46 



AEMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The embarrassment in many of the counties 

 and towns arising from a failure to pay the 

 bonded indebtedness still continues. In Clark 

 County a vote of the citizens was taken on the 

 question of a dissolution of the county organi- 

 zation on a compromise of the debt. The re- 

 sult was 464 votes for compromise, and 622 

 for a dissolution of the county organization. 



The official returns of the election of 1878 

 were received too late for insertion in the 

 " Annual Cyclopaedia " of that year. The vote 

 for Governor, "W. K. Miller, to whom there 

 was no opposition, was 88,730. The follow- 

 ing State officers were chosen: Secretary of 

 State, John Frolich ; Auditor, John Crawford ; 

 Attorney-General, William F. Henderson ; 

 Land Commissioner, D. W. Lear ; Supreme 

 Court Judge, John R. Eakin ; Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, J. L. Denton; Chan- 

 cellor, D. W. Carroll. The vote for members 

 of Congress was as follows: 



The State Legislature was divided as fol- 

 lows : 



ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. The 

 strength of the Army of the United States at 

 present is 2,127 officers, 24,262 men, and 388 

 retired officers. The enlisted men of the Sig- 

 nal Corps, Engineer and Ordnance Corps, Ord- 

 nance Sergeants, Commissary Sergeants, and 

 Hospital Stewards, the prison guard at Fort 

 Leavenworth, and the recruiting detachments, 

 amount in the aggregate to 3,463 men, and are 

 employed in the performance of important du- 

 ties connected with the military establishments, 

 but these duties bring but few of them into 

 active service in the field. The statute now 

 authorizes a total force of 25,000 men, not in- 

 cluding the Signal Corps, which has by law 

 456 men. The combative force of the army 

 proper consists of 11 generals, 1,559 officers, 

 20,556 men, and 233 Indian scouts. 



The only disturbance of the peace during the 

 year took place on the frontier with the Utes 

 in Colorado and the Apaches in New Mexico. 

 The Indian name "Utee," from which Utah 

 takes its name, was applied to all the nomads 

 west of the Rocky Mountains, as far as Neva- 

 da, and south into New Mexico and Arizona. 

 Gradually they have been surrounded by white 

 settlements and broken up into many distinct 

 bands, the four principal of which are located 



as follows: The Uintahs, in northeastern Utah, 

 estimated at 430 souls; the "Los Pinos," in 

 the Uncompahgre Valley, Colorado, estimated 

 at 2,000 souls ; the " Southern Utes," in south- 

 western Colorado, with 934 souls ; and the 

 "White River Utes," in northwestern Colo- 

 rado, estimated at 800 souls. These Indians 

 are of the fiercest class, and occupy the roughest 

 parts of our country for farming, grazing, or 

 for military operations. Their management is 

 complicated by the fact that their country is 

 known to possess mineral deposits, which at- 

 tract a bold and adventurous class of white 

 men. They are very warlike, and have no 

 difficulty in procuring, in exchange for their 

 deer-skins, horses, and sheep, any amount of 

 the best rifles and ammunition. In former 

 years they used to come east of the Rocky 

 Mountains to hunt buffalo, but of late years 

 they have confined their hunting to the bear, 

 elk, and deer of the mountain region. As 

 long as the game lasts they will not work or 

 attempt farming, except in the smallest and 

 most insignificant manner, and that only by 

 compulsion. 



A state of irritation, which resulted in a 

 conflict, was produced by the demand of the 

 agent, Mr. Meeker, that the Indians should 

 engage in farming, to which they were uncom- 

 promisingly hostile, and, in his endeavor to 

 plow land for farming, Major Thornburgh with 

 a small force announced to the agent his in- 

 tention of coming to afford him any assistance 

 he might need. The agent in reply stated that 

 the Indians were very much excited, and re- 

 garded the approach of troops as a declaration 

 of war ; and he suggested to Major Thornburgh 

 to stop at some convenient camping-place, and 

 with five soldiers come into the agency, where 

 a talk and a better understanding could be had. 

 Major Thornburgh accepted the suggestion, and 

 stated that he should move with his entire 

 command within striking distance, and sug- 

 gested that the agent and some of the chiefs 

 meet him on the road. The former expressed 

 gratification with the plan, and, in a letter dated 

 September 29th, one P. M., said he expected to 

 leave the agency on the next morning, adding: 

 " If you have trouble getting through the ca- 

 non to-day, let me know. We have been on 

 guard three nights, and shall be to-night, not 

 because we know there is danger, but because 

 there may be." The Indians lay in wait and 

 made an attack. The result was a loss on 

 the side of the military command of 11 citi- 

 zens, 2 officers, and 12 soldiers killed and 41 

 wounded. The Indians admitted a loss of 39. 

 Major Thornburgh was killed in this action, 

 and the agent, Mr. Meeker, at his residence. 

 About the same time some of the Apaches, 

 who belong to the Mescalero Agency, near 

 Fort Stanton, New Mexico, more than 600 

 miles south of White River, began a raid upon 

 the ranches and settlements in southern New 

 Mexico. Major Morrow, of the Ninth Caval- 

 ry, with about 450 men at his command, started 



