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<br />000788 <br /> <br />ANIMAS .... LaPLATA SOUTHERN UTE WATER RIGHTS <br />NO "WINTERS" RESERVATION FOR THE 1868 PRIORITY DATE <br /> <br />WHAT IS GOING ON HERE; AND WHY ARE THESE SEEMINGLY ENDLESS LEGAL <br />DECISIONS, AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS, AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTS SO IMPORTANT TO <br />THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SOUTHERN UTE INDIANS; AND SPECIALLY TO THE <br />ISSUE OF THE PROPOSED ANIMAS - LaPLATA PROJECT; AND DIRECTLY TO THE <br />CONTENTION THAT THE SOUTHERN UTE INDIANS SHOULD NOT ENJOY AN 1868 <br />"WINTER'S DOCTRINE" PRIORITY DATE FOR ANY CURRENT APPROPRIATION BY THE <br />SOUTHERN UTE INDIANS? <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />The controversy over all the Indian "settlements", and the crux of <br />the claims of the current Southern Utes and Ute Mountain Ute Tribal <br />Councils to rights and interests in waters under the winters Doctrine <br />for "for use on the reservation, for the purposes of the reservation", <br />rests on the fact that the Act of June 15, 1880, 21 Stat. 199, 1 <br />Kappler 180, as DECIDED in the United States Supreme Court in United <br />States v. Southern Utes or Band of Indians, 402 US 159, 28 L. Ed. 2d <br />695, 91 S. ct. 1336, (April 26, 1971) reads in clear words that "the <br />most significant aspect to be gleaned from this act is that the <br />confederated bands seemed to cede their entire Colorado reservation _ <br />Royce Area 616 and 617" (in the Act of 1880); and, further, that the <br />1950 Settlement Case No. 46640, 17 ct. Cl. 433, 436 (1950), <br />($31,438,473.43) stated, n... judgement so entered shall be in full <br />settlement and payment for the complete extinguishment of plaintiff'S <br />rights, title, interest, estate, claims and demands of whatsoever <br />nature in and to the land and property in western Colorado ceded by the <br />plaintiff's to defendants by the Act of June 15, 1880, 21 Stat. 199, <br />"... the judgement to be entered in this case is res jUdicata, not only <br />as to the land described in Schedule 1, but, whether included therein <br />or not, also as to any land formerly owned or claimed by the <br />plaintiff'S in western Colorado, ceded to defendant by the Act of <br />1880." (Schedule 1 is a complete 338 page report of legal descriptions <br />of approximately 1,523,236.95 acres of Ute claims and allotments.) <br />The answer to the question WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, AND WHY ARE <br />THESE LEGAL DECISIONS AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTIONS SO <br />IMPORTANT TO THE SOUTHERN UTE INDIANS can, sadly, be found in J. <br />Skelton's DISSENT in United States v. Southern Utes or Band of Indians, <br />