old indian land

Yesterday a tribe received the largest single piece of land returned
to any tribe in over a hundred years. It was a news story about the
return of the 87,000 acres of land returned to the Ute Tribe yesterday
by Bill Richardson. There were alot of people there all ready for the
signing of a document, some posturing and posing for pictures
congratulating each other on the work they did to complete the
transfer. There were people from all the Utah congressional offices,
people from BLM, some Senator, people from the State of Utah, Cheeses
from the BIA and the Department of Energy and some folks from Bruce
Babbitt's Office.

The tribal council was there with the BIA Superintendent for the
agency. The head of DOE, Bill Richardson made introductions and spoke a
little bit about the efforts of all those involved, the tribal chairman
spoke as well talking about the vision of tribe's leadership in seeking
the return of the land. There was a color guard of Indian veterans, a
tribal elder who offered a prayer and gray haired tribal senior
citizens brought over from the nursing home to sit in the front row.


At the back of the auditorium leaning against the doorway stood a man
who listened for a little bit and then left. Everyone in the building
was there, the offices were all empty. All the workers were there to
get something to eat in the foyer and were sitting inside the
auditorium. There was free coffee and donuts. A thought came to mind
about a time six years ago. At the national archives a box of old
records, one of many were being studied to find some documents on the
Old Uncompahgre Reservation. There on the papers were signatures of Ute
Indians, Uncompahgres who had consented
to the allotments given to them along the White River, they names and X
marks were all similar. What was it about things remembered that the
older Utes over the years had said that their people did not agree to
the opening up of the reservation to settlement in 1905.


This was the land where they were driven to, when gold and silver were
found in the mountains of Colorado, there would be no longer hunts for
buffalo on the plains East of Denver, nor winter at a valley still
called the Garden of the Gods. Only the names of the peaks bear the
names of their old leaders like Shavano. The story of their lives are
etched in the rivers, valleys and springs there They left that place
over Blue Mountain pursued by settlers looking to fight Indians and
came to the Uncompahgre in 1880. They lived in places like Bitter
Creek, Rabbit Mountain, and Hill Creek. Then it too was taken away.


It is like that some things just won't fade away, they live on. The
taking of Indian land is like that, Indians remember. They call their
land Noohrahvoop. The taking was on these papers. In the silence of a
quiet corner notes and taking the time to read and study them took
place. Page by page they were copied. In those the story of how the
Uncompahgres lost their land and later the oil rich Naval Oil Shale
Reserve was taken as well.


The documents spoke about how this was done and the lands were taken
by the government. Old files have strange things in them, old, faded,
tatters sometimes with odd notes and bits of paper. It is like a
puzzle, one sits there and studys them and from earlier research
realized that there the oil shale reserves taken by the US for the Navy
in 1912 and 1916 were taken from the Utes themselves.


Later on another trip to the Federal Record Center it was found the by
statute, federal and state law that any lands taken from Indians could
be returned to them when it was considered "excess property". I had
read an article that the Navy was going to turn over Naval Oil Shale
reserves all over the country to the BLM and Dept. of Energy.


There were two that dealt with former Ute Lands, one West of Denver and
the other in Northeastern Utah. A third which would have gone to the
Wind River Arapahos and Shoshones had already been transferred to the
BLM.


Thoughts came to mind on what were the guidelines used, what priorities
were there involving the federal agencies and what if any claim would
those tribes have to reacquire the lands. What would be the genesis to
get these lands back to the tribes. A research folder called Naval Oil
Shale Reserve was added to a box containing jurisdiction research
issues on tribal lands where the tribes were involved in a 17 year
court fight with the State of Utah over jurisdiction involving lands,
taxation, criminal and civil jurisdiction which would have significant
impact on pending legislation on their indian water rights claims
involving 150 million dollars or more. It was November and the snow was
falling as these files were studied while eating a box of chicken on a
motel bed along
I-70 in Denver.
Later while surveying a tract of land for a friend, a Ute Indian who
was running for tribal councilman a break was taken in the high
country, a place called the Little Water Valley where the forest meets
the cedars and there are high plains of grass. It was while tracing out
an Indian land boundary that there was some talk over hot coffee and a
sandwich about the old reservation boundaries and the happenings
surrounding the loss of the Old Uncompahgre. The loss this Ute knew
well from his own family history. There are some things that remain
long in the memory of a family when they talk about the old places they
used to roam and they were taken. "You know I found some things about
what happened back then when they
took the land, but not just that...about the possibility that the
land could be returned back to the tribe. if there was an effort to do
so. It would take someone on the council, the business committee of the
tribe to do this..."


The day went on and the survey stakes were put on the ground, the
Indian land was reclaimed from the neighbors who were watching from
their windows far off. The possibilities were discussed, the way the
land was taken, the fact the US was getting rid of the reserves, their
first priority was to sell them. It would take an effort to enter in
and make a claim for the land, that it would be restored. At nightfall
he said, "If I get on the council I will remember this talk..."


In Salt Lake after working late the two had dinner late and a friend
joined them an elderly man with White Hair and gray eyes. They three
were friends who had worked on different projects together from time to
time. This White Hair had gone to school with some boys who were now
were Senators and he spoke to them by first name. As the conversation
went on the subject of the oil shale reserves came up and the Old
Uncompahgre. They talked about the possibilities the money from
royalties would have with the tribe, a boon for education,
resource protection and source of income where gambling in a state
where such things were outlawed. White Hair asked, "Do you have the
paperwork to back up what you are talking about?" The researcher
said...yes.


The Ute from Little Water Valley got on the council and worked for the
tribe to seek a resolution to acquire the property. As time went on the
folder got thicker, and the idea took form and shape. White Hair used
his influence and contacts in Washington to arrange a meeting with
DOE. An opening during the holidays provided the tribe with a half hour
slot to meet with Richardson to discuss the return
of the land. Whitehair made a number of calls and an audience was
arranged with support from congressional staffers. A long red eye
flight with tribal leaders to pitch the idea went to Washington and
Richardson listened. That was two years ago.


The Ute from Little Water Valley did not get re-elected but his
efforts to restore the lost lands went on. A new group stepped in and
the claim to the old lands became a reality. The thoughts and visions
that were diagramed out on sheet of yellow paper in a motel room on a
winter night became a reality yesterday. Standing at the back of the
room the speeches went on and in looking around Whitehair was not there
nor the man from Little Water. The last one stood at the door turned
around grabbed a cookie and stood outside. The sky was blue
and on the distant horizon he could see the land way over on the
horizon, that place; it is Indian land again.