58 minute read
Cowboys, Indians, and Conflict: The Pinhook Draw Fight, 1881
Cowboys, Indians, and Conflict: The Pinhook Draw Fight, 1881
By RUSTY SALMON and ROBERT S MCPHERSON
The La Sal Mountains sit astride the Utah—Colorado border, dominating the skyline over the canyons and mesas of southeastern Utah. For thousands of years these mountains have been important in diverse ways to the changing peoples of the region In the late 1800s, as a dramatic change in regional human occupation was solidifying, the La Sals became the site of an incident that symbolizes the shifting of power from one group to another. Here, on the northwest slope of the range, a group of Utes/Paiutes and Anglo cowboys engaged in a gunfight The skirmish, fought in what is today called Pinhook Draw, was a bloody consequence of the struggle of two groups to maintain incompatible lifestyles on the same land.
Noted for their natural resources in an often-stingy land, the La Sals have long offered water, minerals, vegetation, and animal life to those who have come to exploit their wealth. The Paleoindian and Archaic peoples were the first to avail themselves of these resources, hunting and gathering in climatic conditions that often differed from those of today. The Anasazi, the next prehistoric peoples, hunted and farmed on the slopes of the mountains and at their base. During historic times, the Utes and some Paiutes and Navajos depended upon the mountains' offerings. The La Sals, coupled with lofty Blue Mountain (the Abajos) fifty miles to the south and Sleeping Ute Mountain ninety miles to the southeast, served as natural beacons to all of these groups seeking resources for survival.1
The Utes, always descriptive in their naming, referred to the La Sals as Elk Mountain, for the herds they hunted there. The Navajos called them Five Peaks, although which of the many peaks this name referred to is unknown. Both groups had stories to explain the creation of these mountains and the lands surrounding them. These sacred narratives identify this formation as a spiritual entity that holds power and religious significance for those who use it.
For the Utes and Paiutes of the region this was particularly true. While there were a number of Ute bands that came to this noted landmark, it was the Weeminuche who claimed the most direct "ownership" and use-rights. Other Utes—the Uncompahgre, Muache, and Capote—had their places too. These groups lived to the east, where they hunted and gathered throughout the state of Colorado and northern New Mexico, as well as on the Great Plains. Indeed, as one moved through Ute country to the east, there appeared a greater adaptation to the entire Plains Indian complex with its cultural dependence on the buffalo Moving to the west, one found the Utes adapting to the resources characteristic of the mountains, mesas, and high desert environment of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau The Weeminuche represented the farthest extension of this presence to the west.
They, in turn, shared part of this region with their "cousins," the San Juan Band Paiutes, who represented the farthest extension of Paiutes to the east The central location for most southern Paiute activity lay in southwestern Utah, eastern Nevada, and northern Arizona. Thus, the Weeminuche Utes and the San Juan Band Paiutes were peripheral to the main concentrations of their respective peoples. They shared the Numic language and had generally peaceful relations that gave rise to intermarriage and interdependence. The combined territory over which they hunted and gathered was bounded by, but not limited to, the Dolores River region of southwestern Colorado to the east; northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and Monument Valley to the south; the Colorado River to the west, and east-central Utah's Book Cliffs area to the north. At times, the historical record becomes confusing when it refers to these two intermingled groups. In some instances they are referred to as Utes, sometimes as Paiutes, and often simply as "renegades," since neither group desired tojoin with other bands or move to a reservation. For the purposes of this article these people will be referred to as Utes
While there may be some confusion over exact identity within some of these groups, there can be no missing their dependence on the land. Plants, animals, and water were the triad around which survival revolved The Utes had an encyclopedic knowledge of their country, its resources, and the location of resources during a particular season Finding grass for the horses, plants to be harvested, water to drink, and animals to hunt required astute observation and a cumulative wisdom.
Deer, for instance, were the most important of all the game. Ute dependence upon these animals is comparable to the eastern Utes' and Plains Indian tribes' reliance on the buffalo. Deer provided food, clothing, and shelter throughout the year, acting as the backbone of the Ute economy in southeastern Utah. Tepees, the Utes' moveable homes, were fashioned from elk and deer skins, the former on the bottom and the latter on the top to reduce the weight of the structure. Tanned hides, beaded buckskin clothing, and meat became important trade items
Still, the hunting, killing, and preparation of this game animal was just as sacred as it was practical. Edward Dutchie, Sr., an elderly Ute, commented, "How you are going to take care of the deer, has already been told you by your ancestors. It has been passed down from generation to generation, how you are to handle the deer.... It has got to be with prayers. That is how important it is to me. I shed tears when I talk about that deer, when I pray for that deer, that meat. It is going to be here in my home."2
The migratory patterns of the deer caused the Utes to follow them in seasonal movements In the late spring/early summer the deer and the Indians moved to higher elevations, where the water was fresh from newly melted snow, the forbs and other plants were tender, and the intensifying heat of the high desert landscape was left behind. Favorite camping spots in southeastern Utah included La Sal, Deer, Coyote, Two Mile, Hop, Geyser, Taylor, Beaver and Mill creeks on the La Sal Mountains; and Spring, North and South Montezuma, Cottonwood, and Indian creeks on Blue Mountain In the fall, before the snow fell, the Utes moved to the lower canyon floors to prepare for winter. Paiute, Dodge, Peters, Kane, and Hatch springs as well as Dry Valley, Montezuma Canyon, Comb Ridge, and the San Juan River provided camping sites with sufficient wood, water, and protection from the elements.3
The mountains were important for yet another reason—protection. The Utes have often been labeled "mountain" Indians, since they lived there but ventured onto the plains to hunt buffalo. In times of trouble, they retreated back to their homelands, using the mountains for protection and ambush. This was also true of the Weeminuche, who did not travel to the plains as frequently as other Ute groups did but who used the mountains just as effectively Edward Dutchie commented:
This fact should have been considered by the participants of the Pinhook Draw fight
With the arrival of the Anglo Americans, life for the Utes began to change dramatically The 1860s were generally good years, when the two groups shared friendly relations and worked against their common foe, the Navajos The military hired Utes from various bands to raid, capture, and generally coerce the Navajos into either surrendering and moving to Fort Sumner for four years (1864-68) of incarceration, or making them ineffective as a military force. The Utes proved highly effective. Some, in 1868, even helped against another traditional enemy, the Comanches, on the plains. But at the same time that the government released the Navajos to return to their new reservation and their old haunts it also created the first Ute reservation, covering approximately the western third of Colorado. On March 21, 1868, the Utes begrudgingly signed the treaty in Washington granting them this land It did not remain theirs for long Gold rushes, settlements, the cattle industry, and farming required large tracts of land, and in 1873 the Utes signed the Brunot Agreement, which removed massive chunks of land from their new reservation. By 1880 and one more treaty, comparatively little remained of their land holdings In Colorado, for example, from their aboriginal territory of some 56 million acres the first treaty promised only 18 million acres By 1934 the Ute land base in Colorado had shrunk to 553,600 acres. 5
Friction was a natural outcome One of the most notable incidents for the Northern Utes in Colorado was the Meeker Massacre. The trouble began when Agent Nathan Meeker forced his ideas of civilization upon the Indians living at the White River Agency. His determination to turn them into farmers and have them abandon traditional ways led to a melee in which Meeker and twenty-eight other whites died before the incident ended.6 The event triggered a secondary consequence, a new treaty that removed the Utes from Colorado to the new Uintah Reservation in Utah The Southern Utes in southwestern Colorado felt the repercussions from these events as their white neighbors pondered the possibility of removing them too.
