Edward M. McCook

• In June of 1869, Edward M. McCook replaced Alexander Hunt in the office of Governor of Colorado. In assuming this post -- appointed by then president Ulysses S. Grant -- McCook also took charge of Indian affairs within Colorado. In the year of his taking office, McCook submitted a report to the Commission of Indian Affairs requesting a reform of the U.S.' reservations policy which had been in place since the days of Andrew Jackson. McCook called for bringing Indian reservations closer to centers of population so that Native Americans might experience the benefit from these centers of industry and education rather than being isolated on remote tracts of land. His remarks led to some states reforming their reservation policy, although they were not universally accepted.
  
  

New Reservations in 1869

• Amongst the Indian reservations created in 1869 were the Fort Hall Reservation and the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation. The Fort Hall Reservation -- in Idaho -- included the settlement of Marsh Valley, but Native Americans rarely entered the town and never took property there. The Shoshone and Bannock peoples who inhabited the reservation would camp above Nine Miles near Marsh Valley, and would sell goods to the townsfolk. Lake Traverse -- mainly in Minnesota, but encroaching slightly on North Dakota -- became the home of the Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux tribes in 1869. The reservation was still in use in 2011 and extended around 100 miles into Minnesota.
  
  

Mergers of Tribes

• Tribes were often merged during the forming of reservations. Such mergers, along with relocation of tribes to unfamiliar lands, often, and understandably, caused problems. On August 10, 1869, the expansive Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes were granted land on a reservation far from their traditional homes. This concession was made following a campaign by the U.S. military waged, under the command of General Sheridan, against the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, amongst others.
  
  

Life on the Reservations

• In the mid-19th century, life for Native Americans on the reservations was tough. Many tribes who were confined to reservations had previously been nomadic peoples and this sudden imposition of unnatural boundaries was fatal to their culture. This caused more extensive problems also; many of the nomadic tribes relied on tracking and hunting wild animals rather than subsisting on domesticated ones, meaning that these people were forced to rapidly adapt or starve. A Native American in the U.S. in 1869 held a very low status; the Dawes Act -- an act which offered Native American families a small tract of land which they would own themselves -- would not be passed for another 18 years, so Native American's had no land ownership rights. The miserable conditions on the reservations led to disease, alcoholism and a general feeling of despair amongst these proud people.