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Show REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 11 The amount of damage suffered by Indians for loss of lands and water through failure of the United States to prosecute fights of the United States or of the Indians, is also detarmined by the board, as is also the value of lands lost by settlers through adjudications of the board. Congress has already made appropriations to cover losses on the Pueblos of Tesuque and Jemez, baaed on reporta of the board, and recommendations will be made to the next Congress for appropria-tions to cover the mawards on certain other pueblos. These funds are to be used under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior for rehabilitating the pueblos, for the purchase of land, and for the recovery of water. There are but few of the Sandias left, and these are reported to be backward. The populalion of the other pueblos remains almost st* tionary. Some of themlare distinctly progressive and energetic; others are apathetic and unable or unwilling to adapt themselves to present-day conditions. The Lagunas are undoubtedly the most prosperous and energetic of any of the Pueblo Indians. They are ambitious and enterprising, their people increasing in wealth, knowledge, and resources. The pueblos of Isleta, Sandia, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, and Cochiti have lands within the Middle Rio Grande con-servancy project which proposes the irrigation and drainage of a large area on the %o Grande in central New Mexico, as described elsewhere in this report. Upon the completion of the board's labors the status of all the pueblos should be greatly improved and the titles to the many valid claims within the pueblo areas will be cleared. The status of the various suits to that end has been reported to the Attorney General by his specid assistant in Santa Fe. Generally, the courts have sustained the bomd's findings. IRRIGATION OF INDIAN LANDS A survey of the principal irrigation projects was ordered on Janu-ary 19, 1927, by the Secretary of the Interior. The inspection was conducted by Porter J. Preston, engineer, Bureau of Reclamation, and Charles A. Engle, supervising engineer, Bureau of Indian Affairs. The economic condition of the projects was studied by Ray P. Teele, an agricultural economist detailed by the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Teele's work was terminated by death on August 31, 1927. The report, which was the first comprehensive study of the problems of irrigation on Indian lands, was filed on June 8, 1928, and has since been studied by the officers of the department. Irrigation was Qst undertaken by the Federal Government om behalf of the Indians about 60 years ago. There are now about 150 irrigation projects on the vsrious Indian reservations of the West. |