The Utes living in Utah encountered similar problems as Anglo civilization spread throughout the Four Corners region A brief synopsis of just five years, from 1878 to 1882,tells the story. During this time in southwestern Colorado, the livestock and farming communities of Mancos and Dolores sprang out of the rocks and sagebrush, as did the mining towns of Durango and Rico In Utah, eighteen families from Colorado settled along the San Juan River in the Montezuma Creek and Aneth area, Mormons established Bluff, Moab began at the base of the La Sal Mountains, and three different cattle outfits operated on or near Blue Mountain. These figures do not include the increasing number of isolated settlements sprinkled throughout the region taking advantage of the open rangelands as part of the livestock industry.7 At the same time, Navajo herders pushed their stock across the San Juan River in search of grass for their sheep
The Utes were not blind to these events. Thousands of cattle and sheep trampled the canyon lands and mountains, eating the grass, stomping edible plants, and muddying springs and other water sources Cowboys rode the range, built cabins in choice camping spots, and either killed or drove away wildlife Settlers were of the same ilk, cutting trees off the mountains, running their own livestock, and building roads for greater access. Within a few short years, the face of the land changed right before the eyes of those who depended on it most for hunting and gathering.
Little wonder that the Utes reacted aggressively. A low-intensity warfare built upon calculated aggravation and retribution ensued Utes begging food at a cabin door, stealing horses, killing or mutilating livestock, uttering threats, destroying fences and cabins, and going on an occasional shooting spree increased the tension on both sides. One settler in Bluff, when speaking about the problems with Navajos and Utes along the San Juan River, put it this way:" We are about to be crucified between two thieves—meaning the Navajos and the Paiutes."8 Yet to the Utes the whites had broken the treaty promises and were reaping what they had sown. Anglos were, in Ute thinking, like Coyote, the trickster figure in their mythology "The Coyote is always making trouble, making wars, telling lies. The white man is like that."9 Thus, all that the cowboys and settlers brought into the San Juan country was now fair game, payment even, for what they were taking.
From the Anglo perspective, these Indian problems needed to cease, and soon. Local newspapers are often a good barometer of how people feel towards an issue at the time Assuming this to be true, the people of southwestern Colorado were near the boiling point. In May 1880 the Dolores News commented on Indian troubles in New Mexico, saying that for many years the New Mexicans had "tolerated the curse of Indians" and that the local settlers should "muster every man into active service, procure guns, ammunition and other necessaries, and pursue, kill the red-skinned devils, until there is not enough of them left to rob a 'hen roost.'"10 A year later, some of the members of this community would attempt to do just that— and wince at the results.
Another article, reprinted from the Denver Republican the following week, was even more inflammatory The paper reported the existence of "a powerful secret organization to clean out the [Ute]reservation" for mining interests and on general principle The group boasted 150 members who had signed a "covenant" to wage war against their foes, to "arm and equip themselves ready for military service," and then "explore and develop the Ute Reservation."11 The article urged this move as a part of God's plan to go forth and subdue the earth as cited in the Bible and as part of the best tradition of nineteenth-century "progression. "The time ripened for conflict.
A newspaper told of "one good Indian" killed while asking for food from two freighters; another stated how, during the past year alone, the Utes had killed and mutilated more than 100 cattle in the Paradox Valley, southeast of the La Sals Still others complained about the mutilation of livestock and the insolent manner in which Indians demanded goods, plundered cabins in the La Sal region, and made threats on the range. 12 Yet another article, under the banner of "New Indian War," listed all of the problems with Navajos, Paiutes, and Utes, suggesting that the press had little impact on changing their behavior. It noted:
It was just a matter of time before emotions over low-grade conflict erupted into a high-intensity reaction.
The events that led to the Pinhook Draw fight began when three brothers—Dick, George, and Billy May—settled in 1877 as cattlemen in the Big Bend country (known today as Dolores) of Colorado. They prospered, utilizing the open range between Mancos, Colorado, and the Blue and La Sal mountains in Utah. The mining camps of Rico, Telluride, and Silverton welcomed their beef and encouraged expansion of the business.14 Two years later, other businessmen, John Thurman and J. H. Alderson, went into partnership on a large herd of high quality horses and pastured them on the Utah-Colorado border near present-day Dove Creek, where they built a cabin. The men opened for business ,selling their stock to local buyers.15
Among these buyers were Dick May and his friend Byron Smith, who were at Thurman's cabin on May 1, 1881, to purchase horses, presumably for the spring cattle roundup just starting. On their way, they met some cowboys who warned of a group of Utes "on the prod" and told May and
Smith to turn back How events at the cabin unfolded has been a source of conjecture. But the story is usually told as it was worked out by some well known trackers from Big Bend who later evaluated the scene. A few days before the arrival of May and Smith, John Thurman had apparently discovered these Utes trying to catch some of his prize stock He beat them soundly and sent them, angry, on their way. 16
The Utes killed Dick May at the cabin following a hard fight. Around his body lay a quantity of expended cartridges; outside were two dead horses; and the cabin was burned.17 The Indians also killed Thurman, approximately a half mile away from his home, and stole an estimated $1,000 from the bodies, along with 100 horses,900 pounds of flour, five rifles, three pistols, a shotgun, seventy-five pounds of ammunition, and assorted other goods.18 According to a Ute account given during an interrogation after the Pinhook fight, four Utes met May at the cabin He came to the door, grabbed one Indian and threw him down on the ground, then walked over and shot two Ute horses. The Utes became angry, killed the two men, then left.19
The record is also unclear as to who first uncovered what had taken place. Different versions suggest a wandering prospector, neighboring cowboys, or a Navajo named Little Captain.20 Whoever made the discovery rode to the settlement at Big Bend, approximately forty-five miles away, and notified the residents that at least one man had been killed. Dick May's brothers, George and Billy, and several other men left on May 3 to determine what had happened and to retrieve the bodies. After a thorough search of the area and the discovery of Thurman's corpse on Cedar Point in Colorado, the group buried him where he had fallen but took May's remains back to Dolores. Byron Smith was never found.21
Meanwhile, the Utes left for Dodge Springs, located ten miles southeast of present-day Monticello, where they met with others camped there.22 They did not stay long, since the Mormons in Bluff reported them stealing horses on May5 Platte D Lyman recorded in his journal that the Indians had fired upon one of the settlers, Joseph Nielson, and that eight or nine of the "boys" rode to Butler Wash to investigate. "They found about 30 Indians with about 60 or more squaws and papooses," as well as sheep, goats, and 150 horses. Eleven of the latter belonged to owners in Bluff, and two of these animals had been taken from there some time earlier
The next day, Lyman went to the Ute camp as they prepared to leave He wrote:
Not until May 15 did the Mormons in Bluff learn about the deaths of May and Thurman.24
The Utes left Butler Wash, traveling north to Blue Mountain and stealing horses from Joshua B. "Spud" Hudson and other ranchers along the way. "Spud," a Colorado cattleman hailing from the Purgatoire (often misidentified as "Picketwire") River country of southeastern Colorado, was angry His camp, called the Double Cabins, located about six miles north of Monticello, became an important landmark in the events that followed. But not only Hudson's stock was lost; others in the vicinity were missing livestock and had their cabins raided. On May 14,several ranchers again encountered Indians stealing their stock, and after some shooting during which, perhaps, one Indian died, they returned to their towns to form a posse. 25 They soon joined forces and went in search of the culprits; the Utes by this time had procured a herd estimated at 350 stolen horses plus their own animals. They had also "wantonly killed hundreds of cattle belonging to the stockmen of this vicinity."26 It was time, the cowboys thought, to do something about the Utes.
