“The Beginning of the End”

On a trip to Denver in 1877, Nathan Meeker looked into the possibility of becoming an Indian Agent.  While many he contracted felt Meeker was not suited to the position, on March 18, 1878, he received word that his appointment at the White River Ute Agency in northwestern Colorado was approved.  The position paid about $1500 a year and with expenses being small, Meeker felt he could pay off his debt to Greeley’s estate within two years and then leave the agency.  At the age of 61, Meeker looked on his new appointment as an opportunity to continue his mission for God.  As far as he was concerned, the Utes were a savage breed and it was up to him to convert them from sin to salvation.

Along with his 63-year-old wife Arvella and his daughter Josephine (or “Josie” as she was called), Meeker arrived at the White River Indian Agency in May of 1878.  Instead of being welcomed with open arms, Meeker and his family were greeted by the Utes with both disdain and anger.  The previous agent, Reverend E.H. Danforth, had left in disgust, unable to convince the Utes to live in houses and farm their land.  The Utes were primarily a peaceful group, happiest when they were attending to their horses.  It is know that throughout history, the Utes considered their horses their most prized possessions, devoting all their energy to breeding, riding and maintaining their herds.  Farming was never of any interest to them since many Utes felt it would take too much time away from their horses.

The Utes were also upset because their year’s supply of annuity goods had been held up 185 miles away in Rawlins.  In addition, two of the White River Ute bands under Chiefs Jack and Douglas had nearly starved during the Winter of 1878 and were forced to hunt Wyoming in order to survive.  Furthermore, Chiefs Jack and Douglas were known to be difficult to work with and would not take kindly to a new agent telling them how to run their lives.  With all the turmoil and frayed nerves, there were rumors that a Ute uprising was a good possibility and Meeker was warned to take it seriously.  But Meeker remained undaunted, feeling that while other Agents had failed, he would go down in history as the one who succeeded.

At first, it seemed as though Meeker would do just that.  He immediately pressed all his efforts into seeing that the Ute supplies would be released from Rawlins and distributed to them on a weekly basis.  Before long, shipments of flour, oaks, plug tobacco and food were issued to the Utes.  Meeker’s daughter, Josie, a strong  spirited  girl who ran the boardinghouse for the Agency’s employees as well as a school for the Indians, made a concerted effort to better understand the Utes and their grievances.  She took time to learn their customs, language and cultural history, much to the disapproval of her father.  In response, many of the Utes regarded her as a friend and someone they could trust.

And so it seemed that all would be well at the White River Indian Agency.  But once again, Nathan Meeker’s personal opinions, outbursts and actions would bring about disharmony among the Indians just as surely as it did with the “colonists” in Greeley.  Instead of proceeding gradually with his plans of converting the Indians to farmers, he made bold statements to Chiefs Jack and Douglas that their bands would be taught to milk cows and turn their horse land into rich fields of harvest.  Chief Jack made it quite clear that neither he nor any other Ute would be interested in Meeker’s grand plan and that forcing the issue would only serve to create tension between them.  Still Meeker pursued his personal program, albeit quietly at first.

On a daily jaunt around the Agency, Meeker discovered a 10,000 acre spread called Powell Park which was located five hundred feet lower than the Agency.  More than 2,000 of the Utes’ prized ponies grazed on this verdant land and enjoyed the snow-free winters and warmer temperatures.  On the same land, Chief Johnson, brother-in-law of Chief Ouray, had built a racetrack for the enjoyment and entertainment of the Utes.  Meeker regarded Johnson as an Indian who was more willing to adopt “the white man’s ways.”  In a letter , Meeker wrote that Johnson “was not given to politics and (agreeable) to improve his domestic affairs.”  As Meeker surveyed the rich soil, he reasoned that it was being put to waste by Chief Johnson and that this would be the perfect place for their farm.  But in-order for his massive plan to work, the pones would have to go.  Incredibly, Meeker actually believed that he can convince the Utes to give up their horses for “a greater good.”

