Page View
United States. Office of Indian Affairs / Annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1874
([1874])
[Nevada], pp. 278-284
PDF (3.7 MB)
Page 283
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 283 The Indians gathered on the reservation a year ago have all remained, and their number largely increased at different times, especially during the winter and the season of harvest. Fully five hundred Indians, in addition to those now on the reservation, would have been permanently located there ere this, if they had been encouraged to come, or to have re- mained after coming; but the lack of supplies, with the presence of settlers who still occupy different portions of the Moapa Valley, were too serious hinderances. In the visit of Special Commissi(ners Powell and Ingalls to the different bands of Pai- Utes, one year since, they were informed that a crop would be put in on the reservation suffi- cient for those then there, and for all those Indians who would go there the following spring and remain, the Indians on the reservation meanwhile to care for the growing crop, irri- gating the same, and protecting it from the cattle of the settlers. The failure of the agent to secure the necessary funds and supplies to carry out the recommendations and instructions of the Department, permitted him to do but little for those Indians off of the reservation. It was intended to have had the various tribes or bands scattered throughout Southern Utah and Southeast Nevada cultivate as much land as possible where they lived, and for this purpose they were furnished shovels, hoes, and axes, and promised seeds and supplies of food in the spring following, which promise could not be fulfilled. It is very desirable these Indians should receive this assistance next spring, as it will do much in securing their support, and they will need less aid from the Government, and be better prepared to farm on the reservation when they go there. The Indians properly belonging to this agency do not have the opportunity to labor for white settlers in farming and mining as the Shoshones and Utes, as there are no mines re- quiring their services; and but little farming-land, save in Utah, and there the people are too poor, or too numerous, to need their labor. If proper aid is rendered these Indians, and the Pai-Ute reservation secured to them without the presence of the settlers, they can all be made self-sustaining in three years, at the furthest. The school started one year ago was continued until late in the spring, but was then dis- continued for want of funds. Nearly all the children who attended the school learned to read in a primer or first reader, and to understand what they read. This success is remark- able, considering the limited supply of books and other aids they possessed, and is evidence of the faithful services of their teacher, Mr. J. Macgarigle. No serious trouble has occurred during the past year between the Indians and whites, nor between the different bands of Indians. There has been much less sickness and but few deaths; and very much has been done in removing their superstitious views regarding their medicine-men and care of their sick. The supplies furnished the Indians on the reservation have been distributed to them only as a reward for labor. Those who have been engaged in plowing or ditching, or other extra hard labor, were paid 50 cents a day in money, besides daily rations. The effect of this has been to stimulate the Indians to work more steadily, and has enabled many of them to purchase better clothing and horses, which they are very desirous to possess. Many of the Indians have asked to have housees to live in, and for purpose of storage of their grain. These houses can be built of adobe, and, by utilizing the Indian labor, at very' small expense, and would do much in civilizing them. I believe the chiefs or captains should all receive a small salary and be requested to give special attention in seeing that all their people work, as directed by the agent and farmer. There is a large amount of grazing-land upon the reservation well adapted for sheep and cattle, and I would recommend the Department to authorize the agent to give as a reward, to those Indians who worked steadily, sheep or cattle. In a short time the Indians would have all the beef needed for their own use, and could raise wool enough to furnish them- selves with clothing and blankets, as the wool could be exchanged at the Mormon mills in Utah for cloth and blankets, on reasonable terms. The entire amount of land under cultivation the past year has been 370 acres. A good portion of this land was plowed and prepared by the Indians, who afterward attended to the irrigation of the crops. The settlers were employed to plow and prepare the remainder of the land for the Indians, because there was not teams or plows enough belonging to the agency to d : this work. Of the 370 acres cultivated, 270 acres were planted in wheat, 5 acres in barley, 40 acres in corn, IS acres in grass, 10 acres in melons, 12 acres in squashes, 15 acres in beans. The crop of wheat would have been fully one-third larger if more white employds had been secured in working with the Indians, showing them how to repair and keep open the irrigating-ditches. As it was, this crop averaged fully 20 bushels to the acre, and, val- ued at fair ruling prices in this section, it amounts to over $16,000, and the value of all the crops to over $25,000. The success attending the farming operations is remarkable, in view of the fact that two years since most of these Indians were living almost entirely upon the seeds of wild grass, rabbits, mice, lizards, and begging from whites when visiting their settlements. By many who have traveled among them, these Indians have been considered as low in the scale of civilization as the Diggers of California, and yet they have demonstrated their desire and ability to rise above their condition and to take their place alongside of others of their race who have adopted the white man's better mode of life and have become indes
As a work of the United States government, this material is in the public domain.| For information on re-use see: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright