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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN APFAIES. 58. seven loads $8.90, and about four loads $8.50. The flrat two hunches averaged 1,350 pounds and the latter 1,327 pounds. The. Tongue Eiver Indian Reservation Is classed as bhe best cattle range in the Northwest. The reservation is rough, but much of i t is a natural meadow, daving numerous springs and small streams. The flne grnss, springs which never go dry or frieze up in winter, and the excellent natural protection from storms make this reservation Ideal for stock raising. There are 1,456 Northern Cheyenne Indians living on the reservation at thlS ( tlme. The nearest railroad station is 55 miles from the agency. 1 The needy condition of the Indians of this section of the country, where the hnturnl resources appear to be so good, caused Hon. Cato Sells, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to visit the reservation in. the full of 1914. Mr. Sells made a complete personal inspection of every part of the reservation. The com-missioner is not only deeply versed In law and the banking business but Is also thoroughly informed upon stock-raising and farming activities. In the narrow fertile valley and on some choice upland hay, winter wheat, oats, alfalfa, and certain garden vegetables produce excellent results. .Under the conditions which Mr. Sells found on the reservation wheat could not be ground into flour nor the surplus farm products raised by the Indians mar. ketH for the renson that many of the Indians lived on the reservation 60 or. 70 miles from the nearest milroad. As a result of Mr. Sells's visit to the Tongue River Resewation the industrht program wascompletely changed. He immediately authorized the erection of an excellent flour mill, which will enable the Indians to have their what ground into flour, from which they will secure their bread. In order to proviae a market for their surplus hay and othersurplns farm products which the Iu-dinns could not sell on uccount of being so far from a railroad these ptoducts were purchased and fed to a large number of weak cattle and 280 head of steers. The surplus was fed to these cattle at a large proflt. The result of the experiment in feeding the steers on hny throughout the wlnter can best he determined by the following comparisons of the prices of steers fed, with the class, age, and grnde of steers permitted to run on the range without feed: Average price received for steers fed hay during winter, $126; average price received for steers of the same age and grade that were not fed hay during winter, $108. While the result of the cattle feeding has been gratifylug and prbfltahle to the Indhn Department and the Indians, the providing of a market for the surplus farm product9 has resulted in much more good. The commissioner's plan has fully demonstrated that stock raising and agricultural pursuits go hand in hand. The providing of a market for the Indians' surplus farm products nna the erection of a flour mill have within the past six months induced the Indians to more than double their farm activities. Encouraged by the market provided for the sale of their hay, the Indians hare recently purchased 40 new mowing machines and 20 hayrnkes and rn . putting forth unusual efforts to harvest a lhrge hay crop. . It is believed by those who are acquainted with tbe Northern Cheyenne In- '-? and their country that if the present plan of increasing and feeding their s continued, and the Government continues to aid them in providing n \. .. \ for their surplus farm products, their hard times are past, and the tribe bn be rapidly traveling the road to civilization, self-support, and prosper-ii .&e results speak for themselves. |