Less than two months after he arrived at the Agency, Meeker was setting his scheme into action, requesting and receiving $20,000 from the government for the initial start up.  When word got out in Greeley of Meeker’s program, over one hundred men easily signed up to work at the Agency and be a part of history.  Meeker very quickly had the money, the talent and the support to turn his vision into a reality.  The only roadblock was the Utes.  But to Meeker, that was the least of his problems.  Once again, this would be another judgement  call he gravely underestimated.

“The Nail in the Coffin”

Over the next few months, the White River Indian Agency took shape and quickly became a busy, bustling business.  The young men from Greeley went about clearing sagebrush to make way for streets and buildings.  A bunkhouse and boardinghouse was built as well as a blacksmith shop and general store.  Things were coming together in the Agency and some of the Utes even agreed to work alongside the men from Greeley to build the various structures.  Chief Johnson farmed a portion of his land and even moved into a house that Meeker built for him.  However Johnson wouldn’t touch his cherished racetrack.

But even with all the building improvements of the Agency, Meeker was still not satisfied and his determination to plow under more of the Utes’ land became an obsession.  In his heart, he still longed to create that ideal, utopian, self-sustaining community that he had dreamed about in Greeley.  His actions become more bold as he plowed and fenced an 80-acre field as well as ordering a threshing machine, gristmill and two wrought-iron plows.

He became cocky, so to speak, and believed that he was walking on the path of righteousness and that anyone  who disagreed with him was simply not smart enough to know any better.  Meeker let his true colors show during the fall of 1878 when he was overheard saying that the Utes did not own the White River Valley and were only allowed to stay as long as they obeyed his wishes and orders.  This one statement served to turn favor away from Meeker and create a pervasive mistrust amongst the Utes.  The Utes were certain that it was only a matter of time before Meeker would banish them to the “Indian Territory.”  Anger and paranoia gripped the bands of Utes and an uneasy tension grew.

By the summer of 1879, Meeker had almost paid off his $1,000 debt to the Greeley estate.  He had had no significant luck during the first six months of that year to convince the Utes to adopt his farming lifestyle.  He was weary of continuously fighting with them over every acre of land and by late summer he was ready to leave the Agency in disgust.  Even Meeker sensed the tension and boiling anger coming from the Utes’ camps.  Realizing that the Utes were not pleased with his efforts, he wrote a letter to General Pope in Denver telling of his unhappiness and the fact that he felt the Utes “were on a warpath” and an uprising could soon follow.  Pope responded by ordering forty-four soldiers to camp within 176 miles of the Agency to “keep the Utes in check” and would be brought in to quell any disturbance if needed.  While Meeker wrote back that he would need more than 100 soldiers to back him up, he felt assured that Pope had made a positive step toward protecting him.

He was wrong.  Tempers flared amongst the Indians once word got out that the soldiers had been called in.  Even the mid-mannered Chief Johnson felt betrayed by Meeker and confronted him late in September of 1879.  Meeker, in no mood to debate with Johnson lost control and demanded that Johnson plow under his prized racetrack and even kill some of his ponies because “he had too many”.  Johnson became so enraged that he lifted Meeker up, slammed him across the room, and forced him outside, pinning him against the hitching rail.  Johnson was restrained before he could do serious damage to Meeker, but Meeker was so shaken by Johnson’s actions that he sent urgent messages to the Governor and Senator demanding protection against the Indians and insisted that he and his family’s life was in danger.

Major Thornburgh was contacted and ordered to immediately send troops to the White River Agency.  Unfortunately they would never arrive.

“September 29, 1879”

The Utes were several steps ahead of Meeker and ready for defensive action.  An ambush was planned upon the cavalry as well as revenge toward Nathan Meeker.

On the afternoon of September 29, 1979, the air was still and unusually warm.  After finishing lunch with his family, Nathan Meeker walked outside the Agency’s boardinghouse.   Down the street, a dozen Agency employees were busy shoveling dirt onto the roof of a new sod house.  Around 30 Utes – some armed, some not – mingled amongst the white men.  An uneasy calm lace with tension suddenly filled the air.  And then it happened.

