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What Measure Should The Community React? Colorado Essay

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If the government was trying to confine a tribe and culture after already being established in a community for over a thousand years; to what measure should the community react? Colorado’s first group of Indians to claim land was in fact the Utes. This tribe was the establishment of Native American culture and has existed in Colorado for centuries prior to other Native American tribes. Tens and thousands of square miles including present day Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Montrose, and Grand Junction were taken from the Native Americans by the governments hands. The Utes held on to their land for twenty-one years after the 1859 gold rush, while other tribes were not so lucky, such as the Cheyenne’s, Arapahos, Comanches, and Kiowas who were the first to be displaced because of the gold seekers. Utes feared being abolished from Colorado. In which the gold rush thousands of Native Americans were forced to give up land. In 1878, everything changed when Nathan Cook Meeker took charge of the agency, becoming the middle man giving additional supplies to the Utes. This agency was put in place to keep tensions low between the Utes and the government. Nathan Meeker believed this was the perfect opportunity for creating an agricultural utopia inhabited by Native Americans. Unfortunately, Meeker’s dream shattered the hope of the Utes future civilization. This clash between Meeker and the Utes resulted in the Meeker Massacre, which took place on September 29, 1879. The events

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