OCR Text |
Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 33 display of agricultural products was made at the agency. A tract of land has been set aside for fairgrounds at this reservation. At a number of the reservations the organization of a permanent fair association is contemplated. During the year Indian fair associa-tions have been organized among the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in Oklahoma (under the Cheyenne and Arapaho, Seger, Cantonment, and Red Moon Schools), and at Fort Totten, Sisseton, Standing Rock, and Fort Peck. Those at Crow and Cattaraugus, N. Y., which were organized in previous years, are maintained. The Indians at Pima, Nevada, Sisseton, Tongue River, and Fort Belknap Reservations, in addition to their own fairs, participated in the regular county and,State fairs. Last year, at the Arizona State fair, a Camp McDowell Indian girl took &st prize for needle-work and plain baking, and another Indian from this reservation took first prize for the best saddle horses. Some of the Indian ex-hibits sent to the State fair at Fallon, Nev., won .prizes. At some of the Mission reservations in California, where picnics, ordinarily knows as fiestas, have been held at frequent intervals during the year, exhlbits of agricultural products were made. At a number of reservations, while the Indians had no fair of their own, they participated in fairs held by their white neighbors. This is true at San Xavier, Fallon, Fort Hall, Flathead, Oneida, Pawnee, Ponca, the Pueblos of New Mexico, Sac and Fox, Iowa, Umatilla, the Civilized Tribes, White Earth, and Winnebago. At the Minnesota State fair the booth of the Becker County exhibits was in charge of a mixed-blood Indian from the White Earth Reserva-tion. The business men and ranchers in the vicinity of Coachella, Cal., organized a fair last year in which the Indians of the Martinez Reservation took an active part. A farmers' institute was held at the same time, and a demonstration train from the State Agricultural College was also stationed at a point near the fairgrounds. Many Indians among the Five Civilized Tribes received prizes at the county fairs held at Hugo and Ardmore, Okla., while at the New State Fair held at Muskogee, one of the best agricultural exhibits was that of a mixed-blood citizen of the Cherokee Nation. A farmers' meeting was held at Muskogee on February 16 and 17, under the auspices of various organizations carrying on industrial work in Oklahoma. Representatives of the Oklahoma Board of Agriculture, the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, the Bureau of Plant Industry, and the expert farmers in our service took an active part. An Indian farmers' club has been organized. A meeting of the full-blood Indian farmers was held at the Goodland School, near Hugo, on December 30, and the interest manifested was good. 65989-133 |