relied on funding from Horace Greeley. Meeker also founded the Greeley Tribune in 1870. The Union Colony settlers initiated large-scale irrigation projects in the area. However, shortages of water and competition with other users caused problems. The Union Colony failed on several counts. It was not financially successful, Meeker was deeply in debt, and the community members did not meet Meeker's standards for Christian values. Indian agent In 1868, six bands of the Utes signed a treaty with the United States ceding the lands in the eastern part of their range and being granted a reservation of (25,781 square miles) comprising most of the western one-third of Colorado. According to Article 2 of the Treaty, the lands on the reservation were "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians." In return for their land, the U.S. was to give the Utes annuities of food and supplies. The White River Ute Indian Reservation was established to distribute annuities, guaranteed by the treaty, to the Utes. However, the annuities frequently arrived late or not at all. In 1878, Meeker was appointed to the salaried position of United States (US) Indian agent at the White River Reservation by Henry M. Teller, the Governor of Colorado. Meeker had no experience dealing with Native Americans (Indians). The U.S. government at the time had the objective of assimilating Indians by converting them to Christianity, forcing them to become sedentary farmers, educate their children in boarding schools, and adopt other "civilized" customs. By contrast, the Utes were nomadic hunter-gatherers and seasonal bison hunters. Their prized possessions were their large herds of horses. Arriving at the agency in early 1879, Meeker's first act was to relocate the agency to a valley suitable for agriculture about west of the present day town of Meeker, Colorado. Most of the Utes refused to plow the valley and plant crops. The valley was used by them to graze their horses and engage in their favorite sport of horse racing. Meeker demanded the Utes accede to his wishes, withheld rations and annuities to force their compliance, and wrote newspaper articles condemning their resistance. He told the Utes that the land did not belong to them, but to the U.S. government. He also requested the U.S. cavalry patrol the borders of the Ute Reservation to prevent the Utes from leaving to hunt on their traditional hunting grounds. Meeker Massacre