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United States. Office of Indian Affairs / Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1905, Part I
([1905])
Reports concerning Indians in Nebraska, pp. 248-254
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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
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