OPENING THE LAND OF THE UINTAHS. 



BY J. M. GOODWIN, OF THE "SALT LAKE TRIBUNE." 



REAT interest is centered in the Uintah and 

 Uncompaghre Indian reservations located in 

 the northeastern corner of Utah. This interest is 

 fully warranted in the excellent quality of the coun- 

 try, its climate and varied resources. Now that these 

 lands are to be thrown open to settlement by whites 

 the interest in the country has greatly increased until 

 there promises to be a grand rush of prospective set- 

 tlers as soon as the bars are let down and the thou- 

 sands are permitted to enter and make filings on 

 agricultural lands and mining claims. Persons who 

 have traveled all over the Rocky mountain region 

 and become familiar with resources of the country 

 pronounce this the best of all. As an Indian reser- 

 vation the country has been closed against intrusion 

 of prospectors for minerals and there were no reasons 

 for the entrance of home-seekers while these lands 

 were held by the Indians, and yet many men have 

 been quietly watching the country in hopes that the 

 time was not far off when they would be permitted to 

 enter and make homes there. 



CONGRESSMAN RAWLIN'S WORK. 



Utah is fortunate in having Delegate Rawlins in 

 Congress and to him belongs the credit of having 

 pushed forward the measures which will soon open 

 this great country to settlement, and which will in 

 time make a magnificent and prosperous mountain- 

 locked empire. The opening of these reservations 

 has been the subject, of discussion for years, and now 

 that it is about accomplished the public wish to know 

 what the country is like, its attractions, resources and 

 how to best reach there. 



" It is the garden spot and treasure vault of Utah," 



says one who has traveled and explored nearly every 



nook and corner of this great Territory. He is by no 



means alone in his praise of these reservation lands. 



AREA. 



The two reservations combined contain an area of 

 6,207 square miles, or 3,972,480 acres, the Uintah con- 

 taining 3,186 square mi'es, or 2,039,040 acres and the 

 Uncompahgre 3,021 square miles, or 1,933,440 acres. 

 This vast tract of country has been held by 2,000 

 Indians. In parceling the land to them the head of 

 each family will receive 320 acres and the other 

 members of the family 160 acres each. Counting five 

 in each family will give about 384,000 acres to supply 

 the Indians, leaving 3,598,480 acres for white settlers. 

 It is estimated that about sixty per cent, of these 

 ioS 



lands are suitable for agricultural or grazing pur- 

 poses. This will be ample for a population of forty 

 to fifty thousand people. Under the favorable condi- 

 tions already foreshadowed these figures on popula- 

 tion are likely to be realized in the not far remote 

 future. The country is so picturesque as to charm 

 the lover of nature and the artist, while to the sports- 

 man there are few, if any, more enticing fields, game 

 being so abundant amid the fastnesses of the moun- 

 tains and their dense forests. 



BOUNDARIES. 



These two reservations are bounded on the north 

 by the Uintah range of mountains; on the west and 

 south by the Wasatch mountains; on the south and 

 southeast by the Book Cliff range and on the east by 

 the White River range. To reach this vast valley, 

 entrance must be made through some of the passes. 

 The Wasatch mountains comprise the great range 

 which passes from south to north through all of Utah 

 and into Wyoming and Idaho. The Uintah range 

 has an east and west trend, its western end joining 

 onto the Wasatch range at right angles. These 

 mountains rise to an elevation of over ten thousand 

 feet in one peak, are densely timbered and difficult 

 to cross. The Book Cliff and White River moun- 

 tains are not so rugged and less attractive. 



As an outfitting and starting point from which to 

 reach this country, Salt Lake City is superior to all 

 others. It is only seventy miles from Salt Lake City, 

 over good roads in a southeasterly direction via Park 

 City, Helm City and Daniels Pass to the western end 

 of these reservations. To that point the road is good 

 with no very heavy grades. From there onward 

 down Strawberry valley the road is fair and much as 

 nature made it. 



A FERTILE VALLEY. 



Strawberry valley was so named from the abun- 

 dance of wild berries found there. It embraces a 

 country thirty miles long and twenty miles wide in 

 its valley and table lands which is covered with 

 most nutritious grasses and is known by all stock 

 men as*the most beautiful and best grazing lands of 

 all the West. It has supported great herds of stock 

 each season for several years past. Its elevation and 

 proximity to the mountains make it a cool place in 

 summer. Frost forms there early in September and 

 remains till May, and the fall of snow is but little 

 greater than in Salt Lake valley. The soil is so fertile 



