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Show < REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 49 ew.e nae is often =eater than the amount thevreoeive. Mast of them spend the money they receive immediately at the trader's atore fur urnaleas and unserviceable triflcs. Tha nloney. they receive frort~t his aourre is of little, if any, valuu whatever ~ to them. They realize t h i ~an d many of them working on the irrigation ditches will not take the time nor trouble to go for their money, preferring to leave it or -ei ve it to others. On the other hand, the ntone.y the.y receive as vag.es for their labor on the ditches, the money they earn, they regard much more highly and expend with much mare o m rand discretion. They reaeive i t in sum8 sufficiently imge to enable them to accomplish same desired end. Scores of them have by this means supplied themselves with good horses, wagons, and harness. Some have bought their own farm maobinery and a, few have built their own housea. April 16,1898, Oapt. CT. W. H. Stouch, acting agent in charge of the Orow Agency, forwarded to this office a petition signed by some 113 adult males, representatives of the Crow tribe, addressed to the Department as follows: The u?dersigned, adult males and representatives of the Crow tribe of Indians, of Montana, i~asemhledi n oounoil a t St. Xavier Mission, on the Crow Indian Reser-vation, Mont., for the purpose of discussing the velfare of the Craw tribe, reqeot-fully represent: That the irrigating ditches now under oonstruotion under the direction of the superintendent of the Crow Indian Survey, lying east of the Big Horn River, on the Crow Reservation, are now nearly aompleted. The work has been oondoeted in the mast thorough and substantial manner under a competent superintendent, and a very large sum of money has been spent thereon. A oomparatively smoll sum will now ooruplete these ditches so that they can he used by Us, and that water om be taken out on our land. As the ditohes are now they are of no use tons whatever. All work hsa been stopped for lack of money, and unless you can help us a11 our work of the 1mt few yeare will ho thrown away. With sufficient water we oan raiee large crops of hay and grain and support onrsolves end our families. The Government ration issues formerly issued to ua by the agent hsve been stopped. The troops hiwe been taken sway from Fort Coster, and we have now no market for the wild hay whioh can be rai~isedw ithout water, and whioh we formerly old to the soldiers. If you can not help ua to get money, aa that we can water om lands and raise crops, we shall soon be without anythiog to eat; and it will then ~ 0 6tth e Government more money to feed us during this year and next year than i t would now tske $0 finish our ditches, so thet we can feed ourselves. We ask you to take enongh money, out of any moneys of any sort helonging to the Crowa, to com-plete these ditches, or one of them. We have worked hard and have tried to do like the whites, and to support our-selves and our families. \Ye have sent our children to school, and have triad to do everyr1,iog tlmt tlte sgont uud the aup.ri~lwndont of theditchoa haveirshed. If you can Itell, ua a little nos rhnt we eo much "eel it, tilo Crows will alraja rcmem1,er yon as their best friend. Some $20,000 remained available for the work, and Superintendent Graves was instructed, April 19,1898, to use this fund to place the ditch in the best possible condition to withstand the deterioration that would necessarily follow the suspension of the work for a considerable period. April 26, 1898, the office recommended legislation authorizing the diversion of $120,000 from the annuity fund of the Crow Indians, to be expended nuder the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in the completion of the irrigation system on their reservation, but no aotion 6976-4 |