Hudson formed an initial posse of twelve men, but after finding the Indians' deserted camp at Dodge Spring and realizing their numbers, the Blue Mountain posse spent a few more days recruiting help and doubling their force to twenty-five They then followed the Utes' frail to the southern end of Blue Mountain. Along the way, the cowboys found tired ponies and an occasional goat from the Indians' herd, but they feared pressing the chase because of possible ambush in the canyons. 27
At the same time, another small army, this one from Colorado, was on its way. While the majority of these volunteers came from the livestock communities of Mancos and Dolores, almost half hailed from the mining town of Rico. Their stated intention was to protect the cattlemen and recover stolen animals as the spring roundup played across the ranges of southeastern Utah. Their real intent was to fight Indians. They had formed at Dolores on May 31 and selected their leaders: Bill Dawson as captain with Billy May second in command.28 On June 1,the men set out for what they hoped would be a quick victory The papers reported that "a company of about sixty-five men, well-armed, left Big Bend (Dolores) for the Blue Mountains to try and gather up stock... And should the Ute Indians molest them, they are determined to fight for their rights."29
Colonel Henry Page, agent for the Southern Utes, commented about the wisdom of any group undertaking such a mission. He may or may not have been aware of Dawson's men presently en route to Utah when the Dolores News printed his remarks on June 4, but he certainly was accurate. Page pointed out that this particular group of Indians "who make their home in the Sierra La Sal and Blue Mountains are a fearless and wayward set."30 He then compared a conflict with them on their home territory to the one fought recently against the Modocs in the lava beds of Oregon. "If war should be opened on these [Ute] renegades, the Government would find their conquest even more difficult.... The latter country is rough and inaccessible to troops throughout... Hence it will be seen that a small and moderate band of Indians could keep at bay an immense army." Dawson's force was not an "immense army, "nor were its members trained as soldiers or knowledgeable about the terrain. Future events proved Page's assessment correct.
The posse traveled over rolling grasslands country across the Colorado—Utah border, arriving at the O'Donnells' cabin, south of the Double Cabins, on June 3 There they met yet another group, members of Company C, 13th Infantry, under the command of Captain Benjamin H. Rogers from Fort Lewis, Colorado. The soldiers had arrived four days before with orders to scout the region for Indians while protecting any whites in the area collecting cattle They reconnoitered the area along the eastern edge of Blue Mountain and reported the Hudson and O'Donnell cabins deserted; apparently, the Blue Mountain posse had already left. Dawson was eager to do his own reconnoitering. As soon as he and his men arrived at the cabin, he sent out scouts to determine the Indians' location By June 5, when the soldiers were out of food and were leaving to return to their supply camp at Big Bend, they realized that the Dawson posse was doing much more than just looking for cattle. One source states that members of the posse and Company C had "words" because the soldiers felt that the cowboys should stay out of the Indian-fighting business.32
Shortly after the military left for Fort Lewis, Hudson's Blue Mountain posse and Dawson's men from Colorado apparently joined forces.33 For seven more days the entire group remained in the saddle. They scoured Comb Wash, Blue Mountain, Indian Creek, and parts of Dry Valley Conditions were difficult Jordan Bean, a participant, claimed that they had little to eat and "our bread and meat was cooked on sticks."34 The men traveled through Hart's Draw to Hatch Rock, where Hudson had his winter camp. By then, the horses belonging to members of the Blue Mountain posse were "leg-weary and foot-sore," having been out for more than three weeks.35 The terrain had exacted a toll on his force as it traveled through the canyons and over the mountains. Consequently, when scouts finally intercepted the Indians' trail crossing Dry Valley and heading toward the La Sals, the Colorado cowboys left in pursuit; Hudson's group followed more slowly.36 For various reasons, Dawson's group was also dwindling For instance, Billy May and seven others returned to Colorado because they did not agree with the existing leadership, while another eight men went on a separate scouting expedition looking for a couple of missing men.
As the Colorado cowboys continued on the trail, they encountered tired stock, waterholes used by the Indians, and increasingly fresh sign. On the evening of June 12, a full lunar eclipse led to division in the camp According to A. (Albert) M. Rogers, whose account is the only one to mention this, two of the cowboys had spotted the Utes' camp, reported its location, and urged forming a plan of attack. Others argued that the eclipse should be used as a powerful sign in negotiations with the Indians to give up the murderers of May and Thurman as well as the captured livestock The majority of the men, however, wanted a fight. The disagreement was strong enough that when Dawson, speaking to those not in favor of a fight, said, "Boys! Strike for your country and your homes," twenty-two of them left the next morning.38 This could have been Billy May and his group, although the time sequence, numbers, and events seem somewhat askew and embellished.
