank of the Uintah River near the post. After he had accumulated sufficient capital, Wong Sing opened a mercantile establishment. In addition to serving the fort's soldiers, Wong mastered the Ute language and sold to the Indians. When his mercantile business had prospered for a time, he opened a restaurant which also thrived. By that time, he had become so popular with the Indians that when several white traders, resenting his competition, had him removed from the reservation, the Indians refused to have anything to do with them. Before long, it would seem, their establishments strangely burned down. Wong then established a new store just off the reservation, stayed on after the fort closed down, and by 1929 his inventory had grown to between $60,000 and $70,000.

As the post was isolated from railroads, army contracts provided a source of income to a number of Utahns engaged in freighting. In the fall in 1886, during the fort's establishment, over 1 million pounds of freight were shipped to the post from Fort Bridger by J. S. Winston. Later contracts were let at Price, Utah, to ship goods to the fort. In 1886, the government paid $3.50 per 100 pounds for such shipments; in the spring of 1887 the cost was reduced to $1.12 per 100 pounds. The army let one contract on the latter basis to haul 2 million pounds of supplies, at a cost of more than $22,000. In 1895, when the post had only two cavalry troops, 526,870 pounds of supplies were shipped to Price and destined for the fort.

Not the least of the contributions of Fort Duchesne to the Vernal area was the construction of better roads to the railroad terminal at Price. Originally, shipments were made over the road from Carter, Wyoming, which had been constructed to supply Fort Thornburgh. As the Price route was much shorter, men from Fort Douglas and Fort Duchesne were detailed in 1886 and 1887 to work on the better road. One of the soldiers engaged in this work during 1887 reported that the new road was heavily traveled and that mail service over the route was regular. In addition, the army constructed a telegraph line from Price to the fort.

FORT DUCHESNE AND THE INDIAN SERVICE

As the War Department constructed the post primarily to control and benefit the Indians, most of the services performed by the installation had to do with Indian problems. In late August and early September 1887, several of the Indians from the reservation got into trouble with citizens and authorities in Colorado. Apparently, two Indians from the reservation sold a herd of horses to two Colorado cowboys who, while taking the horses home, passed another man who claimed two of the horses had been stolen from him. The two Indians borrowed horses from a fellow Ute to make restitution for those reportedly stolen, but the two herders swore out affidavits charging the Indians with theft. This in itself would have caused no alarm, since under normal circumstances the Indians would have submitted to the civil authorities.

The Indians, it seems, were part of a larger band under the leadership of Chief Colorow, who had gone to Colorado to hunt game. During this hunt, Colorado game wardens accused the band of breaking the game laws. The local sheriff, armed with warrants accusing the Utes with stealing horses and poaching game, rode into Colorow's camp. Rather than presenting the warrants under a due process procedure, the sheriff attempted to grab the Indians, and several of the posse began shooting at the alleged criminals. The Indians immediately returned the fire and drove them away. The lawmen then rode to another camp occupied by Indian women and children and burned the tents and a large number of buckskins. After these incidents, Colorow and his Indians began to return to their reservation, whereupon the posse ambushed them and several on both sides were killed and wounded. The Coloradoans then drove away 300 to 400 horses and 2,500 sheep and goats belonging to the Indians.

As soon as military authorities heard of the trouble, troops left to get Colorow back to the reservation. Lieutenant G. R. Burnett, with 12 cavalrymen, went to the edge of the reservation, and with the help of the Indian agent induced the natives to return. Owing to the quick work of the lieutenant and his troops, more bloodshed and loss of property were avoided. Undoubtedly, many of the Coloradoans felt like the local Ashley (Vernal) man who, upon hearing of the outbreak, said he hoped there would be an Indian war because the Indians would then be removed and the reservation opened to settlement.

In 1885 several local miners prospecting in the area had discovered veins of gilsonite and the other asphalt-bearing minerals on the Uintah Reservation near the fort. This was regarded as an extremely important discovery because the entire supply of gilsonite in the United States at the time came from the Dead Sea area. Believing the minerals to be on public land, the miners staked out claims and spent over $25,000 in opening a road to the site. But when the government surveyed the area in 1887, it was determined that the mineral lands were, in fact, on the Indian reservation. Thereupon, Congress passed an act in 1888 releasing the small portion of the Indian land to the public domain. Instrumental in securing this release had been five officers at the installation who swore out affidavits that the land was "utterly worthless for any purpose to the [Indian] tribes."

As early as 1887, after the passage of the Dawes Severalty Act, the Salt Lake Tribune recommended the allotment of 160 acres to each Indian. It was the paper's belief that, with proper education, after 15 years when the old Indians had died off, the whites need expect no more trouble from their red neighbors. The government had an opportunity to test this hypothesis in 1898 when, pursuant to an act of June 7, 1897, surveyors began marking out plots for the Indians and readying the rest of the reservation for its opening to general settlement.

Owing to an extremely hard winter, the allotting commission could not finish its survey in time to beat the rush of settlers which began early in April 1898. Several congressmen tried to obtain a stay of the proceedings, but were unable to do so, and others hoped to protect the mineral lands from speculation by reserving them to the government. In spite of these efforts, the asphalt claims came under the control of a group which the Tribune called "the St. Louis syndicate."

