Special to the Herald Times
The White River Museum has a collection of letters that Meeker founding father Thomas Baker kept for many years. There are letters from Nathan Meeker and prominent figures like Chief Ouray, ex-Indian Agents, and the violently anti-Indian Colorado Governor Pitkin, as well as various Army officers from 1874-1879. The letters tell a compelling story from a dramatic period of local history to be shared here.
White River Agency, Colorado
December 30, 1878
Sir: I have received one copy “Gurnsey’s Obstetrics” in response to my request, and the same can be but of great service in this remote region, where there is no regular physician nor any treatise of the kind: and I am obliged, and especially so, that the work is of the homeopathic school.
Respectfully yours,
N. C. MEEKER
Indian Agent.
HON. E.A. HYATT
Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
Washington, D.C.
White River Agency, Colorado
December 30, 1878.
Sir: I send herewith sample of the 1,000 sacks of flour received at this agency from N.W. Wells, Schuyler, Nebr. The quality is so much better than the lots previously furnished, as to put the Indians in good temper. If they were taught to make raised bread as I mean they shall be at the new agency, the flour would be still more satisfactory: and yet I think a higher grade would be more profitable, because the waste of any kind of bread made from it would be less.
I also send a sample of the sacks in which all this flour came. The fabric is heavy and strong, and when the sacks are emptied, the material is valuable. No double sacking is required, as with ordinary sacks, and so far as this agency, at least, is concerned, such sacks should be the standard.
Respectfully yours,
N. C. MEEKER,
Indian Agent.
HON. E. A. HYATT,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.
