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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, Denver, September 22, 1875 [[newspaper clipping]] The Old Man of the Mountains [[line]] History of the Ebony."Complected" Ute and His Band of Assassins who attacked the Hayden Explorers - An Indian Ishmaelite whose Hand is Against Every Man. [[line]] The following official document supplementing the account of the attack on Prof. Gardner's party, and describing the renegade Ute who has instituted a "reign of terror" in the Sierra La Sal, has been forwarded to Dr. Hayden: DENVER, September 18, 1875.--SIR: Having had until now no access to the newspapers for many weeks, I am surprised to learn from the New York Herald's Washington correspondent of September 5th that the acting secretary of the interior, in a conversation with the correspondent, seemed to understand me as placing upon the Ute tribe the responsibility of the attack on our party, and he very justly says that a powerful people like them, familiar with every foot of the country, could certainly have killed every one of our little band of explorers had they intended to. It was not my intention to make the Utes, as a tribe, responsible for the outrages; nor do I consider them so, except in the same sense that the community of Washington would be responsible for a band of highwaymen infesting the road to Arlington Heights. For the past thirteen years I have been conducting geological and geographic explorations among the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Sioux, Shoshones, Pah Utes, Apaches and Utes, often trusting to the rifle along for security, and often shot at by Indians simply to frighten. The difference between an attack to kill and an attempt to intimidate become very obvious after a varied experience with these tribes. During the past few years our work has been among the Utes, requiring us to traverse every part of the reservation. Though the explorations have been objected to by the more ignorant part of the nation, yet we have had the constant support and protection of the most powerful chiefs, Ouray and Douglass, and consequently, in general, good treatment at the hands of their followers. Our intercourse with these chiefs has led me to think highly of their wisdom, and to regard them as true friends of the whites and of peace. That it may be clearly understood to whom we are indebted for the warm reception we received at the Sierra La Sal, I will give, in a condensed form, such information as I have been able to gather about them. IN 1873 I learned from some source not now remembered, that a small but high group of mountains standing in the eastern edge of Utah, about latitude 39 degrees, and called the Sierra La Sal, was not inhabited by Utes, but by a band of Pah Utes, who had never made peace with the whites, but were in the habit of committing small depredations over in Utah, and then retreating across the Colorado river canons to their mountain home. This must have come but as a vague rumor through the Indians, for no government expedition had ever entered the range, nor prospector, nor hunter that I have met. Knowing Prof. Powell to be more familiar with the Pah Utes than anyone else, I applied to him for further information. He confirmed the report that the range was inhabited by a band of renegade Pah Utes, but I do not recall what he said about their depredations. He did not consider it unsafe for me to go among them with a party of seven armed men. A part of renegades is, as you know, a band made up of the worst elements, who bid defiance to all peaceful treaties of their tribes, and unite under some chosen chief to live by plunder, fighting as guerillas. On the 11th of July, of this year, I had an interview with Ouray, head chief of the Utes at the Los Pinos agency, in the presence of Mr. H.F. Bond, the agent. Ouray being convinced that we were sent to the reservation by an express act of congress to collect such information as the government needed, and without which the respective rights and relations of the whites and Indians could never be properly be adjusted, promised full protection to our parties. He then asked our routes of travel. It was all satisfactory until I spoke of going to the Sierra La Sal; then he said that was not good; that the Indians there were robbers; that they never came into any reservations, either of the Utes or Pah Utes, but lived by depredations in Utah, and by trade with the Navajos; that they were in the habit of killing one or two men found alone and stealing a few head of stock over in the direction of Salt Lake, and then retreating across innumerable and almost impassible canons to their mountains. He said nothing of their trading with the Utes, at this time, nor did he speak of any Utes being among them, and from everything said, I inferred that they were Pah Utes. He said the band was small and would not probably dare to attack seven armed men, but that we must watch our mules well. He also said that they were farming in the vallies on the east and west side of the mountains alternate years, and that this year they ought to be on the east side of the range. About two weeks after this we met, accidentally, a Ute with his family, traveling alone in the western part of the Elk Utes. After a hearty dinner he grew quite genial, told us where he was going, and asked our destination. We pointed out towards the Sierra La Sal and explained that we were going there. He seemed alarmed for our safety and tried to persuade us not to go; indicating by signs and words that the Utes on the north, the east and the south were friendly, and that we could hunt there in peace; but that the Sierra La Sal Indians would steal our stock and kills us. From these warnings it is evident that the bend who attacked us have an established reputation as robbers and murderers, whatever may be the tribes to which they originally belonged. It was this knowledge which caused me to join Mr. Gannett's party with my own. After our fight and the rescue of Messrs. Holman and Dallas from their perilous position at the supply camp, I marched at once to the Los Pinos agency, reaching there September 10. Agent Miles acting as special commissioner to investigate the Utes, and Mr. Harris, the well known interpreter, and I had a long talk with Ouray in the presence of Agent Bond and Commissioner Miles. I told the chief all that had occurred. He immediately asked if the leader of the band was an old man of unusually dark complexion, and if he had several young men with him of similar appearance. This very dark complexion had been noticed by our party as a characteristic of the old leader and two of the younger men, when they came to shake hands with us before the firing commenced. It was this old man and a boy that we had seen at a corn patch on the sound end of the Sierra La Sal. There could be no mistake about the identity and Ouray said that the old man and his family had been farming around these mountains for many years; that he was a very bad man, who had robbed and murdered for a long time. Three years ago he paid Ouray a visit and the chief advised him to stop raiding and join the reservation Indians. He answered that he was not a dog to eat bread from the hands of the white men, but intended to live at war with them, but through his Utes he learned that last year the band killed certainly one and perhaps more miners on their way from Salt Lake to the San Juan mines, Ouray seemed surprised that the num- [[/newspaper clipping]] ^[[38362-D]]
