Forest Service to cooperate with them in the protection of their water supply. This bill is similar to a number of others that have been passed for the same purpose. The eastern portion of the land sought to be incorporated in the forest reserve is more particularly for the protection of the grazing rights of the local settlers in and adjacent to that territory. There have been in former years very serious conflicts and strife between the sheep and cattle men for the control of that range, and the permanent citizens of that portion of the country have repeatedly petitioned Congress and the Colorado Representatives to add that territory to the Uncompahgre National Forest, and it is in compliance with those requests, as well as in conformity with the wishes and approval of the Forest Service, that the committee has included that territory in this bill. It may be added that the Forest Service officials have made an exhaustive investigation and report upon the character of the land in that territory. This bill does not include all of the land sought by the settlers to be added to the reserve, but only such portions thereof as the Agriculture Department and the Forest Service recommend as being suitable for incorporation within the reserve. One of the petitions, signed by a large number of citizens and presented to the committee, is as follows: PETITION To the Congress of the United States: We, the undersigned landowners and users of the range embraced within the red lines on the blue print of the Uncompahgre Forest Reserve, ask that said Uncompahgre Forest Reserve be increased to take in the lands embraced within said lines, subject to the very few filings and squatter's claims on lands within these lines. These rights are for all the lands that could possibly be used for agricultural purposes. The increase of this reserve would tend to give the city of Montrose a purer water supply; will increase the dairying industry, and place the salting of the public range on a business basis. Also another petition, signed by a large number of citizens and county and city officials, reads as follows: PETITION To the Congress of the United States: We, the undersigned residents of Montrose County, Colo., and users of the range designated within the red lines, showing the desired increase to the present Uncompahgre National Forest, ask that the same be granted according to the lines as shown in the attached blue print. We represent that practically all the land that could be used for agricultural purposes within the area marked off, is now filed on or held by squatter's rights on that part unsurveyed. We desire this addition to the original petition, subject to the rights of those having made filings or squatter's claims. Also the following petition, addressed to the author of the bill, from citizens and county officials of Gunnison County, adjacent to this forest reserve: Hon. EDWARD T. TAYLOR, PETITION Congressman at Large for Colorado: We, the undersigned residents of Cimarron and Gunnison County, would respectfully ask you to push the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior for the extension of the Uncompahgre Forest Reserve. While it does not embrace as much as we had hoped, the addition as proposed will help some. The city of Montrose also adopted a resolution in the nature of a memorial to Congress on this subject over two years ago, which reads as follows: RESOLUTION Whereas the Uncompahgre National Forest Reserve as now established and maintained by the United States Government, as shown on the blue print hereto attached and made a part hereof, protects only; a portion of the watershed of the Cimarron River and the Big and Little Cimarron Creeks; and Whereas the water supply of the city of Montrose for ail uses, and especially for domestic use, is obtained from the said Cimarron River and its tributaries, and the health of the inhabitants of said city is greatly dependent upon a pure water supply; and Whereas the said city of Montrose also has a right to use water from the Gunnison Tunnel, whose source of supply is the Gunnison River, which at present is not under the control of the Government; and Whereas the city council of the city of Montrose believes it would greatly benefit the city and help it to secure and maintain a pure water supply for said city if the United States Government and Forest Service were in control of the watershed of the Cimarron River and Gunnison River, as shown on said blue print, and by the extension of said Uncompahgre National Forest, as shown by the red lines along the section and township lines marked on said map: Therefore be it Resolved by the city council of the city of Montrose, That the plan of enlarging the Uncompahgre National Forest, as shown by the red lines on the blue print hereto attached, be heartily indorsed, and that our Senators and Representatives in Congress be urged to immediately introduce and use their best endeavors to secure the passage of whatever legislation might be necessary to accomplish the enlargement of said Uncompahgre National Forest, as shown on said blue print, and that it is the belief of said city council that if the territory as indicated on said blue print were added to said Uncompahgre National Forest it would greatly benefit the health of all of the people of the city of Montrose and be a means of preventing much unnecessary sickness; and be it further Resolved, That a certified copy of this resolution be attached to said blue print and forwarded to our Representative in Congress. STATE OF COLORADO, County of Montrose, 88: I, S. V. Hobaugh, city clerk in and for the city of Montrose, State of Colorado, do hereby certify the above and foregoing to be a true, perfect, and complete copy of a resolution passed in the regular session of the city council, held at the city hall in said city of Montrose on Thursday evening, February 2, 1911, as the same appears on file in my office. