The Brunot Agreement between the Nuche (Ute) and the US government in 1873 led to the development of mining in the San Juan Mountains by taking 3.7 million acres (about 5,780 square miles) from the Ute Reservation in western Colorado. As white encroachment continued over the next decade, tensions escalated and the Utes were eventually force-marched to Utah in 1881.

Unlike previous agreements between the US government and Native Americans, the Brunot Agreement was not a treaty; treaties were considered to be agreements between sovereign nations, and the US government no longer recognized Indigenous sovereignty after 1871.

Origins

Miners first made their way into the San Juan Mountains in 1860–61, but it was not until 1869 that valuable minerals were discovered and not until 1871–72 that mine development took place. The Treaty of 1868 put the San Juan Mountains within a Ute reservation that encompassed almost the entire western third of Colorado. Although off limits to non-Indians, prospectors and miners entered the region. The growing mining activity drew the attention of the Utes, who were unhappy about the incursions but not openly hostile.

First Negotiations

Realizing the importance of the minerals, the federal government began negotiating with the Utes in 1872 to have the San Juan Mountains ceded from the reservation. The first attempt at an agreement was a dismal failure. In 1872 John D. Lang of Maine, Colorado territorial governor Edward M. McCook, and John McDonald of Missouri were appointed commissioners to carry out the negotiations, which began at the Los Piños Indian Agency on August 26, 1872. Although not an official member of the commission, Felix R. Brunot, Chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners, was present. Nearly all of the Ute bands, as well as the Jicarilla Apache, were represented by headmen, and the government recognized Chief Ouray, a Tabeguache Ute, as the overall Ute leader. The meeting also included numerous government officials and almost all the Indian agents of the respective bands. Suspicious of government and territorial officials, the Utes flatly refused to sell any of their reservation, wanting only that the government live up to its obligations of the Treaty of 1868 by removing trespassers.

Second Negotiations

Despite the Utes’ distrust of Brunot during negotiations, he had private conversations with Ouray in which he discovered that Ouray’s only son had been taken captive by the Lakota and traded to the Arapaho. Using this information, Brunot succeeded in finding a young man he thought was Ouray’s son, whom he promised to return to Ouray. In return, Ouray reassured Brunot that the Utes would agree to cede the mining lands in the San Juan Mountains.

Charles A. Adams, the agent at Los Piños, and Jerome B. Chaffee, delegate to Congress from Colorado, worked to have Brunot appointed to a new commission to negotiate the land cession. Brunot and Nathan Bishop of the Board of Indian Commissioners were appointed on June 2, 1873. On June 25, before the negotiations, Ouray and Adams went to Cheyenne to finalize arrangements with Brunot. Brunot planned to bring Ouray’s son with him to the negotiations.

Brunot was delayed by waiting for Ouray’s son to arrive. Bishop was also unable to join him, so Brunot, secretary of the Board of Indian Commissioners Thomas K. Cree, and Spanish interpreter James Phillips finally arrived at the Los Piños Agency on September 5, 1873. Ouray acted as the Ute interpreter for each of the Ute bands, all of which were represented by headmen except the White River Utes, whose leaders had left because of the delay. Representatives of the Jicarilla Apache were also present. Upon his arrival, Brunot learned that the Indians were unhappy about the delay and that Ouray was disappointed to have not been reunited with his son.

Before negotiations began, several days were spent deflecting questions from Shavano of the Tabeguache about the eastern and southern reservation boundaries, the desire of the Muache and Capote bands to remain in New Mexico, and a request for Brunot’s intervention on behalf of the Jicarilla Apache in New Mexico. In these matters, Brunot was far from forthcoming and rather deceitful, brushing issues aside in order to get to the real point of the negotiations: the land cession. Brunot spent considerable time ingratiating himself with the Utes, attempting to convince them that he was trustworthy. Although Ouray noted that “they [miners and other Utes] say the man who comes to make the treaty will go off to the States, and it will all be as they [the government] want it,” he indicated that Brunot had convinced him of his trustworthiness.

Finalizing the Agreement

Brunot quickly discovered that the Utes were willing to sell only the existing mines, so long as no houses or permanent settlements were established and only a single road provided access. To the Utes’ surprise, Brunot declined to negotiate on those terms, knowing that trespasses were certain. A keen negotiator, Brunot asked the Utes what the boundary line should be around land that they would cede. He convinced the Utes it would be better to sell their land rather than lose it by force with no compensation. He proposed that an agency be established in the southern portion of the reservation for the Muache and Capote, that the Utes could continue to go onto the plains to hunt bison, and that the land west of the ceded portion remain in Ute hands to connect the southern and northern parts of the reservation.

After Ouray consulted with the Ute bands, Brunot offered $25,000 per year forever in exchange for the mountains. Ouray pointed out that the abundant game in the mountains was important, so Brunot agreed that the Utes could continue to hunt on the land that they sold. Brunot then added a $1,000 yearly salary for Ouray. On September 13, 1873, all of the principal men of the Utes signed the agreement, providing that representatives of the different bands visit the land being sold to make certain that it contained only mining land and no farmland. In accordance with the agreement, Cree, Adams, and Dolan accompanied several Utes on a weeklong inspection journey, which confirmed that little or no agricultural land was included in the cession. As a result, the remaining Utes at the agency signed the agreement, and a copy was sent to the White River, Denver, Cimarron, and Tierra Amarilla agencies to be signed by other Utes. Ouray and a delegation of Utes carried the agreement to Washington in October 1873, and Congress approved it on April 24, 1874.

The ceded land boundary began on the eastern boundary of the Ute Reservation fifteen miles north of the southern boundary of Colorado, then ran west parallel with the southern boundary to a point twenty miles east of the western boundary of Colorado. The boundary then ran north parallel to the western boundary for ten miles to the 38th parallel, east to the eastern boundary of the reservation, and then south along the boundary to the first point. Uncompahgre Park, valley land on the Uncompahgre River just north of the current town of Ouray, was to be excluded from the ceded land. The Weenuche, Capote, and Muache Utes retained the southern part of the reservation for their own use, and an agency was to be established for them when the president deemed it expedient.

Aftermath

With completion of the agreement, the San Juan Mountains saw a mining rush that resulted in many towns being established in 1874 and 1875, including Silverton. When the boundaries of the ceded lands were surveyed, the surveyor failed to exclude Uncompahgre Park, and it was quickly settled, much to the dissatisfaction of the Utes. Seeing the abundant farm and grazing land that surrounded the ceded territory, the Colorado citizenry became even more covetous of the Utes’ land, making it only a matter of time before most of the Utes were forced from their Colorado homeland.