text: E zs WM.4 X /../ r INDIANS AT -WORK FEBRUARY I, I937 A NEWS SHEET FOR. INDIANS AND THE INDIAN SERVICE OFFICE- OF- INDIAN -AFFAIR WASHINGTON, D. C . .INDIANS AT WORK CONTENTS OF THE ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 1, 1937. Number 12 Volume IV Page Editorial John Collier and Willard W. Beatty 1 Senate and House Committees On Indian Affairs Organize 8 The Navajo Blizzard E. R. Fryer 10 Reorganization News * 16 Important Indian Service Meetings Scheduled 17 "Hill 57" D'Arcy McNickle 19 Foreword Of Indian Office Annual Report For 1936 22 The Organization Of The Papagos John H. Hoist 23 After Election T. B. Hall 28 Old Indian Bureau Annual Report 29 Working For Children's Clothes At Potato Creek, Pine Ridge Agency Charles Under Baggage, Sr... 32 Hoist Begins Adult Education Plan 33 Cover Design 33 Helping The Navajos Help Themselves M. E. Musgrave 35 Indian Series Goes On Local Radio Stations. Gerard Beeckman 41 Indian Society Seeks Complete List Of Indians Holding University Degrees 43 An Indian Story; And A Good One Edward Bear 44 Bitter Vfeather At Walaoai Guy Hobgood 45 "The Green Corn Offering" 47 Road Work At Crow Agency, Montana P. J. Van Alstyne 48 From I.E.C.W. Reports 49 In Indian country the Office of Indian Affairs and the Government in general are often spoken of simply as "Washington. 11 Here is an unusual photograph from Washington, taken at the instant lightning struck the Washington Monument. Photograph Through Courtesy of The Washington Post IN 'fivS&Vj&j' '• -\' •••"•'• v"'.; V?''r"v; • : X"V'-'; ;'V Vj^iJ&V-jj;' .-t-.v. 'HA ■ m 7/ *' 3^ v<;/. ; : : ".i- and '$-ne, m<aj<ah S<z J r r, \Jijz<z, f i£tSm VOLUME IV" FEBRUARY L- 1937- MUMPER IE- "If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism and Timidity. We will carry on." Because President Roosevelt's inaugural address was heard and published everywhere, it is not reprinted in "Indians At Work." The address was one of those infrequent utterances which have the quality of "being universal in meaning while yet pointing to instant application in practical affairs. Among its myriad applications are Indian affairs and Indian life. Some commentators objected that the President did not discuss particular mechanisms, bills, reorganizations, and immedia.te tactics. He discussed instead the eternal choice which faces peoples and individuals alike, now and until the doom, and he brought his language and his examples close enough to the political instant so that he who thinks, at all can make his own applications. "Choose well. Thy choice is Brief and yet endless." and "Come, then, since all things call us, the living and the dead, And o'er the weltering tangle a glimmering light is shed, Come, join the only battle wherein no man can fail , Where whoso fadeth and dieth, yet his deed shall still prevail." The editorial which follows is supplied by Willard W. Beatty, Director, of Indian Education. J. C. Growing up has always been considered important. In the olden days most of our Indian tribes had annual ceremonies during which the young men or young women of the tribe who had arrived at maturity were initiated into the responsibilities of manhood or womanhood. This was a very solemn occasion and was assumed to wipe away the irresponsibilities of youth and to entitle the fortunate individual to many privileges. In a similar way white people also have developed cere- monies to mark the stages of growing up. Interestingly enough the ceremony of graduation from school has become known as "commence- ment." It is exceedingly difficult for one still in school to understand why the end of something should be called "commencement." The explanation that it represents the beginning of participation in life outside of school makes little impression at the time. However, the further one gets away from his own commencement, the more evident it becomes that in leaving school he has entered a new world. This complete break between education and life is most unfortunate. If the work of our schools were planned more nearly in terms of life experiences this break would not be so pronounced and there would be fewer casualties among the products of our schools. In the Indian Service this disparity between what is taught to children in our high schools and the life with which they are confronted after graduation is possibly greater than elsewhere. In the past, our teachers have shut their eyes to realities and have attempted to educate Indian children without very much considera- tion for the conditions from which they spring or to which, in a majority of cases, they must of necessity return. Likewise, the aid which the Federal Government is set up to render the Indian has been weakest at this point of transition from the educational world to the work-a-day world. To the older