436
Blackmun, J., dissenting
decision in Lone Wolf, Congress dispatched Inspector McLaughlin to negotiate the allotments with the Tribe. Throughout this period, the Ute Tribe resisted the allotments, twice sending delegations to Washington to voice their opposition. See Ute Indian Tribe v. Utah, 521 F. Supp. 1072, 1113, 1125 (Utah 1981). When Congress finally opened the Uintah Reservation to non-Indian settlement in 1905, it removed the public domain language from the opening statute and severely restricted non-Indian access to the opened lands. Even if the 1902 Act contained express language of termination, then, the facts of this case would much more closely mirror those in Mattz, 412 U. S., at 503-504, where Congress ultimately abandoned its prior attempts to "abolish" the reservation in favor of simply opening the lands to entry and settlement.
Concededly, nothing in the 1905 Act expressly repealed the 1902 Act's public domain language, and the 1905 Act could
settlement and exclusive occupation of the Indians.' " H. R. Rep. No. 660, 53d Cong., 2d Sess., 1, 2-3 (1894), quoting Act of May 5, 1864, ch. 77, 13 Stat. 63. In order to allot the Uintah Reservation lands, therefore, it was "first necessary to obtain the consent of the Indians residing thereon." H. R. Rep. No. 660, at 3. The Act of June 10, 1896, ch. 398, 29 Stat. 341- 342, and the Act of June 4, 1898, ch. 376, 30 Stat. 429, also conditioned opening of the reservation on Indian consent. See Ute Indian Tribe v. Utah, 521 F. Supp. 1072, 1111-1114 (Utah 1981) (discussing pre-1902 efforts to open the Uintah Reservation).
Congress rebuffed all subsequent attempts to allot the reservation uni-laterally, see Hearings before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, S. Doc. No. 212, 57th Cong., 1st Sess., 111 (1902) (proposal of Rep. Sutherland of Utah), or to sever large portions of the reservation, see S. 145, 57th Cong., 1st Sess. (1902), reproduced in S. Doc. No. 212, at 3-4 (proposal of Sen. Rawlins of Utah). In hearings regarding the reservation in 1902, Indian Affairs Commissioner Jones testified: "There is a sort of feeling among the ignorant Indians that they do not want to lose any of their land. That is all there is to it; and I think before you can get them to agree . . . you have got to use some arbitrary means to open the land." Id., at 5. Congress did not heed this advice, however, but again required the Ute Tribe's consent in the 1902 Act.
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