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result of the project, except those lands lying in the southwestern corner of the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. A portion of the project area in the Montezuma Valley will receive supplemental water supplies. Persistent water shortages in that area now occur. A critical need now exists in the Dove Creek area for domestic water. Severe water restrictions are placed upon the resi- dents of Dove Creek every year and on various occasions water has been hauled in by truck. Several hundred rural residents of the area obtain their water supplies by tank truck and similar means. The project will furnish a dependable supply to both the town of Dove Creek and the rural inhabitants. The project will also furnish domestic water supplies to the town of Cortez and other small communities in the area. Up to this time, no water has ever been adjudicated or allocated to the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. Under a treaty of 1868, the entire Dolores River basin and other lands in western Colorado were granted to the Ute Indian nation, by the terms of which ". . . the United States now solemnly agree that no persons, except those herein authorized to do so, and except such officers, agents, and employees of the government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article. . . ." Subsequent to the 1868 treaty, white prospectors illegally trespassing upon Indian lands discovered large and valuable mineral deposits in the San Juan mountains area. As a result, the United States broke the treaty of 1868 and re-established the Indians on new lands by the so-called Treaty of 1873. This new treaty removed most of the Dolores River watershed from the Indian lands. In 1880, the United States broke the Treaty of 1873 and removed the remaining portion of the Dolores River basin from the Indian reservation. At the present time, no portion of the Dolores River flows through the remaining part of the Indian reservation, which is located in the extreme southwestern corner of the state. The Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribe often hauls its drinking water on a daily basis from the town of Cortez, a round trip of approxi- mately 24 miles. The Indians have purchased a small amount of water from the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company and irrigate a small tract of land near the Indian community of Towaoc. As an interim solution to the community water supply, a small treatment and storage system has been constructed on the reservation to utilize the irrigation water for domestic purposes. The Dolores Project will furnish irrigation water for about 7,500 acres of Indian lands southwest of Towaoc, and an additional 1,000 acre-feet of water annually for a domestic water supply for the tribal community. This supply for the Indian tribe will be an integral part of the Dolores Project. Memorandum -2- December 29, 1976