Now' with less than three dozen men, those who remained continued to follow the Indians.That night, an exceptionally bright comet became visible in the evening sky, presenting another opportunity to play upon the Indians' beliefs.The idea was again voted down. Rogers tells of how later he had been told "by Indians who were in the fight, that they had no heart to fight the white men after the Great Spirit had darkened the full moon and burned up a star, and that if we had demanded the surrender of the guilty Indians and the return of the stolen stock, they would have given them up without resistance;but we wanted an Indian fight and we got it."39
On the morning of June 15, Dawson's men struck They found the Indians' horse herd, said to have numbered 1,500,as well as 800 goats.The Utes, resting in the area of today'sWilcox Flat/Warner Lake in the northwest section of the La Sal Mountains, were just breaking camp. Some of them spotted the cowboys on a mesa approximately three-quarters of a mile away and sounded the alarm. The Ute men prepared to fight while the women hastily packed what they could and started toward the northern end of the La Sals.40
According to Rogers, the cowboys swept down one long hill and up another to the Indians' camp, capturing a sizeable portion of the Ute's livestock as well as nine women guarding it. Dawson decided to leave thirteen men behind to guard the prize before giving chase to the fleeing enemy. Those who stayed settled in comfortably and eventually ended up playing "seven up" and "coon can," two types of card games, with some of the younger women Some cowboys slept while some guarded The older Ute women, however, quietly and peacefully prepared an escape. On signal, all of the women fled to their horses and drove the Indians' herd before them along with the cowboys' mounts. One source says that "the discomfited heroes [cowboys] sadly shouldered their saddles and wended their way to Moab, eighteen miles distant."41 Another story, often repeated, tells of men who went "down the Rim" accidentally and only returned to join Dawson's forces the first night after the day's fighting was over. This could only refer to this separated group of men, who probably became disoriented by the terrain.42
Exactly how much credence can be given to the first story, told only by Rogers, who was a member of a later rescue party, can be argued That there was an eclipse and bright comet can be proven But nothing has ever been said about any group of cowboys straggling into Moab. And for Dawson to deplete his fighting force by half on the verge of battle would seem unwise Eyewitness accounts vary as to the number of men involved in the ensuing fight, but there were probably between fifteen and eighteen who actually participated in the major fire fight of the first day. The other half of the posse became separated and ineffective, but little has ever been offered as an explanation for their lack of participation with the attacking force It seems highly probable, then, that these were the men who remained with the Ute livestock and only later attempted to take part in the battle. They failed because of lack of communication and limited knowledge of the land.
The pursuing cowboys estimated that the Indian band numbered about 100—comprised of 65 men and 35 women, children, and old people; these figures are the reverse of what Platte Lyman reported near Bluff (30 men, 60 others).43 Whatever the group's composition, the white men gave chase through the Indian camp and its assorted unpacked goods scattered about the clearing. They continued the pursuit, moving across Bald Mesa and hoping to intercept the Utes before they escaped Dawson felt he needed to develop the situation before committing the entire force to an ambush, so he moved down the trail, leaving those who were guarding the livestock behind and ending any coordination and planning between the two groups.
The Ute men fought a rearguard action, slowing the advance of the cowboys while the women and others herded the remaining stock ahead.
The posse pursued for a number of miles, fighting cat-and-mouse through the trees, frocks, and brush The group halted when it reached Mason Spring at the head of Little Castle Valley, which descends to the north end of the mountains and the Colorado River beyond. Dawson selected six men, one of whom was Jordan Bean, and sent them forward to locate the Utes' position within the thickly wooded canyon. According to Bean, their instructions were to "overtake the Indians and make a stand on them, and he [Dawson] would bring the rest as fast as possible."44 Risky business for sure, but the leader was slow to send his entire force into a possible ambush.
The point element traveled warily down the trail, passing over Bald Mesa toward Pinhook Draw and Harpole Mesa. It was ideal terrain for a defender From Mason Spring and Draw there are two possible routes into Little Castle Valley. The first is the steep, V-shaped Porcupine Draw, a straight canyon approximately one and one-half miles long but less than two-tenths of a mile wide that opens directly into Castle Valley. Its southwestern wall is the twelve-mile-long Porcupine Rim; the northeastern side is a sharp-spined ridge covered with huge boulders and large rocks. The far side of this ridge descends into the larger, U-shaped canyon known as Pinhook Draw. This valley forms a wide sloping bowl, approximately one-half mile across and three miles long. With almost vertical walls to the east and northeast and with Harpole Mesa to the north, these features pinch into a "hook" that narrows to a quarter mile before opening into Castle Valley Both Pinhook and Porcupine draws are cut by intermittent stream beds and are thick with scrub oak, pinyon, and juniper growing on their slopes
The six men moved cautiously down the trail descending the canyon, occasionally detecting the flash of a red blanket or an Indian pony in the oak and rocks on the slopes to their side As they descended, the Utes opened fire, and as planned, Dawson moved the rest of his force forward to develop the situation The Indians held the high ground and poured murderous shots from the hillside onto the valley floor below. Command and control of the cowboys fell apart Most sought shelter in the brush or in the streambed and hillocks in the valley before returning fire.
Six men in the lead rode for the protection of an arroyo. Thinking they were safe from the bullets sweeping the battlefield, they discovered too late that the Indians could send enfilading fire from various angles down into the winding draw All accounts agree that Dave Willis was the first killed, as he stood in the open and blasted at targets in the scrub oak. Mancos Jim, a Ute participant, later recalled the bravery on both sides He said:
With the main force an estimated 100 to 150 yards distant from those in the draw, perhaps Dawson decided that he could not provide supporting fire. Nor, it seems, was he able or willing to move forward. The terrain today is rough, cut with arroyos, and very thick with scrub; perhaps this was a factor in his failure to support the point men Instead, Tim Jenkins, a slightly built member of the posse, rode to the men in the ditch and urged them to retreat from almost certain death Although Indian marksmen maintained a steady fire, Jenkins regained the main body, but none of the trapped men followed.46 Six eventually died in this general area Bandages later found on their bodies suggested that some had been wounded before being finally killed
The Utes, "armed with Winchester rifles" maintained pressure on the beleaguered cowboys.47 This point is made by a number of the participants. The cowboys felt that their enemy was far better armed—supposedly with .44-caliber Winchesters and plenty of ammunition. Probably some of this weaponry was booty from the Thurman cabin. The white men, on the other hand, had a" 'duke's mixture' of old buffalo guns, Sharps rifles, and a few Winchesters, old fashioned black powder guns with short range and a slow velocity of bullets [that] made distance shooting a guess."48 This last statement is only partly accurate The Sharps rifle had approximately three times the range (600 yards vs 200 yards) and a heavier bullet (500 grain vs 200 grain) than that of theWinchester. However, DaveWillis was the only posse member who without question had a Sharps rifle. Besides, a singleshot Sharps could not compare to the fourteen-shot lever-action Winchester, which was especially appreciated by the Utes for close-in fighting. On the Pinhook battlefield most of the Indians' positions were well within range of their weapons
One story from the battle tells of a large Ute who climbed on top of a boulder and directed the fire of his fellow fighters to critical points of the battlefield. Many of the cowboys shot at him but were ineffective.49 Perhaps this was the same person who the newspapers falsely reported was a "Mexican seen with the Indians, apparently commanding different squads of Indians On the second day, the Mexican rode to the summit of a knoll, patted his Winchester and six shooters and cried aloud, 'Shoot you cowardly sons-of-bitches,' and the boys fired but failed to get him."50
There were other frustrations in the fight. Jordan Bean tells of how he and HardenTarter were in the lead; then
Later that afternoon Bean regained consciousness, unaware of what else had transpired. None of his companions were in sight; he learned later that his friend Tarter, whom he had sent off on his own horse, was dead. As he looked about, he spotted a large Ute standing on a rock Bean, fearing that the man had seen him, dropped down and crawled into a thicket of scrub oak and remained silent A horse standing nearby attracted the Utes' attention, and two men walked over. They talked about the blood on the ground, and one started toward the brush that concealed Bean and made a low whistling noise, but he never found the cowboy.
