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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. ' 51 Igation, the ehief factor in making agriculture a profitable pnmnit in tbat region, is not provided. If farming is to be marle aoocossful on the reserve a syatem of ilriga-tiou is the first thingrequired, and until that is provided the time, labor, and &oney expended to make the Crow Indian a farmer ia mostly thrown away. " * The commission feel justified in presenting this question of irrigation somewhat at length, bg reason of its great importanoa to the future welfare and prosperity of the Crow tribe. With irrigation the land is cupable of msrvelons produotion; but with- $nt,it the unoertsinty of raising a crop luakes the imd comparatively worthless except for grazing purposes. Plhiaiy, theu, if it is the object uf the Government to make the ~ r o r n as elf supporting, oue of the firststspa to be taken is to make the land allotted to them productive by meaus of a thorough aptem of irrigation. In May last, W~ l t e rH . Grares, of 'Denver, Uolo., was appointed Su-peri~ rtenelento f Irrigition for this reservation and soon after entered upon t.he discharge of his duties. He has been given full authorityfor the employment of the assistants necessary to make s careful and tbor-ough examinationof the work necessary to be dooe, in order to furnish as complete a sptem of irrigation as can be constructed within the limit of the funds set apart for that purpose. He has as j e t submitted no reports showing what progress he has made. ~ By an item in the Iudian Appropriation Act, approved march 3,1891 (26 Stats., loll), the sum of $'30,000 was appropriated for t,he constrnc-tion, purchase, and use of irrigating machinery and appliances in Ari: zona, .Montana, and Nevada. In urging this appropriation before the committees of Oongiess, I indicated Arizona, Oalifornia, Nevada, qnd Idaho as the States and Territories iq which the money shonld'be ex-pended, but for some unexplained reason OaHfornia and Idaho were omitted and Montana substituted. This was unfortunate as there is . great ueed of facilities for irrigation iu Ca!ifornia and upon the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, while the reservations in Montana are very well provided for by the agreement with the Crow Indians above re ferred to, and by treaty funds which are available forirrigation purposes upon the Flathead Reserv a tI'O U. April 23 iast I recotnmended that authority be granted for the con-struction of irrigating morkson'the Fort Hojave School Reservation in Arizona, at a cost not exceetliug $3,2110. Uuder date of May 9, 1891, yon furnislled this oEce with a copy of a communication referring to my recommendation addressed by you to the Director of the Geological Survey, a ~ e~xpdre ssed the opinion that the expenditure should be made under the supervision of some person having knowledge of irrigating machinery and appliances for irrigating ditches ; and yon directed tbat a competent employ6 of the Geological Survey be instructed to proceed to the Fort Mojave Reservation, with . directions to examine into the matter and report fully as to the needs ot the school andreservation, and to recommend the kind and quantity oi machinery required, with an estimate of its cost. You also requested to be informed by this office whether there were any other reservations on the Pacific Ooast for . . which it was proposed to purchase such ma- |