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Show 164 XI. DINE DOO WAASHINDOON The Navajos had always shown themselves to be a people who were open to change and to useful new ideas. But the stock reduction plans forced them to act against their wishes. Their resistance could have been predicted. Even Collier knew the reasons for what he called their "agonizing and angry resistance." But, in his entire career of working with Indians, he had seen nothing like it. The plan went through stages. First 90,000 sheep were taken off the range. Then 150,000 goats were bought and removed. But few of the animals were put to good use. Many were herded into canyons and shot. This seemed to help only the buzzards and coyotes who fed on the bodies. The People pointed out the waste, but still the plan went on. New rules were drawn up. These, it was hoped, would also govern grazing once the reduction was complete. By 1935 the number of sheep and goats was down from about 1,300,000 to about 950,000. Horses were also reduced. In 1940 grazing permits, based on the stock a man owned in 1937, were passed out. Young men who had owned no stock before that date would have to find a new source of income. By 1948, the number of sheep, goats, and horses was down to what seemed to be a safe level. After fifteen bitter years, the problem seemed to be over. Soil Conservation A second part of the New Deal plan had been soil conservation. America's program of soil conservation began with the Navajos. While some officials were reducing the herds, others made every effort to improve the land with a better system of irrigation. Unlike earlier programs, the water projects begun during this period and later were well-planned and well-funded. When a bad drought struck in 1950, the huge Navajo Indian Irrigation Project on the San Juan River was already in the planning stages. New Jobs Wage work was the third part of the New Deal program for the Navajos. The People had to be taught other ways of making a living besides sheep-herding, and they needed emergency help. The New Deal was the first step in that direction. New Deal work programs hired Navajos to build all kinds of water projects. |