Under the cover of darkness, the wounded Bean made his way back to a spring he had used that morning. His overwhelming thirst drove him to drink too much, which made him even sicker But with additional rest and some controlled drinking he began to feel better. In the morning Bean spotted members of the posse moving out toward the battlefield again. They were surprised to see him, having assumed that he was dead, but they moved him back to their camp and rendered aid.52
In the late afternoon of the first day, both sides were still engaged but beginning to break contact Dawson no doubt had a number of questions on his mind First, would he be able to return to Mason Spring, the designated gathering point, to rally after the day's events?53 Would the mounted Indians be able to seal him off in CastleValley? Where was the other half of his men? When the two groups had parted company, there was no specific agreement as to supporting roles After the firing started, Dawson must have thought that those left with the horses would come to the assistance of those engaged. They never appeared Also, during the day the cowboys heard shots down in the valley, some distance from where their own fight was taking place. Could this have been the lost detachment? Finally, how many of his group had been lost or wounded?
The answers to these questions came slowly during the evening and the next day Once the possemen had extricated themselves from the battlefield and returned to Mason Spring, they counted their numbers. At that point, before Jordan Bean arrived, there were nine men missing. Depending upon whether or not Dawson had actually detailed thirteen of his men to guard the Ute herd, this figure could represent as much as half of the force engaged in the fight. As the sun set, a group of cowboys approaching from the direction of Porcupine Rim provided another answer. The missing group of men appeared with a new appreciation of the terrain they had encountered. They had eventually heard the firing in upper Castle Valley. Hoping to come in behind the Utes, they traveled a good distance along the rim, searching for a route down the 1,400-foot escarpment to the valley floor below. They found none. Realizing their mistake, they returned to the head of the draw but were ineffective for the entire battle In Dawson's words: "We have had hell here all day, and we don't know how many men have been killed. It's just too bad you were not here with us. More than likely we could have routed the Indians out of their trap."54
There were also the wounded to take care of Harg Eskridge had received a bullet below the ankle that shattered many of the small bones in his foot During the fight he had worn "a large, gaudy Chihuahua hat...that was riddled with bullets so that it cannot be worn and his hair was nearly all cut off with scalp wounds from grazing bullets."55 James Hall received a shoulder wound, injured ribs, and a leg wound that began above the knee and exited through his calf Miraculously, he healed without any permanent damage. In the morning, Jordan Bean arrived with a wound in his temple, most likely caused by a ricochet.56 After receiving immediate first aid, these men remained with the posse for the next two days.
In the meantime, Dawson spent the first night hoping to continue the battle in the morning and at least determine the location of his missing men With the second half of his group present, he would reenter Pinhook Draw with around twenty-five of the original Colorado posse. The order of events again becomes muddied, but apparently a group of about ten men from Moab met the Colorado posse near Mason Spring the next morning. Joseph Burkholder, who was in the Moab group, says that the townspeople had learned about the Utes and Coloradans from a local prospector/cattleman who had encountered Dawson's posse. Posse member Reynolds, however, says that before his group entered the La Sals Dawson had specifically sent a member of the posse to Moab for help. However they learned of the situation, the Moabites, knowing that their cattle and their friends were in the mountains, decided to investigate and offer help. En route, they passed a camp used by brothers Alfred and Isadore Wilson and found no one there When they arrived at Porcupine Rim the night of June 15 they saw the posse's camp but, not knowing whether it was a cowboy or Ute camp, waited until morning to approach.57
After the Moab men joined the Colorado posse, the combined force headed down to the battlefield to learn the fate of those missing The fighting of the previous day had ranged around Pinhook Draw and Harpole Mesa The searchers found the first body in an open area near an old trail that passed over Harpole Mesa. As they gathered around the body, which was most likely that of Dave Willis, the Indians on the side of the mesa opened fire and commenced the second day of fighting. The white men retreated uphill toward Bald Mesa, taking cover in an aspen grove on its side. An old Indian woman moving through the brush was caught in the crossfire and killed.
