1873 Brunot Agreement
In 1872, a meeting was called to discuss the cession of the southern portion of the Ute Reservation, clearing the way for mining and land development. Felix Brunot, who was appointed to the Ute commission, met with Uncompahgre (Tabeguache) band chief Ouray, who pledged to help with the land negotiations if the US government aided in the return of his son, who was captured by Lakota in battle years before. Negotiations began in September 1873; meanwhile, white settlers were mining on Ute lands without repercussions. The Utes also faced restrictions on their southern and eastern lands, with their 1868 reservation boundaries not being upheld. The land sought by the commission included 12 million acres along the Colorado and New Mexico border, in what is now San Juan and Hinsdale counties and parts of La Plata, Archuleta, Mineral, Ouray, San Miguel, Dolores, and Montezuma counties. (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District, in-text citations removed)
1873 Brunot Agreement Map
The Commission Report “To Negotiate With the Ute Indians in Colorado Territory,” April 23, 1873
Courtesy of The Library of Congress
The Mouache, Kapuuta, and Weenuche bands, whose territory traditionally included the San Juan region, were especially affected by the incursions of non-Indian settlers. During the meetings, Brunot offered the Ute Bands $25,000 a year in perpetuity for their cession of the mountainous San Juan region on the southern part of their reservation. The Utes who had convened for the negotiations resisted the commissioners. Eventually, however, Brunot persuaded the Utes present at the treaty council to sign an agreement to cede the following lands: Beginning at a point on the eastern boundary of said reservation fifteen miles due north from the southern boundary of the Territory of Colorado; thence north by a line parallel with the said western boundary to a point ten miles north of the point where said line intersects the 38th parallel of north latitude; thence east to the eastern boundary of the reservation; and thence south along said boundary to the place of the beginning. (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District, in-text citations removed)
Despite resistance among some of the Utes, the “Brunot Agreement” was approved by the US Congress on April 29, 1874. By the time the Brunot Agreement was passed, 1,441 mining claims had been registered in the lands in question. Ute leaders understood the land cession to encompass only mining regions, and they expected the miners would leave in the winters. Essentially, they believed that mining would be limited to mountainous areas and that they would have continued access to the valleys. The Brunot Agreement did not end tensions between Utes and White settlers. (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District, in-text citations removed)
Leaders Present for the Brunot Agreement Signing
Courtesy of the Colorado Encyclopedia
A 2015 Spill Damaged the Animas and San Juan Rivers
Courtesy of the Colorado Sun, Brennan Linsley, AP Photo
Reflecting on the present-day ramifications of the 19th century conflict between Utes and miners trespassing on and denuding Ute Reservation Land in Colorado prior to the Brunot Agreement, Alden B. Naranjo Jr., Southern Ute Elder remarked that, “…the Bonita Peak mine spill is part of the legacy of removal and genocide brought on by the mining interests…Even thought it was a reservation that had been established in 1868, we still had people coming into that area. The U.S. government and the army couldn’t keep these people out. There was a story told that one of these days, that because of this mineral here, a lot of people would be coming into this area. It would be hard to exterminate them, it would be hard to keep them out. Because it would be like waves of rats and mice coming into that area. You cannot get rid of all of them. So that eventually we would have to adapt to them being there and digging holes in the ground. And for what reason? They were looking for gold, silver. People were going in there without any idea of what they were disturbing. No idea of the impact there was going to have on the water, on the ground, on the plants, on the animals, on the people that were in that area…They had one mindset – look for this gold and silver and take out as much as you can at the cost of everything else around them. (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District)
