Page 248

248      REPORTS OF THE        DEPARTMENT       OF THE    INTERIOR. 
tured In the sewing room during the year. There has also been considerable
mending 
done. 
Kitchen and dining room.-These rooms have been kept clean and orderly. The
food 
has been healthful and well prepared. 
Laundry.-There are no modern appliances except washing machines. The water
is hard, which has made the work in this department unusually laborious,
but the work 
has generally been of good quality. 
Farm.-Crop and forage on the school farm: Alfalfa, 28 acres; timothy and
blue- 
grass (lawn), 2 acres; potatoes, 23 acres; onions, three-fourths of an acre;
early gar- 
den, consisting of onion sets, radishes, lettuce, peas, parsnips, carrots,
and early cab- 
bage, 1 acre; sweet corn, half an acre. 
General improvements.-There were 160 rods of new fence built; 200 rods of
old 
fence repaired; 39 shade trees, average height 12 feet, set out in front
of school build- 
ings; 98 rods of graveled roadway, 50 feet wide, constructed on school grounds;
414 
feet of sidewalks built; 1 barn; 1 coal house; 1 bell tower; 1 bridge; 20
tables; 1 
case for sewing room; one well, 12 feet in diameter, 16 feet deep, for the
purpose of 
increasing the water supply for the school; laying 150 feet of pipe to connect
the 
steam coil in the gas house with the heating plant, thus avoiding the necessity
of an 
open fire about the gas generator; 350 feet of 6-inch sewer pipe for carrying
away the 
residue from the gas plant (pipe laid 6 feet below the surface) ; also the
relaying of 
100 feet of gas pipe between the generator and the employees' building, and
putting in 
a drip pot to catch the condensation in the gas mains. 
Recommendations.-Artesian well to supply the school with soft pure water.
The 
alkali water which we have been compelled to use this year is considered
detrimental 
to health; soft water would greatly facilitate laundry and other work. 
An air shaft on the boys' side of the building. 
A hospital building, that sick children may be properly cared for at the
school. 
A school building containing three or four rooms, one large enough for an
assembly 
hall. The present schoolrooms are too small; all socials and entertainments
have 
to be held in the dining room. The capacity of the school should be increased
to 150 
or 200. There are plenty of bright children on the reservation to fill a
much larger 
school than the one we have now. 
Sanitation.-The school building under the supervision of the matrons and
acting dis- 
ciplinarian has been kept in a sanitary condition. The children have been
remarkably 
healthy. A few cases of scrofula developed and such cases were sent home.
All pupils who had not been previously vaccinated were vaccinated during
the early 
spring by the agency physician, who has been in attendance at the school,
generally 
paying a weekly visit. 
RosE K. WATSON, Teacher. 
REPORTS CONCERNING INDIANS IN NEBRASKA. 
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT IN CHARGE OF OMAHA AGENCY. 
OMAHA AGENCY, NEBE., August 24, 1905. 
The Omaha Reservation, embracing about 200,000 acres, is located in the 
eastern part of Nebraska, comprising some of the best agricultural land in
the 
State. The Winnebago Reservation bounds it on the north. The two reser- 
vations are politically organized under the name of Thurston County, Nebr.
Bancroft, on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, is the
most convenient railroad station, the distance being about 18 miles. 
The reservation is occupied by the Omaha tribe, having been assigned to 
them by the treaty of March 16, 1854. The land to the north, now known as
the Winnebago Reservation, was included in the provisions of this treaty
and 
afterwards purchased by the Government from the Omaha for the Winnebago 
Indians. 
Population.-The census for the fiscal year closed June 30, 1905, shows the
following: 
All ages (males, 624; females, 597) -  -------1,221 
Over 18 (males, 334; females, 331)-------------------------665 
Occupations and industries.-The Omaha, being located as they are in a 
fertile agricultural region, are, in so far as they are devoted to any industrial
effort, farmers. An exceedingly small portion, however, of the agricultural
products of this reservation is the result of Indian labor. The moneys derived
from leases, sales of inherited lands, annuities and payments from trust
funds 
supply the members of the tribe generally with a sufficient income and thereby
remove the only incentive of a naturally indolent people to work-necessity.
Leases.-About 800 allotments are now under lease with the approval of 
the Department, and probably an equal number are occupied under "citizens'
leases" without the Department's approval. As fast as cases of such
illegal 
leasing come to my knowledge, the parties concerned are required to appear
at this office and draw up proper leases, but owing to insufficient clerical
help