Dawson took stock of his situation and realized how desperately he needed additional help He did not believe that Moab, eighteen miles away, could provide additional assistance, so he turned to the next closest source, Rico At mid-morning of June 16, the second day, D G. Taylor began the 150-mile ride. According to Bean, one of the men from the Moab group saw the rider and fired shots but missed.58 Taylor completed the journey in five days, arriving on the afternoon of June 21.A rescue party left Rico the next day, camped at Big Bend that night, and were joined by other volunteers in the morning The group elected Worden Grigsby as its leader and set out for Utah. On June 24 they arrived in the vicinity of the La Sal Mountains, but by this time their initial group of forty had dwindled to twenty-four.59 They also were far too late to help in the fight against the Utes
The Colorado possemen had other concerns Dawson worried about the three wounded men and their small detachment of two guards left to protect them in camp A group started back but received fire from Utes who were now between them and their destination. The cowboys retreated to the aspen grove again. After a few more hours of fighting, the Indians broke contact and began moving toward the Dolores and the Ute Reservation. The Colorado and Moab men returned to their camp, ending the second day of fighting.60
That evening, the cowboys decided they had had enough. Guided by the men from Moab, the group moved to the lower end of Pack Creek, near the settlement, to rest and obtain assistance for the wounded. The three injured men descended the mountain on horseback to a point where a spring-cushioned wagon could be used for the rest of the trip,61 then they stayed at the Peter Rasmussen ranch in a new shed that served as an infirmary. Mrs. Rasmussen and her four daughters rendered medical assistance. One of the girls remembers how they applied prickly pear poultices to the wounds, but Eskridge's badly infected foot required more extensive treatment. Mrs. Rasmussen took a clean pair of her husband's pants, sewed the end of one leg closed, filled it with hot yeast, and slipped it over the injured foot and leg. "Sure enough, his leg was saved by my Mother's care and he began to improve."62 The wounded remained there for five days before starting their long trip back to Colorado The stay in Moab, for all concerned, was a much-needed rest One man commented, "It was only a small place,but they treated us like royalty."63
Four days after the fight, a group of men returned to the battlefield to bury the dead. The land lay silent; the Indians and the sounds of battle had long since faded away By now, the corpses were badly decomposed, and one account tells of how the heads had been smashed, as if with a rock.64 No other mutilation had occurred. The party buried Dave Willis where he fell, 100 yards distant from the other bodies. A search of the terrain below the main fighting area revealed the remains of the two Wilson brothers, who had probably been herding cattle in the area but were not directly involved in the fight. Apparently, they had been attracted by the shooting and came to investigate. The Utes killed them, which explained the firing heard down the valley during the first day's fight. The burial detail interred the brothers in the same grave with three Colorado cowboys, while they laid another three to rest in an adjoining grave The body of T C. Taylor remained missing, but he was presumed dead, bringing the final count to ten posse members killed.65 The following day the entire group started for Colorado
In the meantime, Worden Grigsby and the twenty-four men of the rescue party completed the trip from Rico in two and a half days, arriving at Coyote, south of the La Sals, on June 24.Although they did not encounter the main body of the returning posse, they did meet two of the participants, who related past events. The party spent the next day at Coyote. Some men chose to leave in the evening, but nineteen of the original number insisted on going to the battle site, "thinking that if the victorious Indians were still in the field and not too heavily reinforced, [they could] avenge the massacred boys in a measure or else leave more blood to mingle with theirs."66 These men traveled to the site, noting how much of the terrain lent itself to ambush Unsure exactly how the fight had unfolded, they began to piece together the story from the equipment and dead animals encountered along the way.
That night they camped on a mesa overlooking the battlefield. It was a somber occasion In the distance the setting sun played across sandstone ridges, changing their color from a "grayish blue to a lurid red, and many a heart felt weary as we thought that beneath that gory pall, lay the forms of our friends.... An Indian dog slunk into camp and as we drove him off, added his dismal howls to a weird and ghostly picture which already held the soul in a thraldom of solemnity."67 The following morning, after a hurried breakfast, the searchers found the freshly dug graves, the gulch where a number of men had died, the old Indian woman murdered by the cowboys, the body of a Ute man, and other telltale remnants of the fight. The men left that day intimately aware of the price paid on both sides
On their return, Grigsby's group met the survivors of the battle, who were camped at Hudson's Double Cabins. The combined group also encountered four companies of buffalo soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Their commander, Captain Henry Carroll, had elements from three different posts—Fort Bayard, Fort Cummings, and Fort Seldon—all in southern New Mexico. The 190 men, belonging to C,E, F, and M troops, had begun their ride to Fort Lewis on May 23, arrived on June 10, left on June 21, and arrived at the Double Cabins about a week later This means that they had traveled an average of twenty-two miles a day for more than 500 miles. Also, during their march they had in tow at least one howitzer and some supply wagons, which undoubtedly slowed their advance.68
Captain Carroll was an experienced veteran of many Indian conflicts throughout Texas and New Mexico, and most recently had fought in the Apache campaign against Victorio. As a professional soldier, he did not appreciate civilian interference in Indian affairs If Bean is accurate in recounting the following dialogue, Carroll wanted to remove all vigilante posses from his path.Bean recorded:
The soldiers and cowboys parted company; the Colorado men returned by way of Paiute Springs, Cross Canyon, and Big Bend of the Dolores, then splintered off to Rico, Mancos, and Durango.
The soldiers continued on in search of the Utes. Prior to the Pinhook fight, the Indians had let it be known how they felt about having African American soldiers stationed in the area. When they learned that Fort Lewis would be established, they were not terribly worried as long as the soldiers stationed there were Anglo. However (as the newspaper reported in a doubly racist comment), "if they are Negro troops that will 'sit down' there, they [the Utes] will fight. The only mark of civilization the Indian has ever shown has been his inveterate hatred for the Negro."70
The cavalry followed a cold trail. Many of the Indians had traveled to Dolores and the safety of the Ute reservation. The soldiers reported, based on the location of the Indians' campsites, that their pace must have been slow, only six to seven miles a day. At each of these campsites the pursuers found bloody rags used to care for the wounded.71 On July 24 the soldiers returned to Fort Lewis empty-handed after their 200-mile jaunt.72 Observers were convinced that the Indians hid behind the sanctity of the reservation and government control (read "interference"), to the detriment of the settlers.
The Ute side of the Pinhook Draw Battle is available in only fragmentary pieces. One definite participant was Mancos Jim, who not only discussed the incident but was also in possession of Dave Willis's rifle. In conversation with a local trader in 1886,Jim said that he lost "eighteen of his best and four average Indians in that fight."73 This figure is in complete agreement with the estimates made by the white participants, although only two bodies were actually found near the battlefield.
