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Show 106 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History E. G. Murtaugh, Superintendent and Physician for Moapa, recommended that Moapa be transferred to California judicial jurisdiction to help solve the problem.39 In 1918 a new school was built at Moapa, and the agency headquarters were returned there under Physician and School Superintendent L. B. Sandall. He reported that health and sanitary conditions there were very poor and that the only water supply was from the irrigation ditches.40 The next year some of the school children were sent to the Ft. Mohave boarding school, thereby helping to relieve a food shortage brought on by grasshoppers.41 In 1925 the Moapa Day School was closed following an epidemic of whooping cough. The students were sent to Fort Mohave and Sherman Institute boarding schools.42 In the 1920's conflicts arose at Moapa over attempts to get the Indians to abandon any traditional religion or ceremony. The Superintendent in 1921 went so far as to recommend that any persons practicing the traditional "singing" such as at burials should be taken off the reservation and kept away from the other Indians entirely.43 Another conflict arose over the location of the agency. In 1922 the office almost returned the agency to Las Vegas but eventually decided to keep it at Moapa. The addition of grazing land was a major concern at Moapa during the twenties. The addition of 200 acres was recommended by Sandall first in 1920 and again in 1924 when he reported that it was the issue of most importance to the Moapa Indians. He said the purchase was necessary in order to avoid losing the fence line and irrigation ditch to white ranchers. During the following decade conditions at Moapa showed a gradual upswing. Health and population stabilized, and most of the Indians were able to become self-supporting, either by working for the local white communities or by farming their allotments. In 1941, when the original trust grants on their allotments ran out, all of the reservation lands were restored to tribal ownership.44 In 1942 the Moapits drew up a constitution and bylaws. The governing body was the Moapa Business Council. The constitution was approved on April 17,1942. In 1965 the Indian Claims Commission granted a judgment of $7,253,165.19 to the Nuwuvi, including those at Moapa. Congress |