Deseret Evening News

CAPITALISTS AWAKE
A Combine to Monopolize Valuable Asphalt Deposits
ON THE UINTAH RESERVATION.

Fight Over the Successor of Davis, Late Member of the Indian Commission.

New York, Aug. 27.—A special to the World from Washington says: "There will be a strong fight over the successor to Captain W. S. Davis, late member of the commission for selection and distribution of lands to Uintah and Uncompahgre Indians. A combination is said to have been formed of capitalists from New York, New Jersey and St. Louis for the purpose of securing, if possible, a monopoly of the vast gilsonite deposits which lie along the eastern boundary of the Uncompahgre reservation. Under the law providing for the opening of the Uncompahgre reservation, no person is permitted to locate more than two claims of ten acres each containing asphaltum or gilsonite. Representatives of the combine, however, hope to have the ear of the commission and to know in advance the exact date when the reservation will be open. Their plan is supposed to have a stool pigeon on every deposit within the area named, ready to file his claim on an hour's warning. While these claims will be ostensibly for the benefit of the individuals making them, they will in reality be in the interest of the combine. There are less than 1,000 Indians to whom land will be allotted and these allotments will be located principally among the agricultural sections along the Green and White rivers and up the Duchesne river in the fertile valleys where the irrigation is possible. As soon as the allotment to the Indians shall have been made the remaining lands, containing the gilsonite deposits, will be thrown open to the public. Gilsonite is so valuable that it pays to haul it from 65 to 100 miles to the nearest railroad, at great expense, and then to pay heavy freight rates on it across the country. It is the purest known form of asphalt."