| OCR Text |
Show 1- ' REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 99 people have shown a disposition to engage somewhat in agriculture, and, as is well known, they are very skillful in the production of blankets, which not only furnish them with enough for their own use, but provide. them with the means of procuring other necessaries of life by exchange or barter. Among the Sioq~n,u mbering, perhaps, 20,000, special efforthas been put forth by the office to stimulate the.grazing indastry. Most of that vast region is unfit for.agriculture, but large sectioni sf it are specially adapted to the grazing of cattle and horses, and during the present year thousands of head of stock cattle have been issued to them. This has been moreparticularly referred to onpage 91. I am of the opinion that much can be done in the way of facilitating this industry by sink-ing at proper places artesian wells in order to secure an abundant supply of water. Among the Indians at Fort Hall particular attention is being given by the office to the constrnction of an irrigating ditoh, and efforts we being made to induce them to become farmers. They take to it, how-ever, very slowly, and not enough has been done, nor has a sufficient time elapsed to warrant any very positive opinion as to the final out-come. The progress now being made on the Crow Reservation in the devel-opment of a system of irrigation is referred to on pa'ge 92. I have reason to believe, so far as my knowledge will warrant an opinion, that the scheme is being worked out intelligently and that the prospects for those people are full of hope. Much has been accomplished during the year among the Pimas, who have been for a long time self-supporting, raising as good wheat, per-haps, as i s raised anywhere in the United States. A considerable amount of work has been done by them under the supervision of the agent in extending their system of irrigation, and special efforts are to be made to induce them to enter more largely than heretofore into fruit growing. This industry is full of promise in that region because of its climate: Oneof themost intercstingpeople~thinth e entirelimits oftheIndian race are theMoqnis, in Arizona. They number nearly 2,000, and in many respects are among the most sluggish andbackward of the tribes. . They Live in villages perched upon their mesas, and when I visited them nearly two years ago they were, it seemed to me, retrograding rather than advancing. The attempts at education which h4d been made by the Government among them had been almost wholly futile, and the' school as I found it was a discredit both to them and to the Govern-ment. I secured a thoroughly competent Christian man, Mr. R. P. Col-lins, for suppintendent, gave him the immediate oversight of all the aft'airs pertaining to them, put into his hands the money to be expended for their benefit, went with him personally and investigated the sitna- |
