Health and Schools Uintah Ouray Reservation 1913

The Annual Report of the Commission of Indian Affairs for 1913 shows a slowly decreasing population on the Unitah Ouray reservation.

During the fiscal year 1913-1914 there were 48 births and 62 deaths on the Uintah Ouray Reservation. Twenty deaths were due to tuberculosis and 14 were children under the age of three years.

One hundred twenty families lived in permanent housing while 150 families lived in tents or tepees in the traditional manner.

There were 238 children eligible to attend school but only 147 were actually enrolled. Eighty-two children attended residential boarding schools – they lived at the school and came home to visit as allowed. Thirty children attended a non-residential boarding school. There were no children attending a day school on the reservation. Thirty-five children apparently lived near enough to a town to attend public school off the reservation.

Livestock Owned Unitah Ouray Reservation 1913

According to the 1913 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Uintah Ouray Reservation in Utah had the following livestock:

1,948   Horses and mules

   353   Mares

     71   Stallions

1,863   Cows and heifers

   512   Steers

     38   Bulls

2,982   Sheep, goats and burros

 

 

Livestock value:  $163,232.00

Value of livestock sold:  $5,929.00

Value of livestock slaughtered:  $2,611

Income Uintah Ouray Reservation 1913

One hundred years ago most of the Ute Indian population lived on reservations in Utah and Colorado. The 1913 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs gives us some idea of how they supported themselves.

Income for the Uintah Ouray Reservation as a whole (1112 Utes):

Wages                                              688 

Crops                                          57,790

Basket weaving                           1,900

Rations                                              -0-

Timber sold                                  1,426

Livestock sold                              5,929

Land sold                                    79,720

Land leased                                   5,441

Trust fund payments                62,939

Interest on trust fund               98,034

Treaty agreements                    22,856

Indian labor & misc.                    4,870

Total                                       $341, 793

Spread among the 1,112 Utes living on the reservation, the income for the year 1913 averages $307.00 per person.

The Uintah Ouray Reservation 100 years ago

The Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs are filled with statistics. From these we gain a little perspective on reservation life in the year 1913.

          Ute populations on Colorado reservations:

          504   Wiminuche

          360   Capote and Muache

          Ute populations on Utah reservations:

          478   Uintah

          451   Uncompahgre

          283   White River

       2,076   Utes living on reservations in 1913

Indian Reservations 100 years ago

The 1913 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs offers a look back in time at the state of Indian Reservations.

          In that year, some 300,000 Indians lived on reservations. The total Indian population was 331,250 (excluding Indians in Alaska).  All the reservations combined covered an area as large as the New England States plus the State of New York. Collectively, their lands were valued at $900,000,000. The timber on reservation land had an estimated worth of $80,000,000.

          The annual Indian death rate (all causes) was 32.24 deaths per 1,000 Indians. Among the total United States population, the annual death rate was 16 per 1,000 persons. Tuberculosis was a growing problem across the nation. Among Indians, 32% of all deaths were due to tuberculosis compared to 11.2% for the general U.S. population.

          Ten thousand Indian children had no schools available.