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the city of Montrose, at Montrose, in said county, this 3d day of February, A. D. 1911. [SEAL.] S. V. HOBAUGH, City Clerk. In view of the importance of the protection of the water supply for the city of Montrose your committee recommend the expeditious passage of this bill. After receipt by the committee of the opinion of July 18, 1914, of the Interior Department upon this bill as above set forth, containing a reference to the Ute Indian treaty and the decision of the Court of Claims of May 23, 1910, and the possible effect that the passage of this act might have in relation thereto, the matter was again taken up with the Department of the Interior and an exhaustive research was made and careful consideration given to the legislation pertaining to the Ute Indians and decisions of the court and treaties of the Government with those Indians. The Commissioner of the General Land Office has determined that the addition to the Uncompahgre National Forest of the land embraced within this bill, which was formerly a part of the Ute Indian Reservation, would not create any additional liability against the Government in the absence of some special legislation to that effect. In other words, that decision of the Court of Claims was authorized by an act of Congress and was for the express purpose of creating a trust fund in lieu of the former trust fund, and with the understanding that the fund itself should not be paid to the Indians but that the interest thereon at 4 per cent should be paid to them. The decisions of the Court of Claims of May 23, 1910, and February 13, 1911, give such a complete statement of the rights of the Indians and the Govern letter to the author of this bill, as follows: ment that they are herewith incorporated, together with the commissioner's DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, August 4, 1914. HON. EDWARD T. TAYLOR, House of Representatives. to inform you that the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims in the case of The MY DEAR MR. TAYLOR: In response to your personal inquiry, I have the honor Confederated Bands of Ute Indians of Colorado v. The United States had its source in a special act authorizing it to take action and, so far as this office is able to construe such decision, would probably not extend to additional forest reservations in the absence of additional legislation. I inclose herein copy of the court's decision in said case of May 23, 1910, and modification of February 13, 1911. Under the jurisdiction conferred upon it by the act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 788, 789), the Court of Claims was to determine and render final judgment on the claims and rights of such Indians under the agreement of June 15, 1880, "including the value of all lands ceded by the said Indians which have been set apart and reserved from the public lands as public reservations as if disposed of under the public-land laws of the United States, as provided by said agreement, and the money due therefor." * * The deficiency act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat., 934), appropriated $3,305,257.19 for paying the net amount of the judgment of the Court of Claims in said suit into the Treasury. Section 3 of the act of June 15, 1880 (21 Stat., 199), provided that lands within the cession ratified thereby should be subject to "cash entry only in accordance with existing law," the proceeds of such sales to be deposited for the benefit of the Indians, after deducting the amount necessary to reimburse the Government for all sums paid out or set apart under said act and $1.25 an acre for the lands allotted the Indians outside their reservation. The act of July 28, 1882 (22 Stat., 178), reaffirmed the provision of the act of June 15, 1880, that the ceded lands should be disposed of under cash entry only, The act of May 17, 1900 (31 Stat., 179), known as the "free-homestead act," provided for homestead entries on lands acquired by treaty or agreement from the various Indian tribes, and relieved settlers from the conditions of payment for such lands, but provided "that all sums of money so released which if not released would belong to any Indian tribe, shall be paid to such Indian tribe by the United States." Section 2 of the special act of June 13, 1902 (32 Stat., 384), extending the provisions of the homestead laws over the lands within the former Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado, provides "that all sums of money that may be lost to the Ute Indian fund by reason of the passage of this act shall be paid into the fund by the United States." The money received from cash entries within the cession of 1880 is turned into the Treasury to the credit of the Ute fund. Senate amendment No. 152 to the Indian appropriation bill, H. R. 12579, page 81, provided that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs should enter into an agreement with the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians for a final adjudication and settlement of all their claims against the United States arising under the agreement of June 15, 1880, or otherwise, but I am informally advised by the Indian Office that the bill was reported out of conference and passed without such provision. Very respectfully, CLAY TALLMAN, Commissioner. [Court of Claims of the United States. No. 30360. Decided May 23, 1910] THE WHITE RIVER UTES, THE SOUTHERN UTES, THE UNCOMPAHGRE UTES, THE TABEGUACHE, MUACHE, CAPOTE, WEEMINUCHE, YAMPA, GRAND RIVER, AND UINTA BANDS OF UTE INDIANS, KNOWN ALSO AS THE CONFEDERATED BANDS OF UTE INDIANS OF COLORADO, v. THE UNITED STATES This case having been heard by the Court of Claims, the court, upon the evidence, makes the following FINDINGS OF FACT I. The plaintiffs are a confederated band of Ute Indians between whom and the Government of the United States the relation of guardian and ward has existed since February 2, 1848. On June 30, 1908, the total number of Indians composing the plaintiff confederated bands was as follows: White River Utes, known also as the Yampa and Grand River Bands_-_- Southern Utes, known also as the Muache, Capote, and Weeminuche Uncompahgre Utes, known also as the Tabegnache Band_-_ Total---. 295 427 808 470 2,000 In their tribal relations they are known as the Uncompahgre, the Tabeguache, Muache, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River, and Uinta Bands of Ute Indians, and also as the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians of Colorado; also as the White River Utes and the Southern Utes and the Uncompahgre Utes. By an act of Congress approved March 3, 1909 (35 Stats., 788-789), jurisdiction was conferred upon the Court of Claims as follows: "That to carry into effect the agreement between the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians of Colorado and the United States, ratified by the act of Congress approved June 15, 1880, being 'An act to accept and ratify the agreement submitted by the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians in Colorado for the sale of their reservation in said State, and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same (21 Stat., p. 199), jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the Court of Claims to hear, determine, and render final judgment, with right of appeal as in other cases, on the claims and rights of said Indians under said agreement, including the value of all lands ceded by the said Indians which have been set apart and reserved from the public lands as public reservations or for other public uses under existing laws and proclamations of the President, as if disposed of under the publicland laws of the United States, as provided by said agreement, and the money due therefor; and the court shall set off against any sum found due said Indians the amount paid to them under the fifth section of said act of June 15, 1880, being $50,000 per annum up to the date of rendition of final judgment in this cause, also any other sum or sums that shall be found to be properly chargeable under the terms of said agreement, and also any sum or sums paid by the United States to or for the benefit of said Indians, whether as a gratuity or otherwise, except such sums as have been paid for a specific purpose and an adequate consideration; and the credit of $1,250,000 set apart in the Treasury by the terms of said agreement upon which said annuity has been estimated, shall, upon the rendition of final judgment in this case, cease to exist as a trust fund, and from and after the date of said judgment no annuity shall be estimated or paid therefrom; and the action herein authorized shall be consolidated with cause Congressional, No. 11248, now pending in said court, for the purpose of using at the trial thereof all evidence which has been adduced in said pending cause, and shall be commenced by petition under the title of said pending cause and shall be conducted by the attorney of record now appearing therein or by any attorney by him specifically authorized to appear; and the Attorney General shall continue to appear and represent the United States; and in rendering judgment herein the court shall fix upon a quantum meruit and set apart just and reasonable compensation to the attorneys on behalf of plaintiffs who have rendered actual service in prosecuting said claim before the committees of Congress and in conducting the said cause before the courts in the name of the attorney of record in said pending cause, or any attorney by him specifically authorized, and said compensation shall be paid to such attorney by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any money in the Treasury arising from the sale of said ceded lands or from the proceeds of said judgment, and the balance of said judgment shall be held in the Treasury for the benefit of said Indians as a trust fund, and the interest thereon shall be distributed annually to them in accordance with the terms of said act of June 15, 1880; and the said cause shall be advanced in hearing by the Court of Claims and by the Supreme Court of the United if the same shall be appealed." III. By Senate resolution of December 11, 1903, No. 52, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, this cause was sent to the Court of Claims and was numbered 