When the Indians learned that their reservation had been opened before the survey was completed, they were justifiably angry; and there was fear of retaliation. Indian police tried to keep settlers away from dangerous parts of the reservation. Reports indicated that the Indians had driven settlers away from the reservation toward both Castle Gate and Vernal, and that they were afraid to go near Fort Duchesne because of Indian hostility. The agent at the reservation asked the soldiers to keep trespassers away from the gilsonite land; but, as the troops received no authorization from the War Department, they did not act. Fortunately, the allotting commission succeeded in issuing land to those Indians who wanted it, and serious trouble was averted.

In the fall of the same year (1898) commissioners came from Washington to negotiate a treaty with the Uintah Indians. By November 2, however, the commissioners returned to their station at Washington because the Indians opposed giving up their lands. The commissioners admitted that the allotment or severalty system had not worked successfully on the Uncompahgre Reservation, where surveyors had apportioned 70,000 acres. Few of the Indians showed any interest in settling on their allotted land, most of them did not know where their plots lay, and those who did had no desire to occupy them. Later in the same month, the secretary of the interior gave these Indians control over their mineral lands and allowed them to lease the mineral rights to the Raven Mining Company of Chicago. In this way, many of the troubles which had come on the Uncompahgre Reservation at its opening were avoided.

Despite the sad experiences of the allotting commission on the Uncompahgre Reservation, and the reluctance of the Uintah Indians to the conclusion of a treaty with the government, the reservation was opened in 1905. As with the Uncompahgres, the government gave the Uintahs their own plots of land. Once again the government had difficulty getting them to accept the allotments, partly because they did not accept or understand the concept of private property.

In addition to searching for renegade Indians and keeping peace between Indians and whites, the soldiers performed other services. One of the regular tasks was certifying the Indians' weekly beef ration. Every two weeks, a contractor delivered 16 steers to the post. The Indians, each of whom received seven pounds of beef per week, required eight steers for each week's provision. One of the officers at the fort inspected the cattle to make certain the shipment was in satisfactory condition, then turned it over to the Indian Service.

In 1898 the Indian agent heard that Butch Cassidy's "Robber's Roost Gang" planned to steal the Indians' annuity. As soon as word of the plan came to his attention, the agent called the post. A troop of cavalry was sent immediately to Helper to guard the shipment. After making a quick run by train to Price, the troops protected the shipment until its safe arrival at Fort Duchesne, where it was divided among the Indians.

FORT DUCHESNE'S LATER YEARS

Though the problems of allotting land and dealing with the Indians were important to the government and those connected with Fort Duchesne, to the average citizen the big topic in the news during the spring of 1898 was the trouble with Spain over Cuba. On March 31, 1898, Fort Duchesne's commander received orders to ship the post's Hotchkiss cannon, together with all its ammunition, to Mobile, Alabama. On April 16, the gun completed its trip over the rough mountain roads to Price where, amid the celebration of the local citizens, the army loaded it on a flat-car draped with such signs as "Remember the Maine," "Monroe Doctrine," and "Cuba Libre." After the local citizens appropriately demonstrated their patriotism, the gun began its journey to Mobile.

Fort Duchesne's colored cavalrymen followed in short order. The government contracted with the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad to ship the troops and men, together with horses, mules, wagons, and 20,000 pounds of freight. These were the same Ninth Cavalry troops who had served in eastern Utah since the opening of the post in 1886. They were replaced by two companies of cavalry from Fort Bayard, New Mexico.

As time went on, the number of troops at Fort Duchesne dwindled. In 1893 only two troops of cavalry remained at the post, in place of the six units which had originally occupied the fort; the infantry companies had been transferred to Fort Douglas. By 1909 there was only one company of cavalry left at Fort Duchesne.

NUMBER OF OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN STATIONED AT FORTS THORNBURG AND DUCHESNE, SELECTED YEARS, 1881-1912*

By 1910 the population of Uintah County had reached 7,050, the area was well-settled, and the Indians were peaceful. The inspecting officer "found no military reason why Fort Duchesne, Utah should be continued as a military post." On September 13, 1912, Troop M of the First Cavalry, the only unit remaining at the reservation, left Fort Duchesne for Fort Boise, Idaho.

After the troops had left, the Indian Service consolidated its operations at Fort Duchesne. Both the headquarters at Whiterocks and that at Ouray were moved to Fort Duchesne; advantage was taken of the central location to serve both reservations. Since the abandonment of the post by the War Department, the Indian Service has established a new hospital, several modern residences, and a new water system. From a post designed to control the Indians, Fort Duchesne has become headquarters of the agency designed to serve America's early residents in their search for a new life.

PETITIONS FOR THE PARDON OF JOHN D. LEE

Filed in the Office of the Secretary May 1 st 1877. Levi P. Luckey Sectr

Considering the age of the prisoner and the long time elapsing between commission of the crime and conviction would recommend clemency only on condition of his making a full & explicit statement of all the facts and circumstances attending the commission of the crime substantiating his statements by proofs and fixing the responsibility of his acts upon the proper person or persons . . and disclosing the names of his accomplices with a full substantiated statement of the extent of their participation. This I have been informed the prisoner can do and if he will do so would recommend that his life be spared and his sentence remitted or commuted.

N. Douglas Lt Col 14 Inf Comd'r Ft Cameron Utah

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