they go on to the failures to pay up
the monies owed them from that treaty; then
encroachments by miners on the lands
left to them by that treaty; then the failure
to give them their supplies; then the order
forbidding them to purchase ammunition
or arms within their reservation; then
Ouray's opinion (which is much the same
as mine) concerning Mr. Meeker's fi tness.
-- Q. And what is your opinion? -- A. Mr. Meeker,
whom I had known for a great many years,
was about as unfi t as a man could be
to go into that country and take hold
of the White River Utes and manage them;
a man of too many years, and unhappily
constituted in his mental organization
and temperament, for such a place as that.
-- Q. Was Agent Meeker a Colorado man?
-- A. Yes, sir; he lived at Greeley, Colorado.
-- Q. A man acquainted with the Indian character?
-- A. He was not. He had for years resided
in New York City; he was a journalist,
a columnist for the New York Tribune
over the initials N.C.M. He went out
to Colorado to found the town of Greeley,
sponsored by Horace Greeley; and he did so,
and the town has prospered. He could do
good service in a place like that, but not
as an Indian agent. A gentleman of high
character and of great intelligence
of a certain sort -- what you would call a real
good man -- was Agent Meeker, but not acquainted
with the Indian character. It was a most
unfortunate nomination, in my view.
-- Q. Do you know why the money granted the Utes