66 Congressional, 11248;" that upon the hearing thereof the same was dismissed for want of jurisdiction: that thereupon a motion for a new trial was filed, which motion was pending at the time of the passage of the jurisdictional act referred to in Finding II herein, which action is now consolidated with the cause now on hearing. IV. By the second article of a treaty by and between the plaintiffs and the 43213-25-PT 12-14 United States, concluded at the city of Washington in the District of Columbia. March 2, 1868, whereof ratification was requested with amendment July 25, 1868, and which amendment was accepted by the Indians August 15, September 1, 14, 24, and 25, 1868, and which treaty was proclaimed November 6, 1868 (15 Stat. L., Treaties, pp. 619 et seq.), certain territory was set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of plaintiffs and for such other friendly tribes and individual Indians as from time to time they might be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit among them, the United States solemnly agreeing that no persons except those by said treaty authorized so to do and except such officers, agents, and employees of the Government as might be authorized to enter upon the said Indian reservation in the discharge of duties enjoined by law, should ever be permitted to pass over. settle upon, or reside in the territory described therein; that the territory so set apart to plaintiffs is described in said second article of said treaty as follows: 66 Commencing at that point on the southern boundary line of the Territory of Colorado where the meridian of longitude 107° west from Greenwich crosses the same, running thence north with said meridian to a point 15 miles due north of where said meridian intersects the fortieth parallel of north latitude; thence due west to the western boundary line of said Territory; thence south with said western boundary line of said Territory to the southern boundary line of said Territory; thence east with said southern boundary line to the place of beginning." Afterwards, to wit, on the 13th day of September, 1873, the plaintiffs by the name and style of " Certain Ute Indians in Colorado by the chiefs and headmen of the Tabeguache, Mauche, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah bands of Ute Indians," entered into a duly ratified convention at Los Pinos Agency for the Ute Indians in the State of Colorado, whereby, by the first article of said convention, plaintiffs relinquished to the United States all right, title, claim, and interest in and to the following-described portion of the reservation conveyed to them by the United States by the treaty proclaimed November 6, 1868, hereinbefore set forth; that is to say: "Beginning at a point on the eastern boundary of said reservation 15 miles due north of the southern boundary of the Territory of Colorado, and running thence west in a line parallel to the said southern boundary to a point on said line 20 miles due east of the western boundary of Colorado Territory; thence north by a line parallel with the western boundary to a point 10 miles north of the point where said line intersects the thirty-eighth parallel of north latitude; thence east to the eastern boundary of the Ute Reservation; thence south along said boundary to the place of beginning." The consideration for the said cession was a sufficient amount of United States bonds at 5 per cent per annum to produce the sum of $25,000 per annum, to be held in perpetual trust for the said Ute Indians. subject to disbursement or investment at the discretion of the President or as he may direct, for the use and benefit of the Ute Indians, annually forever. The annuity, provided under the terms of the act of April 29, 1874 (18 Stats. 41), was accepted by plaintiffs in full compensation for the territory ceded under that act, the interest being 5 per cent per annum. The cession of 1873 and the consideration paid therefor by the terms of the act of April 29, 1874, concluded that transaction. Afterwards, by the terms of an agreement between petitioners and the United States, which is embraced in and made part of "An act to accept and ratify the agreement submitted by the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians in Colorado, for the sale of their reservation in said State and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same," approved June 15, 1880 (21 Stats. 199), the chiefs and headmen of the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians, being these plaintiffs, promised and agreed to use their best endeavors with their people to procure their consent to cede to the United States all remaining territory of these petitioners in Colorado, being the remainder of the lands set apart to the permanent use and occupation of petitioners by the treaty of 1868, as in this finding first set forth; that said agreement was duly assented to and ratified by plaintiffs. In pursuance of section 2 of said act the President appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, five commissioners to carry into effect the provisions of said act. By the third section of said act of cession approved June 15, 1880, it was provided as follows: "That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be surveyed, under the direction of said commissioners, a sufficient quantity of land in the vicinities named in said agreement to secure the settlement |