Page 189

REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
189 
that when the Government takes into consideration that hitherto the Santees
have 
been educated almost, if not entirely, by benevolent aid and missionary enterprise,
it 
will become apparent that such an appropriation is but a simple act of justice.
The missionary schools are in a satisfactory condition. The accompanying
reports 
will show the number of scholars, average attendance, number of teachers,
&c. 
The grist-mill has been running pretty constantly, except a brief time in
midwinter 
and a short time in the spring, when the dam was impaired by heavy spring
freshets. 
The saw-mim was operated up to about the middle of Fourthmonth, when the
great snow-storm came and demolished the building. It was also ascertained
by in- 
spection that the boiler could no longer be used with safety. It has been
replaced 
with a new one, and is now in running order. 
There-have been thirty additional log-houses put up this summer, mostly by
Indian 
labor. 
The carpenter and his apprentices are kept busy making door and window frames,
cupboards, benches, tables, and chests, repairing machinery, &c. The
object is to fur- 
nish each house with a cupboard, table, and chest. There are about half of
them thus 
furnished. 
The blacksmith and his apprentices find plenty to do shoeing horses in winter
and 
repairing machinery in summer. 
The physician complains of the lack of hospital accommodations. A few hundred
dollars would supply the necessity. 
Hoping and trusting that the Government will continue its bountiful care
over this 
tribe a little longer, not in a degree to spoil them, only to render material
aid in com- 
pleting a work which is promising so fair to produce good results, 
Very respectfully, thy friend, 
JOSEPH WEBSTER, 
United States Indian Agent 
BARCLAY WHITE, 
,Superintendent Indian Affairs, Omaha. 
9. 
WINNEBAGO AGENCY, NEBRASKA, 
Eighthmonth 21, 1873. 
My DEAR FATHER: 
It is very gratifying to me, in presenting my fifth annual report of the
condition of 
affairs on the Winnebago reservation, to be able to record the great advancement
of 
the tribe in civilization during the past four years. In order the more readily
to show 
what has been accomplished during that time, I have arranged the following
statisti- 
cal information to exhibit the relative conditions of these Indians in 1869
and 1873: 
1869.    1873. 
Population-----........1,343                                         1,445
Wealth in individual property        ...........$20, 000 $100, 000 
Number of schools---------------------------------------------2         
3 
Number of scholars enrolled.................................... 135   225
Ladd cultivated by Indians (acres)-...-...................... 300  1,500
Frame houses occupied by Indians............................... 23     75
Log houses occupied by Indians........................................ 40
Wheat raised (number of acres).-.............................. - 10   600
Wheat raised (number of bushels)............................. 200   9, 000
Corn raised (number of acres).................................. 300   800
Oats raised  (number of acres) .. .........-, ... ...... .................
 50 
Potatoes raised (number of acres)............................... 2      50
Hogs owned.......   ...................................................500
Chickens owned........................                               1,000
American horses owned-..................................................
40 
Ponies owned-..............................................   411      900
Wagons and sets of harness owned.............................. 3       100
Fencing (number of miles) ..................................... 2      25
This improvement, though extending through the whole period, has been greatest
duri g the past year, when fifty frame houses were constructed, and the Indians
nearly 
doubled the amount of their tillage. 
The general health of the tribe has been good, and there has been a small
natural 
increase in the population during the year. There are now, according to a
recent cen- 
sus, 1,522 Winnebagoes on the reservation..Seventy-seven of these have recently
moved from Wisconsin, and expect to make this their permanent home.