Indian, in the autumn of life, the Government gave relief; to the Indian of middle ages it gave help in his farm problems, in the leasing of his lands, and now to those in organized tribes, loans and aid in establishing cooperative agencies for buying and selling; to the Indian child it gave clothing, food, shelter, and an educa- tion; to the Indian youth stepping out into life to find his place it turned a deaf ear. With a training which unfitted him for his home environment, and with no help in gaining a foothold in the world at large, the Indian youth has drifted. A life of aimless- ness and insecurity often unfits a man for eventual success. There- fore when the educated Indian again gained attention, he was some- times beyond rehabilitation to self-support. In this disregard of the student after graduation, we were treating the Indian as we treat the white. A fundamental dif- ference however, has "been ignored. The family of the white child, in most instances, has an established position in the economic fabric of society and is therefore able to assist the youngsters to find a niche for themselves. The Indian child, however, comes from a family which is itself struggling for a foothold in a new and complex world. When the Indian child returned to dependence on his family we frequently spoke with regret of his "reversion"; yet we did little to assist him to any other form of stability. Such a state of af- fairs has been wasteful in the extreme. We have been growing increasingly aware of this problem. Every day our Indian schools are becoming more concerned with the home environment from which the pupil springs and to which he will in all likelihood return. Studies are being made of the assets which he possesses in terms of native talents, land allotments, or tribal interests and these are being taken into consideration in his education guidance. There is increased concern in seeing that the hoy who has learned farming may have a chance to become a farmer after graduation, that the hoy who has learned to he a shoe- maker shall have an opportunity to earn his living as such, either working for someone else, or in a shop of his own. A surprisingly large number of Indian boys and girls possess assets which they might learn to put to use, if these facts were taken into consideration during their high school training. Students who own land or who may have the use of land, are being taught to do things which will enable them to make a living with that land. Our agricultural schools are planning work programs by which students may earn stock or money or other values so that they enter adulthood with certain capital assets. Many of our Indian youth, however, must leave school with no place to go. The older countries of Europe have long recognized the need of youth for aid in fitting into the social pattern, and the family of a young man or woman makes a definite, contribution to getting the young person started. In the United States this has not been considered either necessary or desirable because of the limitless opportunities which nature offered "along the frontier." Today the frontier has disappeared. The parental relationship to- ward our Indian youth, accepted by the Government, places upon it a grave responsibility to provide opportunities for the trained, com- petent, and able young Indians to get a start in a life activity "by which they may become permanently self-supporting. Many of our Indian high schools today, through their Proceeds of Labor Fund, are making it possible for older students to earn a nest egg with which to begin their permanent life ac- tivities. Others, through cattle herds and other live stock ac- tivities, are enabling Indian young people to earn heifers, poultry, or other life stock. For the young Indian who owns land or whose family owns land this offers a concrete opportunity to become ec- onomically established. However, some provision must be made for the Indian high school graduate who is without personal resources. In the long run, it will prove much less expensive to give our In- dian young people a constructive means of earning a living than to support them through "made work" or various forms of relief. Some Federal aid for the homesteading of these individuals is indicated. Let us give meaning to this period of transition into adulthood - and make our high school graduation indeed a "commencement." Willard W. Beatty Director of Education fflHTER SCENES FROM FLATTOAP RBSEHVATIQN IN MONTANA Mission Range From Flathead Valley Harding Peak (9500 feet) At Left and McDonald Peak (9800 feet) At Eight SENATE AND HDUSB COMMITTEES ON INDIAN AFFAIRS ORGANIZE The House and Senate Committees on Indian Affairs of the first ses- sion of the Seventy-Fifth Congress have recently heen organized and new members named. Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma continues as Chairman of the Senate Committee; Will Rogers of Oklahoma will again lead the House Committee. The Senate Committee membership is as follows: Elmer Thomas, Democrat* of Oklahoma. Eurton K. Wheeler, Democrat, of Montana. Henry F. Ashurst, Democrat, of Arizona. William J. Bulow, Democrat, of South Dakota. Carl A. Hatch, Democrat, of New Mexico. Joseph C. O'Mahoney, Democrat, of Wyoming. Vic Donahey, Democrat, of Ohio. Dennis Chavez, Democrat, of New Mexico. Edwin Johnson, Democrat, of Colorado. Ernest Lundeen, Farmer-Labor, of Minnesota. Henrik Shipstead, Farmer-Labor, of Minnesota. Lynn J. Frazier, Republican, of North Dakota. Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Progressive, of Wisconsin. Frederick Steiwer, Republican, of Oregon. New members of the Senate Committee are Mr. Edwin Johnson of Colorado, Mr. Ernest Lundeen of Minnesota and Mr. Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota. Mr. Johnson has been a rancher, a business man, Lieutenant-Governor, and Governor. He comes to the Senate in place of Senator Costigan who did not run for re-election. Mr. Lundeen has been a representative in the Minnesota Legislature, an editor and publisher, has served two terms in the House of Representatives ant) now is beginning service as a Senator. There wat, a vacancy on the Senate Committee during the last session. This is being filled by Senator Shipstead, now in his third term. Senator Thomas looks forward to a session of effective work by his committee: "The Senate Committee considered and reported favorably on over a hundred bills during the last session. Practically every bill reported was passed by the Senate. The affairs of the several tribes are given prompt at- tention by the Senate Committee and no difficulties are expected in either the Committee or the Senate on Indian legislation during the coming session. The Committee is working with the Office of Indian Affairs and is trying to carry out its policies." 8 The House Committee membership follows: Will Rogers, Chairman Democrat Oklahoma Wilbu.ni Cartwright Democrat Oklahoma Joe L. Smith Democrat West Virginia Samuel Dickstein Democrat New York Thomas 'Malley Democrat Wisconsin Henry E . Stubbs Democrat California Knute Hill Democrat Washington Elmer J . Ryan Democrat Minnesota James P. 'Connor Democrat Montana Nan W. Honeyman Democrat Oregon John R. Murdock Democrat Arizona Harry R. Sheppard Democrat California Bernard J. Gehrmann Progressive. . .Wisconsin Dewey W. Johnson Farmer Labor. .Minnesota R. T. Buckler Parmer Labor. .Minnesota Fred C. Gilchrist Republican. . . .Iowa Fred L. Crawford Republican. . . .Michigan Francis H. Case Republican. . . . South Dakota Fred J. Douglas Republican. . . .New York There are still two vacancies on the House Committee , one of which will probably be filled by Delegate Anthony J. Dimond, Democrat, of Alaska, who has already served the committee for two terms. The interests and backgrounds of the new members have been varied. Mr. Case has been a newspaper editor and publisher and has been in- terested in Indians and their problems for many years. He has as one of the clerks in his office a young Indian woman from one of the five Sioux reserva- tions in his district. Mr. Douglas has been a surgeon and a commissioner of public safety and mayor of Utica, New York. The first Oregon congresswoman, Mrs. Honeyman, has been interested in various civic and state reforms and has served in the Oregon legislature. Mr. Murdock has been a teacher, a writer of textbooks on history and government, and dean of the Arizona State Teachers College. Mr. O'Connor has been a lawyer, a special counsel for the Federal Trade Commission, a judge, a member of the Montana legislature and a stockman and rancher. Since he represents eastern Montana, six of the seven Montana reservations lie within his district. Mr. Sheppard has had a varied career as a business executive. He has long been interested in the Indians of his own area, the nineteenth dis- trict of California, which includes Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino coun- ties. "I am well pleased indeed with the personnel of the House Indian Committee," said Chairman Rogers, when he learned of the committee assignments. THE NAVAJO BLIZZAED By E. R. Fryer, Superintendent Navajo Service - Window Rock, Arizona This snowstorm which laid a blanket of snow varying from 14 to 16 inches over most of the Navajo country came with all the fury of a blizzard on Monday night, December 28. Snow fell all day Tuesday. The storm moder- ated somewhat Tuesday night; Wednesday there were only occasional flurries. Thursday morning was bright and clear. Thursday evening however, the storm returned again with tne intensity of a blizzard. It