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Show 84 . REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. the Indian will probably he worsted. Hence the effort the Office is continually making to have the water right of every Indian allottee clearly fixt before his land-becomes alienable and the water subject to the doctrine of beneficial use. All that has been said relates particularly to reservation lands; but there are many Indians who have taken allotments outside of reservations, and in areas included in reclamation projects. To enable all allottees, irrespective of situation, to obtain the advantages of the reclamation act, I recommended certain legislation which was adopted by the Congress in the current Indian appropriation act. (34 Stat. L., 327.) Under its p~ovisious any Indian allottee whose lsnd lies within a reclamation project can sell a part of this land for the purpose of using the proceeds for the payment of the reclama-tion charges. Should satisfactory results he secured thru this act, it may be practicable by degrees to separate all irrigation work from the Indian Bureau and place it in the hands of the Reclamation Service. This would be in the line of the general policy I am pur-suing of obliterating, as rapidly as conditions will permit, the bar-riers between the several bureaus of our common Government at points where their duties seem to overlap. WORK OF THE YEAR. Of the appropriation for '' Irrigation on Indian reservations" $179,500 were available for expenditure during the fiscal year 1906, and most of it was allotted as follows: Zuni Reservation, N. Mex ..............................$.7.5.,0.0.0 ....... Zlintah Reservation, Utah. ............................4.0,.0.00. ......... Shoshoni Reservation, Wyo--..-.--.-----.--.--..-..-..---.-.------ 20,000 Yakirna Reservation, Wash .............................1.5,.O.M.) ... Total ...................................15.0.,0.0.0 ............... The remainder was variously distributed, hut nearly all reserva-tions in the arid regions received some help from it. A considerable amount of tribal money has also been used on reservations other than those mentioned. Blackfeet.-On the Blackfeet Reservation also tribal moneys were used, and a very considerable body of land can he irrigated from the ditch work done there during the last year. Approximately $17,000 was used in extending the Cut Bank Ditch. The land under this ditch is not very well adapted to agriculture, both altitude and lati-tude being against it, and it has not been utilized as it should be. But it is believed that on the whole the results will be well worth the money expended. Crow.-The Crow Reservation project has been steadily carried forward with most encouraging results. Laterals conveying the |