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Show Las Vegas 121 recommended that the Indians and Murtaugh's agency be returned to Moapa." The government, in typically slow fashion, waited until 1918 when the new Superintendent and Physician, L. B. Sandall, again recommended the return to Moapa. Sandall reported that all the land in and around Las Vegas was owned by the whites.4 He appeared to be strangely ignorant of the ten-acre plot. His recommendation was accepted, and by the end of the year Sandall was trying to find out the status of the over 200 Indians centered at Las Vegas. He wanted to know whether or not they were wards of the government.'' Rather than make a decision, the government found it easier to ignore their existence once the agency was returned to Moapa. The Nuwuvi at Las Vegas went on living and making do by themselves as they had for years. The Moapa Superintendent was forced to determine their status on his own. In 1919 he reported that many Nuwuvi used the Las Vegas colony as their headquarters and that some lived there. He then succeeded in proving they were wards of the government by having Will Lightfoot convicted for selling liquor to them.6 In 1926 he reported that there were approximately fifty Indians who made the small reserve their "headquarters." Without tillable land they supported themselves through labor in and around Las Vegas. Most of the women were involved in domestic work while most of the men worked on ranches. The reservation was used regularly by Indians from throughout the surrounding country while visiting Las Vegas, so it had "a very fluctuating population." Since it was located so close to the county seat, Las Vegas, the county provided supervision for problems of law and order.' Supervision of the Las Vegas Nuwuvi by the government was almost nonexistent during the twenties and thirties. The Nuwuvi continued to survive with little or no help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Many of the residents were extremely poor. They were often only able to find jobs irregularly at best. Government officials at Moapa were too far away to be of much help. The colony itself was little more than a camp with homes arranged irregularly, no roads, inadequate water supply, and no utilities of any kind. Without money the Nuwuvi were in no position to |