snowed constantly until about noon on New Year's Day. As the storm abated high winds swept in from the southwest which piled the snow in huge drifts and made travel impossible. Temperatures during the storm here varied from 35 degrees above zero to at least 10 degrees below. Finding The Snowbound Navajo 8 . (The symbols near the arrow's point show the approximate location of the Pinon Camps.) Tuesday morning following Monday night's blizzard, which blanketed the central portion of the reservation with from 12 to 16 inches of snow, brought the first reports of suffering. A call came first from the school teacher at Wide Ruins' who reported that 300 Navajos who had assembled near there for a Fire Dance, were hopelessly snowed in. The teacher reported 10 food supplies as "being short and stated that if the roads were not opened im- mediately, suffering from exposure and hunger would soon result. The expos- ure was much more of an immediate danger since the Indians, accustomed to the very mild winter we have had thus far, were not at all prepared for the bliz- zard and the sub-zero temperatures which descended the last day of their Fire Dance. Tuesday noon, trucks were dispatched from G-anado and late Tuesday night had "broken a trail to the suffering Fire Dancers. Two Little girls Lost At Keams Canyon The next report came from Keams Canyon where two little girls, aged six and eight years, after having "been returned to their homes from school Monday afternoon, had, started to visit the neighboring hogan about a mile and a half distant. The storm came shortly after they left home. When they had not reported at the neighboring hogan several hours after they left home, the father became worried and notified the Keams Canyon Agency which called upon us for assistance. All available men on ECW and other projects in the vicini- ty of Keams Canyon, together with a large number of Navajo volunteers, began a search for these children on Tuesday morning. Tuesday night exhausted search- ing parties returned to Keams Canyon reporting no success The tired crews went out again on Wednesday morning, returning Wednesday night with the same report. By this time we had to give up hope as it would not have been pos- sible for the children to have lived unsheltered through the fury of that storm. A False Lead No further reports of suffering came in until New Year's morning. However, we had felt some anxiety for pinon nickers whom we knew to be in the area south of Ramah. These Indians, we knew, remained in the area in spite of the warnings given them by the Navajo Service stockman who had been in- structed to get the Indians out of the Zuni Mountains and the adjoining areas as soon as possible after the middle of December. (Everyone here remembers the unseasonal storm which descended and trapped pinon picking Navajos in this identical area in the winter of 1932.) New Year's morning Kelsey, the trader at Zuni, called Mr. Trotter about ten o'clock and said that Navajos in from the high country south of Zuni reported that there were about 2,000 Indians snowbound in that country , most of whom were trapped with but very little food and without transportation, since most of them had been trucked in by traders at the beginning of the pinon season. We felt that there was some truth in the statement relayed by Kelsey, but believed that his infor- mant had exaggerated the number of Indians involved. We telephoned Mr. Roy Shipman at Zuni, and asked him if he would try to get through the almost im- passable road to Ramah and investigate this report. 11 Meantime TWA headquarters in Albuquerque called and stated that the pilot on the plane then arriving reported what he considered to be a distress signal near Beacon 62, which is about 20 miles southwest of Grants. The pilot reported that he saw a red Navajo blanket spread out on the snow to attract attention. Believing it futile, because of the deep snow, to run down these reports with ground crews, I called Bill Cutter, Department of Agriculture contract pilot in Albuquerque, and asked him if he would leave there at once and make a reconnaissance of the area, south of Remah and land in Gallup that afternoon. Accordingly, Cutter left Albuquerque about one-thirty. In the mean- time we dispatched a snowplow to Gallup to clear the air field to enable him to land. .The snowplow we.s followed by two trucks laden with supplies. Our rendezvous was to be the Gallup airport; the destination of the sup-oly trucks would depend on Pilot Cutter's re-port. After having fought snow and soft ground for more than two and a half hours we had no sooner cleaned a narrow snowbanked line runway when Cutter's orange Fairchild came winging in from the east. We had worked like stevedores to be ready when Cutter landed and reported. His unexpected report