Page 137

REPORTS OF AGENTS IN         UTAH.                137 
The Government owns no buildings here, and the office, storehouse, &c.,
are rented 
from private parties. 
There have been no cases of crimes being committed by Indians against Indians,
Indians against whites, or whites against Indians. 
There have been four cases of whites selling liquor to Indians, and all have
been or 
are being prosecuted. One was convicted, and the other three are to be tried
in a few 
days. This is the principal source of annoyance at this agency, and I find
it almost 
impossible to keep the Indians from getting liquor in some way. A few more
con- 
victions, however, will have a good effect on the liquor-sellers. 
The sanitary condition of these Indians is not good, and the number of deaths
is 
largely in excess of the number of births, the former being eleven and the
latter only 
four. Our reason for this is that there is no physician here authorized to
care for 
them, and treat them when sick, and they are iot able to pay for such medical
serv- 
ices themselves. At the present rate it is a question of only a few years
when they 
will become entirely extinct. There are no schools nor churches here, and
as a con- 
sequence they have made no progress during the year in the direction of education
and Christianity. 
These Indians are perfectly peaceable and law-abiding, and no trouble has
ever oc- 
curred between these Indians and the white settlers. The Tonkawas have ever
been 
the friend of the white man, and they have many times suffered at the hands
of their 
neighbors, the Comanches and Kiowas, on account of that friendship; yet,
notwith- 
standing all this, they are more poorly provided for by the Government than
any 
other tribe of Indians in the country. Their lands have all been taken from
them, and 
none have been given them in return. 
In conclusion, I would respectfully recommend that some steps be taken for
the re- 
moval of these Indians, after the present year, to some suitable place in
the Indian 
Territory, when, with a little assistance for a ifew years, they can become
self-support- 
ing. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
ELIAS CHANDLER, 
Second Lieutenant, Sixteenth Infantry, Acting Indian Agent. 
The COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
OURAY INDIAN AGENCY, UTAH, 
August 13, 1883. 
SIR: In accordance with your letter of instruction, dated July 31, I have
the honor 
to subinit the following as my second annual report of affairs at this agency.
During the last year I have ridden over most of the reservation, and find
after 
careful observation that the bottom lying along Green and White Rivers contains
all 
of the farming lands within the lines of the reservation. There is not a
stream out- 
side of the two mentioned that has running water in it two mouths during
the year; 
the fact of the matter is, it is nothing but a desert, and it is just an
utter impossibility 
for an agent to keep the Indians inside the lines of this reservation, as
on three sides it 
is bounded by mountains where there is plenty of water, grass, and game.
DISPOSITION AND CONDUCT OF INDIANS. 
The Tabequache band of Utes as a class are a well-disposed people, who express
a 
desire to please Washington in every way except in going to work and having
their 
children sent away to school. They are as fat as pigs, and most of them are
the per- 
sonification of laziness. They spend three-fourths of their time in lying
down or 
sitting flat upon the ground. When awake they spend their time gambling,
horse- 
racing, and hunting There are some exceptions to this general rule, as I
have some 
Indians that are good workers. As a class, they are good-natured and friendly
to the 
whites and Mormons. They do not class the Mormons as white men; they knbw
too 
much about them. 
DRUNKENNESS. 
I have never seen but one Indian under the influence of liquor at this agency,
but 
I am reliably informed that some of my Indians get drunk at Uintah. It is
no trouble 
for them to get all the alcohol they want from the Mormon settlers through
the 
country. 
EDUCATION. 
In regard to education and schools. I am sorry to say there has nothing been
done 
whatever. I have used all the arguments and inducements at my command to
get 
some of my Indians to send some of their children to some Eastern or Western
indus-