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Show 102 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History Nevada and others who were out of reach of any census. It was also to the farmer-in-charge's advantage to show that there were not many Indians in need of using the reservation, thereby giving no indication of how many Indians were displaced by his actions. However, the previous year's figure was probably based on the same criteria so it is evident that the Nuwuvi population was declining rapidly. The Agent, W. D. C. Gibson, went on to recommend that because of the small number of Nuwuvi on the reserve it should be abandoned. He suggested that all reservation property be sold or allotted to the Indians.29 He also noted that he was not furnishing Moapa with supplies because of the distance involved in transporting them. This had been the apparent policy of the Nevada Agents for some years. The government seems to have agreed with Gibson that the best way to deal with a problem which had been brought on and enhanced by neglect in the first place was to shirk it off. In 1886 Gibson was "informed that it is the intention of the Department to abandon this reserve, as there are but twenty-four Indians living there all told." 3n In 1887 H. S. Welton, Special Agent, was sent to Moapa to investigate charges of corruption against W. R. Bradfute, farmer-in-charge, and to close out reservation affairs. When he arrived, Welton found Bradfute and eight Indians living on the reservation. The rest of the Nuwuvi had refused to come onto the reservation while Bradfute was there. The Indians who were living on the reserve were forced to farm off of it because the thirty-five cultivated acres on the reserve were rented out to white men by Bradfute for his own benefit. The government stock was also off the reservation because it had been rented out to white ranchers. Welton recommended that a fence around the reservation, water ditches, and cows be provided to the Indians. He then fired Bradfute and took all but twenty-three head of the cattle to the nearest railhead for sale. The receipts of the sale and the twenty-three remaining cattle were issued to the Indians. Following the dismissal of Bradfute, one hundred and eighty-five Indians returned to the reservation. They chose a local white stockman, L. J. Harris, as their trustee, and Welton closed out all of the agency affairs.31 |