History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

630
PROGRESS OF EVENTS.
reptiles, insects, roots, and grass seeds. Farm reservations
had been opened for their benefit, 71 and in
1859 it was stated by the superintendent of Indian
affairs that an appropriation of $150,000 would enable
him to provide for all the destitute among the 18,000
natives then inhabiting the territory. No appropriation
was made at this date, though, as will presently
appear, liberal provision w T as made a few years later
for certain of the Utah tribes.
Between 1857 and the close of 1862 outbreaks were
of frequent occurrence, 72 and until the arrival of the
71 Among them the Spanish Fork reservation, including nearly 13,000 acres,
was opened in 1855 in Utah Valley. Here about 2,500 bushels of wheat were
raised in 1859. There were others on Sanpete Creek, in the valley of that
name, on Corn Creek, in Fillmore Valley, and at Deep Creek and Ruby valleys.
On each there were about 25 acres in wheat, and a small quantity of
vegetables were raised. J. Forney, in Ind. Aff. Rept, 1859, pp. 367-9. In
these reports for the years 1856-63, and in Sen. Doc, 36th Cong. 1st Sess.,
xi. no. 42, are many statements and suggestions as to the character of the
Indians, their condition, treatment, reservation work, and intercourse with
the white population. As they were little heeded, it is unnecessary to mention
them in detail. The names of the various superintendents of Indian
affairs and Indian agents will be found in the American Almanac.
72 For troubles in southern Utah in 1857-8, see Little's Jacob Hamblin, 47
et seq. In Oct. 1858, Hamblin with eleven others left the Santa Clara settlement
to visit the Moquis on the eastern side of the Colorado, thus paving the
way for Mormon colonization in that direction. On Feb. 25, 1858, a descent
was made on one of the northern settlements by 250 Shoshones. Two settlers
were killed, five wounded, and a large number of cattle and horses driven off.
On the 1st and 9th of March the herds of the settlers in Rush Valley were
raided and a quantity of stock stolen. On the 7th, 100 horses and mules were
taken from the farm of John C. Naile at the north end of Utah Lake. House
Ex. Doc, 35th Cong. 2d Sess., ii. pt ii. pp. 74-5, 80-2. On Sept. 10th, Utah
Indians violated the persons of a Danish woman and her daughter, near the
Spanish Fork reservation. Id., 152; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1859, p. 362. In the summer
of 1859an emigrant party, en route forCalifornia,was surprised in the neighborhood
of the Goose Creek mountains, and at least five men and two women
killed, the massacre being caused by the slaughter of two Indians who entered
the camp for trading purposes. Ind. Aff. Rept, 1859-60, pt ii. 210-11. On
Aug. 14th, this body of Indians was attacked by Lieut Gay with a company
of dragoons, and about 20 of them killed. In his message to the Utah legislature,
dated Dec. 12, 1860, Gov. Cumming states that though a suitable force
had been appointed for the protection of the northern emigrant route, many
persons had been murdered presumably by roving bands of Shoshones and
Bannacks. Utah Jour. Ler/isl., 1859-60, p. 8. In the summer of 1860, Mayor
Ormsby, with a party of Carson Valley militia, was decoyed into a canon and
perished with all his command, the cause of the outbreak being the slaying
by emigrants of a chief, named Winnemucca. Burton 's City of the Saints, 582.
See also Moore's Pion. Exper., MS., 15-19. For further Indian depredations
up to 1863, measures taken to prevent and punish them, and remarks thereon,
too voluminous to be mentioned in detail, see Ind. Aff. Rept, 1859-60, pt ii.,
231-44, 1861, 21, 1862, 210-14, 1S63, 419-20; Sen. Doc, 36th Cong. 2d
Sess., ii. no. 1, pp. 69-73; House Ex. Doc, 37 Cong. 3d Sess., iv. no. 3, pp.