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Show NAVAJO COUNTRY REBORN 141 many of the People's ancestral water sources. The competition for desert resources was intense. The barren land could not support the People. Farming, it soon became clear, could never completely support the People. Navajos planted farms with seeds given to them by the government. But each year farmers and agents alike were disappointed. Late or early snows or frosts, hailstorms, insects, droughts, or floods destroyed crop after crop. Navajos simply could not depend solely on farming. So, for the time being, the government took care of the needy at Fort Defiance. Once a week, the Navajos were counted and given tickets. Then they received a daily ration of one pound of beef and one pound of wheat or corn. But only those close to Fort Defiance were able to use the supplies. As much as the Navajos needed aid, however, Congress never granted the full funds that the treaty required. Half-rations were often issued to stretch the failing supplies, and the army sometimes had to take on the full burden of support. Although the ten-year period of support ended in 1878, by 1882 the government still had not spent $156,651 of the funds set aside by the treaty for the Navajos. The government did spend the thirty thousand dollars that the treaty had set aside for the purchase of stock. More than anything else, sheep saved the Navajos from poverty. The People were very thankful when the new herds reached them in the autumn of 1869. More than eight thousand Navajos turned out to receive the stock at Fort Defiance. They would care for and protect the small flocks until the herds were larger than ever, and well-being would return to the Navajos. The herds grew quickly. By 1880 a few Navajo ricos were as wealthy as before Fort Sumner. The tribe as a whole owned about one million sheep and goats. But this rapid growth had not been easy. One severe winter could destroy the progress of years, and grass was sparse on the Arizona and New Mexico mesas. A sheepherder needed a great deal of land for even a small flock. As the herds grew, the Navajos needed more and more grazing land, and conflicts soon arose. Some Navajos lived on lands that the treaty had granted to the railroad. Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah ranchers who surrounded the reserve wanted control of water and range rights. Angry whites criticized the agents. Some agents tried to solve the problem by confining the Navajos to the reservation. Other agents saw that if the Navajos were ever going |