Poco Narraguinep, more commonly known as Poke, took pride in telling whites about his part in the fracas. He claimed three individual kills, and according to Albert R. Lyman, a local historian who had a number of later confrontations with Poke, "his years of insolent safety since that time have no doubt convinced him that it was a good business."74 During a skirmish on Blue Mountain before the Pinhook fight, some civilians had captured Poke's horse. Belongings found on the horse identified Poke with the group that had passed through and ransacked the O'Donnell and Hudson cabins Before the fight, his father, Narraguinep, boasted to a number of white men at Dolores that the Utes would attack Fort Lewis and '"clean it up. 'That the Utes knew that the killing of Thurman and May was to take place is shown by their telling several men the day before the massacre 'not to go beyond the Great Bend, as somebody would heap kill "white people out there pretty soon.'"75
On July 18 Southern Ute Agent W H. Berry wrote to the Commissioner of IndianAffairs about two "Pah Ute" Indians he had arrested and interrogated about the fighting around the La Sal Mountains. The two men, Ca-cah-par-a-mata and Pah-gie, were slow to admit any knowledge of what had transpired. Although others on the reservation asserted that they were part of the renegade group, they claimed their information was only second-hand but that they were aware of some of the details concerning the deaths of May and Thurman The single Ute responsible for this, they said, had been "wounded in the Pinhook fight, "started out on the trail and has not been heard from since."76 Although there was no real evidence of their involvement, the two Utes -who gave this information were later sent to be incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth.77 Other than the sentencing of these two men, the record is silent about any other Indians being held officially accountable for involvement in the Pinhook fight. Additional names, such as that of Posey, who was involved in later troubles, have been associated with this fight, but their participation cannot be confirmed. /Although Posey was a teenager at the time and too young to have been in command, he has been unfairly accused of leading the group
The battlefield lay quiet for four months before a group of pilgrims returned that October. Among them was America J. Willis, wife of Dave Willis, come to claim her husband's remains and bring them to Mancos Others came to return Hiram Melvin's remains to Dolores The roundtrip journey took sixteen days, America making it entirely on horseback. The seven bodies remaining at the site received reburial before the party started back. Following the 300-mile journey, Mrs. Willis wrote, "It was all we could do for him [Dave] and it seemed so little when he deserved so much."78 On Armistice Day, 1940,nineteen Moab citizens, under the sponsorship of Grand County and the Lions Club, erected a four-foot-high marker between the two graves, honoring the fallen.79 It stands there today, a mute "witness of the struggle between the cowboys and the Indians
What is the significance of the Pinhook Draw fight from an historical perspective? One could argue that the success the Utes achieved that day— killing more white men in that single battle than in any others fought in southeastern Utah—encouraged another forty-two years of low-grade conflict that at times erupted into open warfare Albert R Lyman pointed out that during that span of time "the Indians killed an average of more than one white man a year. "Twenty-five percent of those died on one day in the Pinhook fight In the years that followed, the Utes often mentioned this fact to intimidate local people Old-timers still recall the Indians talking with pride about their "victory" well into the 1930s and 1940s.80
In another sense, the fight focused a brighter light on this band of "renegades," reinforcing the feeling among whites that the band needed to be brought under control and placed on a reservation. This did not happen with finality until 1923 and the "Posey War," which was really only a desperate flight by a desperate people who were finally, totally crushed.81 The Pinhook fight was the first of a number of conflicts that kept the agents, the military, Washington bureaucrats, and the local populace demanding an end to the autonomy and antics of this uncontri lied group of Utes living in the canyons and mountains of southeastern Utah That the Indians held out as long as they did while their lifestyle was being impoverished is a credit to their tenacity
A final point to be made is the changing perspective of history. Papers of the day called the fight a "massacre" of brave heroes by "renegades. "Today, some would have a different view. When a people fight desperately to maintain their land and lifestyle, one cannot be too quick to condemn them for what most of us would do. True, the Utes wantonly killed, maimed, and stole livestock, as well as doing everything else they could to get even for what they were losing, but it was the only way they could protest. While no one can laud the tactics or the bloodshed, one can certainly recognize the desperation they must have felt
One hundred and twenty years after the Pinhook Draw fight, the La Sal Mountains still cast their shadows over the graves of those who were killed. Now, there are different conflicts over the land—less bloody but, some would say, just as emotionally charged. Still, when tourists flock into the town of Moab on a warm June evening, they are unaware of the price paid by Colorado cowboys and Southern Utes just eighteen miles away. As long as the marker sits on the battlefield, however, the land will remind us of that time when two cultures clashed and individuals died.
NOTES
Rusty Salmon, a retired medical researcher, now uses her investigative skills to address questions surrounding historical events She lives less than three miles from this battle site Robert S McPherson is on the Advisory Board of the Utah Historical Quarterly and teaches at the College of Eastern Utah-San Juan Campus
1 For a concise history of these different indigenous groups, prehistoric and historic, see Robert S McPherson, A History of SanJuan County: In the Palm ofTime (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1995); also Richard A. Firmage, A History of Grand County (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1996)
2 Edward Dutchie, Sr., interview with Robert S McPherson, May 7, 1996; transcript in possession of author.
3 Frank Silvey, "Additional Information on Indians," MS, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Many of the place names used in this article (including Pinhook Draw) were not in use at the time of the fight.
4 Edward Dutchie, Sr., interview with Robert S. McPherson, May 13, 1996; transcript in possession of author.
5 Donald G Calaway, Joel C Janetski, Omer C Stewart, "Ute," in Handbook of North American Indians 11 (Washington, DC : Smithsonian Institution, 1986), 355
6 See Gregory C.Thompson,"The Unwanted Indians:The Southern Utes in Southeastern Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 49 (1981): 189-203.
7 For further information on this early stage of settlement in southeastern Utah, see Firmage, A History of Grand County and McPherson, A History of SanJuan County.
8 Quoted in Albert R Lyman, "History of San Juan County, 1879-1917" (1965), Special Collections, Harold B Lee Library, BrighamYoung University, Provo, Utah, 17
9 Dutchie interview, May 13,1996
10 Dolores News, May 22,1880
11 Ibid., May 29,1880
12 Ibid., June 12, September 18, October 30, 1880.
13 Ibid., November 13, 1880
14 Dolores Star, September 4, 1908
15 Mancos Minutes, La Plata County, Colorado, September 25, 1881, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Members of the Mancos and Dolores communities wrote this important document on September 25, 1881, and it was signed by many of the participants of the Pinhook Draw fight Because the information in it was not subject to vague recollection, it appears to be highly accurate.
16 One less-told version of the story posits that the Indians and the whites were haggling over the horses when the Indians just blatantly killed the whites.
Events surrounding the Pinhook Draw fight have been discussed in a variety of sources—interviews, letters, newspaper articles, reminiscences, second- and third-hand accounts, and secondary sources—many of which are conflicting The authors of this article have primarily used materials gathered shortly after the fight or from participants who later shared their story Not all of the conflicting information has been resolved, nor all questions answered In a number of instances, what follows is the most logical explanation of what occurred based on primary sources, walking of the battlefield, and the attitude of the times Evaluation of some of the more prominent sources is given in subsequent footnotes.
17 Wilson Rockwell, The Utes: A Forgotten People (Denver: Sage Books, 1956), 220-21.This author validates his version of the May and Thurman killings from interviews and letters from the 1930s Most of the testimony was given a long time after the event but seems plausible
18 Dolores News, May 14, 1881.
19 Agent W H Berry to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, July 18, 1881, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
20 Jones Adam, "In the Stronghold of the Pi-Utes," Overland Monthly 22 (1893): 584; Jordan Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story and the Castle Valley Indian Fight," Colorado Magazine 20 (1943): 19; A M Rogers, "A True Narrative of an Indian Fight," Echo of the Cliffdwellers (U S Department of Agriculture: La Sal National Forest, April, 1912), 39
21 Rockwell, The Utes, 221 Although Indians subsequently claimed that Smith had been killed, and several years later an unidentified body was found, he could have escaped An article published in the Dolores News, May 25, 1883, tells of a man named Smith in the Santa Fe jail who had been talking about his escape from Indians near the Utah-Colorado border
22 Faun M. Tanner, The Far Country: Moab and Ea Sal (Salt Lake City: Olympus Publishing Company, 1976), 117 Tanner relied on multiple sources, including newspapers, interviews, and Silvey One of her greatest original contributions is her interview of Joseph Burkholder, a member of the Moab contingent, which she cites in her book.
