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Show I said in my last report that the hold gained by our employment bureau in the Southwest would make the extension of similar work to other parts of the country almost a matter of course. Last winter was unusually severe in Montana, and the Blackfeet Indians lost many cattle. As their reservation is not adapted to agriculture, the 22849--08-2 ! have been employed as mechanics and on the cement viork. The number has averaged ,60, and the wages have ranged from $1.90 to $2.50 a day. On the St. Mary's Canal on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana from 100 to 225 Indians worked with their teams for several months. They were paid $1.25 and $2 a day as mere laborers and $3.50 and $5 a day for man and team. Companies of Indians, mainly Hopis, Mohaves, Navahos, and this season has been very satisfactory both to the Indians and the beet growers, the Indians being well pleased with their earnings ana their treatment. - The sheep industry of the Southwest also has afforded employment to many Indians. They are considered by sheep growers desirable hands, and the wages paid them have doubled in the last two years, being now about $30 per month and board. Lumbering offers much employment for the northern Pueblos, and the growing cantaloupe industries around Mesa, Ariz., are this year making large use. of Indian labor. Mr. Dagenett reports that in the Southwest generally work for the Indians is plentiful, wages are high, and the outlook is encouraging. BLACKFEET RESERVATION. I Pueblos, varying from 48 in April to 210 in July, were kept at work on the-Santa Fe railroad until February 12, when their services were discontinued on account of retrenchment by the railroad company. They were employed mostly in gangs, doing repair work and ballast-ing on the lines west of Albuqu~erque. From April, 1906, through February, 1907, their gross eqrnings rrere $25,101.61, of which they saved more than 72 per cent. In the beet fields 404 Indians were employed last year during the thinning season and 62 during the fall harvesting. For the thinning season this year 604 were employed, 493 being schoolhoys and 111 coming from the Hopi, Navaho, Pueblo, and Apache reservations. Their gross earnings amounted to $28,000, from which $6,000 was paid for transportation and $6,000 for board and clothing and advances in cash, and the remaining $16,000 was paid to the Indians in money when they started home, or was sent to the school superintendent in trust for the schoolboys. Proba.bly 100 or more Indians will be wanted for the fall work. The beet work around Rocky Ford, Colo., |