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Show 144 X. DINE BIKEYAH Still, the Navajos needed land to expand. If new land could not be acquired, then the land they had had to be improved so that it would produce more. Agents tended to support land improvement plans. If the government and the tribe could build a large system of irrigation, they thought, more sheep could live on smaller sections of land. In that way, the Navajos could avoid conflicts with their white neighbors. So, in 1886, a special agent came to the reservation to see if such a system would be possible. The agent felt that with $50,000 the Navajos could develop a water supply that would support all of the People within the reserve. The commissioner of Indian affairs agreed. But, even with his support, only $7,500 was given to the project. Though small, the grant paid for the building of 15 springs, 5 dams, 14 reservoirs, and 9 ditches during the first year. The project was never fully funded, though, and problems with running the agency also took time away from it. Many of the dams washed out in the year after they were built. The matter was not given serious thought again until the late 1890s. Meanwhile, in 1881, a new force came into the uncertain, expanding world of the Navajos. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad laid its tracks across New Mexico. Sadly, its greatest impact on the People was the whiskey it brought. Almost before the railroad entered Navajoland, this disease struck parts of the reservation. Many depressed young Indian men drank heavily, and tribal leaders soon joined with the agent in condemning what seemed to be a poison. Traders and Navajo Art If the railroad brought liquor and conflict, it also did more than anything else to improve the Navajos' incomes. It gave traders much better access to the area. New traders set up shop, and old-timers expanded their posts. In most cases, the trader had a great influence on the Indians in his area. While the tribe's one agent saw little of the reservation, the many traders had close relations with their customers. They earned a trust the agent could never share. Without pay, the trader took on such duties as burying the dead, speaking for the Navajos in court and before the agent, and hiring Navajo workers for the railroad. Often the trader also learned to speak Navajo. Along with reading and writing letters, he taught his customers how best to use new tools. He welcomed |