23 Platte D Lyman, "Diary of Platte D Lyman," 39, Special Collections, Harold B Lee Library
24 Ibid., 40
25 Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 19; Mancos Minutes.
26 Dolores News, May 28, 1881; Cornelia A Perkins, Marian Nielson, and Lenora Jones, Saga of San Juan (Salt Lake City: Mercury Publishing Company, 1968), 238;"Mancos Minutes."
27 Perkins, Saga, 238; Tanner, The Far Country, 119-20; Frank Silvey, History and Settlement of Northern San Juan County, Utah (Moab: Times-Independent, 1990), 13-14 Silvey is an oft-quoted source on the Pinhook Battle, and though he was not a participant, his brother Jack was part of the rescue party from Rico. Some of Silvey's version is unsubstantiated by other documents or eyewitness accounts.
28 Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 20
29 Dolores News,June 11, 1881.
30 Ibid., June 4, 1881.
31 Ibid
32 "Operational Returns," Fort Lewis, October 1878-August 1891, Microfiche M617, National Archives, Washington, DC ; Denver Tribune, June 25, 1881; Silvey, History, 19; Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 19-20; Denver Republican, June 29, 1881 That the soldiers and cowboys would clash seems probable, especially in light of a recent but tenuous treaty with the Utes and the impending plan to move the Utes to a reservation, which was scheduled for later that summer
33 This is an assumption, based on three accounts of the two groups working together: (a) men from both groups were mentioned as the men who named Indian Creek (Silvey, "Additional Information"), (b) Dawson sent two men, known to be members of the Blue Mountain posse, to get some beef for the possemen to eat (Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story"), and (c) Tom Pepper, one of Dawson's men, tried to convince certain members of the Blue Mountain posse to turn back when they were in an area by Hatch Rock where they could have been easily ambushed (Silvey, History). Additionally, Bean talks about being in areas where they would have likely encountered the Blue Mountain group
34 Jordan Bean, "Jordan Bean," unpublished account, May 14, 1941, in possession of authors Bean recorded his memories in several articles and interviews, most of which were written sixty years after the fight. In spite of the lapse in time, his statements have proven to be quite accurate and verifiable using other sources
35 Perkins, Saga of San Juan, 240; Silvey, History, 20
36 Silvey (History) claimed to have interviewed a number of participants; Cortes and others say that the Blue Mountain posse arrived after the fight and were not involved in it But the sources are not clear on where they arrived or on many other details
37 Denver Republican, June 29, 1881; Rogers, "A True Narrative," 40 Many ofRogers's minute details are accurate (the eclipse and the comet have both been scientifically documented), but he injudiciously wrote his story as though he were a participant in the battle—when, in fact, he has been verified as a member of the Rico rescue party He gleaned much of his material from other sources and from the actual participants
The fluctuations in posse numbers are not clear in the different accounts When Dawson sent two members of the Blue Mountain posse to get a beef from Hudson's herd to feed the men, they were spotted by Indians and chased all the way to Big Bend (DenverTribune,June 25, 1881) Reynolds says that when these men did not return, Dawson sent a group of eight headed by Lou Paquin to find them
38 Rogers, "A True Narrative," 40
39 Ibid., 46
40 Ibid, 42; Dolores News, June 16, 1883
41 Rogers, "A True Narrative," 41-42
42 Silvey, History. Rogers's account says that the men left to guard the livestock eventually went to Moab but returned to help at the battlefield This story is improbable, but it does contain the idea that the men went down the rim and returned at a later time
43 Dolores News, June 16, 1883.
44 Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 20
45 Idea (Durango newspaper),June 16, 1886.
46 Rockwell, "The Utes," 222
47 Denver Tribune, July 9, 1881 This appears to be a very accurate source It was written within three weeks of the battle and contained information "acknowledged as reliable by the survivors who have returned and furnished the facts for the following." It is also interesting that this article corresponds closely to what Mancos Jim, a Ute participant, would claim five years later
48 Silvey, History, 17
49 Ibid
50 Dolores News, June 25, 1881 The story of the Mexican has the ring of many of the stories that later turned out to be someone's imagination The newspapers did not score high in accuracy; one even declared that the whole settlement at Moab had been massacred in the incident; Denver Tribune, June 25, 1881
51 Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 20
52 Ibid., 20-21
53 Bean, "Jordan Bean," 1
54 Silvey, History, 19
55 Dolores News, June 25, 1881
56 Ibid.,June 16,1883
57 Faun Tanner interviewed Joseph Burkholder sometime in the early 1930s There is no existing copy of the manuscript, but Tanner uses information from this interview extensively in The Far Country, 127-29 This is the only extant information from the perspective of the Moab settlers who later became involved in the affair
58 Bean was in camp, wounded, and may not have got the story completely right, but he is very specific about the shooting Perhaps the man galloping away, raising clouds of dust, was mistaken for Indians
59 Dolores News, July 9, 1881
60 Ibid
61 Bean, "Jordan Bean," 3; Eliza Burr (Moab resident), Statement, November 30, 1948, in possession of authors
62 Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 23; Fred T Christensen, "Early History of Sanford, Colorado," Colorado Magazine (July 1959): 216-17
63 Orso n Reynolds to George B Hobbs, May 12, 1918, "San Juan Stake History," Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah
64 Ibid
65 Denver Tribune, July 9, 1881
66 Dolores News, July 9, 1881
67 Ibid
68 Operational Returns, 9th Cavalry, 1881-1887, Microfiche M774, National Archives, Washington, D.C
69 Bean, "Jordan Bean's Story," 23
70 Dolores News, September 11,1880
71 Ibid.,July 9,1881
72 Operational Returns, 9th Cavalry
73 Jejun e 16,1886
74 Albert R Lyman, "History," 22-23
75 Lieutenant Colonel R. Crofton to Colonel Henry Page, June 9, 1881, Record Group 75, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Consolidated Ute Agency, Federal Records Center, Denver, Colorado
76 Berry to Commissioner
77 H.J Crosby, Letter from the War Department with enclosure from Colonel C H Smith, September 29,1881, MS 109, Special Collections, Marriott Library.
78 Cortez Sentinel, January 28, 1882
79 Times-Independent, November 14,1940
80 Finley Bayles conversation with author, March 22, 2000
81 For further information on this episode in Ute history, see Robert S McPherson, "Paiute Posey and the Last White Uprising," Utah Historical Quarterly 53 (1985): 248-67