Without warning, the Utes raised their rifles and started shooting, killing several Agency employees within seconds and mortally wounding six others.  Inside the boardinghouse, Meeker’s wife Avella and daughter Josie hurriedly grabbed Josie’s 16-year-old friend Flora Ellen Price and her two babies and rushed to the bedroom where they hid under the bed.  Fran Dresser, a teenager, took refuge inside the boardinghouse, grabbed a Winchester rifle and fired outside, killing Jata, chief Johnson’s brother.  In retaliation, the Utes set the boardinghouse on fire forcing the group to flee outside and across the street to the milk house, unseen by the warring Utes.

For over four hours, they huddled tightly together inside the milk house, witness only to the sound of screaming and killing that reigned outside on the street.

By sunset Josie Meeker realized that they had to try to escape or they would surely be slaughtered where they lay.  Frank Dresser took off through a nearby hay field and disappeared from sight.  Josie along with Flora Ellen Price and her two babies raced into the outlying brush while Arvella slowly lope across the fields, desperate to escape but unable to run very fast.  The plan was hopeless as several Utes easily spotted the stranded group and fired a single shot toward Arvella which grazed her thigh.  The Utes quickly gathered the women and children together, save for Frank Dresser who managed to flee.

Noting a large pile of blankets as well as supplies, Arvella realized that they were going to be taken on a long journey, destination unknown.  With her future in grave doubt, she begged one of the Utes named Thompson to let her return to her home to gather blankets and clothes.  He agreed and she made her way through town amidst the carnage and smoldering Agency buildings that sent shafts of thick smoke through the night air.  As Arvella move through the half-burned boarding house, she furtively looked for signs of her husband but did not see him.  As Thompson and Arvella exited the house she noted a man’s nude body lying only 100 yards from the building.  She moved closed to the man and realized it was her husband, Nathan.  He had been shot in the head.  A barrel stave was driven down his throat, piecing his back.  Arvella was shattered but refused to let Thomspon see her grieve.  Instead, she softly said goodbye to her husband of 35 years and continued on with Thompson to join the others.

Unbeknownst to Arvella and her group, Major Thornburgh had also been murdered along with 20 of his soldiers.  Forty men lay wounded on the grassy flats that surrounded the White River Indian Agency.  Even Frank Dresser, who had successfully fled into the open fields, had be shot and bled to death in an abandoned mine shaft.  For the next 26 days, the three women and two children were completely at the mercy of the Utes who held them captive on the north face of the Grand Mesa.

Those 26 days were said to befilled with torture and abuse, but surprisingly, when the women were rescued by General Charles Adams, they were robust, strong and strangely composed.  They calmly told their stories in detail to government officials as well as to journalists who ate up every word.  The publicity served to fuel the fire that finally drove the Utes out of northwestern Colorado and onto a barren reservation in Utah.

To many, this is where the story ends.  However, Nathan Meeker has remained an enigma to historians.  Some feel if it weren’t for Meeker, there might have been a better chance for the southwestern Indian population to sustain their culture and remain a part of the western landscape.  Others argue that Meeker is simply being used as a scapegoat and can’t be blamed for the entire Indian resettlement.  And then there are those who revere the man, considering him a “man of strong Christian” values that were grossly misunderstood.  The Board of Trustees of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City thought so highly of Meeker that they named him to the Hall of Great Westerners.  In giving him the honor, they described Meeker as “the kind of man whose principles and actions contributed significantly to the development of the West.”  Whether those “actions” contributed positively to the West as we know it today, is still undecided.

Author Laurel Dewey relocated to rural Colorado from California in the early 1990’s. She first worked as an investigative journalist, and newspaper columnist.  Since then she has authored several novels and investigative books on plant and alternative medicine and a podcast “The Alchemy of Natural Healing. ” This article was first published in the OLD ROARING FORK periodical, November 1993 issue. It was re-published with her permission. 

Photo captions:

Nathan Meeker, along with nine employees were killed at what came to be called the Meeker Massacre. — Illustration by Lieutenant C. A. H. McCauley, Third U. S. Cavalry, that appeared in the “Frank Leslie’s Weekly,” December 6, 1879.  Denver Public Library, Western History Collection

Eighteen miles away, Major Thornburgh’s forces, sent to protect the agency, are ambushed by Ute warriors — killing 20 and injuring 40. – Wood engraving from the Library of Congress.