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Show 78 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History this connection although his reason for encouraging Nuwuvi farming was that it would "in some measure relieve the citizens of this country of a great burden with which they have heretofore been taxed - that of feeding those Indians." Armstrong found the bands further south largely engaged in farming. His account indicated how much the Nuwuvi depended on farming rather than just hunting and gathering as a food source. This farming took hard work. Armstrong saw one irrigation ditch which had been dug for a half mile through a gravel bed with nothing but wooden spades and which was four feet wide and four feet deep. While visiting the Moapa Indians he reported, "Like those on the Santa Clara, they depend in a great measure on their little farms or patches for subsistence, there being no game of consequence, and but few fish." Armstrong also saw the effects of slavery in the diminished numbers of the Nuwuvi. This situation had continued under Mormon control. Very few of the children indentured in Mormon homes had offspring because of difficulty in finding marriage partners, either Indian or white. Those who married whites had children who tended to consider themselves white. In his official capacity Armstrong tried to convince the Utes not to steal Nuwuvi women or children. However, even though he observed Nuwuvi living as servants in Mormon homes, he had little understanding of the problems this practice brought to the Nuwuvi population. Armstrong recommended that the government establish Indian reserves at two places. One was about thirty miles south of Fort Harmony in a valley containing about six hundred acres of farmland. The second site was about twenty miles southeast of Fort Clara and also contained about six hundred acres of farmland.36 The government apparently did nothing about these recommendations. On this visit Armstrong left numerous spades, hoes, and other farming tools with the bands he met. The next year when he returned, he noticed how the Nuwuvi with typical industry had put the tools to use and significantly increased their farming acreage. Tutsegavit now had sixty acres under cultivation. Others had used the opportunity to either increase their acreage or to begin farming for the first time. Tutsegavit and others were planning on raising enough to feed themselves and to trade to passing emigrants.i7 |
