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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />authorized to do so. and except such officers. agents. and employees of <br />the government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations <br />in discharge of duties enjoined by law. shall ever be permitted to pass <br />over. settle upon. or reside in the territory described in this article. <br />.. <br /> <br />Subsequent to the 1868 treaty. white prospectors illegally <br />trespass~ng upcnIndian lands discovered large and valuable mineral <br />deposits in the San Juan mountain area. As a result. the United States <br />broke the treaty of 1868 and re-established the Indians on new lands by <br />the so-called Treaty of 1873. This new treaty removed most of the Dolores <br />River watershed from the Indian lands. In 1880. the United States broke <br />the Treaty of 1873 and removed the remaining portion of the Dolores River <br />basin from the Indian reservation. At the present time. no portion of <br />the Dolores River flows through the remaining part of the Indian reserva- <br />tion. which is located in the extreme southwestern corner of the state. <br /> <br />The Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribe now hauls its drinking water <br />on a daily basis from the town of Cortez. a round trip of approximately <br />24 miles. The Indians have purchased a small amount of water from the <br />Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company and irrigate a small tract of land <br />near the Indian community of Towaoc. As an interim solution to the <br />community water supply, a small treatment and storage system is being <br />constructed on the reservation to utilize the irrigation water for domestic <br />purposes. <br /> <br />The Dolores project will furnish irrigation water for about <br />3,000 acres of Indian lands in the Towaoc area and an additional 1.000 <br />acre-feet of water annually for a domestic water supply for the tribal <br />community. This supply for the Indian tribe is being planned as an <br />integral part of the Dolores project. <br /> <br />The pending water litigation in the federal courts concerning <br />the waters of the San Juan basin does not include the Dolores River basin. <br />What claim. if any, the United States intends to assert on behalf of the <br />Ute M~~ntain Ute Indian tribe for the waters of the Dolores River basin <br />is not known at this time. However. the Ute Mountain Ute tribe has <br />indicated a willingness to forego any claim it may have on the Dolores <br />River in return for water from the Dolores project. <br /> <br />-4- <br />