A major influence in shaping the decision of President Buchana was a letter written by Major Thomas S. Twiss, Indian agent for the upper Platter District located at Ft. Laramie.  It read: “On the 25th May (1857) a large Mormon colony took possession of the valley of Deer Creek, one hundred miles west of Fort Laramie, and drove away a band of Sioux Indians whom I had settle there in April ...”  He estimated the settlement contained “... houses sufficient for the accommodation of five hundred persons ...”  He summed up by saying, “I am powerless to control this matter, for the Mormons obey no laws enacted by Congress.”

No sooner had the Mormons left than Agent Twiss penned a letter to Washington, dated November 7, 1857, showing his return address as: “Indian Agency of the Upper Platte, Re: Deer Creek.”  It began, “I have the honor to report that I have arrived at this post on the 29th ultimo and shall remain here for the present.”  And remain ... he did, conducting all Indian affairs business from his Deer Creek headquarters for several years thereafter, including the distribution of yearly annuities to various Indian tribes, even entering unto a treaty which would have made Deer Creek Valley into an Indian Reservation had the treaty been ratified by Congress.