anticlimaxed a hectic day and affected us like a slap from a wet sponge. After all our excitement, Cutter made the classic statement, "There aren't any Indians out there." He had run down the TWA report and had found only the red roof of an emergency gasoline sup- ply shack sticking out of the snow. He had flown the area south of Ramah and Zuni. The only life he had seen was a large band of sheep which had been herded into a canyon for the warmth of bonfires built for that purpose. Hunting The Pinon Pickers By Plane And Truck Cutter's report and a telephone conversation with Mr. Roy Shipman at Zuni changed our plans. Shipman had made it through to Ramah and had re- ceived a report from Mr. Bond, a trader there, that unquestionably there were at least 350 Indians in the area about 40 miles south of Ramah. Mr. Shipman further reported that he had plenty of supplies on hand and that if needed he could dispatch them from Zuni with an hour's notice. Therefore, we decided to send the snowplow through that night to the Department of Com- merce field at El Moro to clear the field by ten o'clock the next morning by which time Cutter and I expected to have completed an air reconnaissance of all the area fifteen to sixty miles south of Ramah and Zuni. The next morning an extremely heavy ground fog and very low temper- ature - twelve degrees below zero - delayed our daylight start until ten a.m. While waiting for the fog to lift and for the improvised heater to "do its stuff" on the motor to get the plane started, we filled the cabin of the plane with slabs of bacon and red flagging. We took bacon because it is sustaining and could be dropped from the plane without damage. The flagging was taken to tie to the bacon so that it could be found in the white snow. While the engine was warming up and just a few minutes before the take-off a man came running across the snow from the direction of Gallup. 12 The man said, "Are you the fellows that are going looking for those snowbound Indians?" We said, "Yes", and he said, in a rather positive tone, "I can tell you where they are." He proved to he Hed Cox, a "freighter", who had "been hauling supplies from Gallup and who had set up business in the pinon area to trade with the Navajo nut pickers. ("Freighters" are not regu- lar licensed traders hut do a small seasonal business off the reservation.) Cox was positive that there were at least 350 Indians stranded in the area about sixty-five miles south of Ramah because he had left there only two days before. Baffled by heavy snows, he had been forced to travel 300 miles via Magdalena and Albuquerque in order to reach Gallup. He arrived at Gallup with a broken truck. Cox was asked if he would be willing to act as a guide for a supply truck which would leave immediately for Gallup and try to get into the strick- en area by way of Albuquerque and Magdalena. He agreed. The supply trucks which we had planned to send in via Eamah were commandeered dump trucks, totally unsuited to haul supplies. The Soil Conser- vation Service came to the rescue with a two-ton stake truck which had been sent out from Gallup at once by Transportation Manager Ed Turner. The truck was loaded with canned mutton, flour, coffee, bacon, milk, hay and grain. The Navajo Pinon Pickers Being Taken Out Of The Snowstorm Area 13 hay and grain were sent because Cox reported that the horses belonging to the Navajos were dying of starvation. Cox was expected to reach Pietown "by raid- night Saturday and expected to reach the stricken Navajos by noon the next aay, Sunday. Cutter and I took off from the Gallup airport at 10:20 a.m. We landed at El Moro twenty minutes later where the field ha,d been cleared early that morning by our snowplows. On the basis of the information received from Cox, which proved reliable, we sent the snowplow back to Gallup. Cox said that the bridges in the remote country south of El Moro were so frail that it would be impossible for equipment so heavy to cross them. Then too, since later reports of the stricken Indians proved that they were more accessible from Highway 60 and Magdalena than from Ramah we decided to depend on that route for our supplies. We took off from El Moro about eleven o'clock and first crisscrossed the pinon mesas southwest of the El Moro landing field. We covered the area south and then flew on across the salt lake to Quemado, a small settlement on Highway 60. We had traveled over two hundred miles and had sighted no Indians other than those who habitually live in that areas. We saw other bands of sheep searching for blades of grass and sagebrush un- covered by drifted snow. We felt no urgent concern for these Indians since they had shelter and meat. Found! Two Snowbound Groups Near Quemado, we flew over a lonely ranch house. These people upon hearing the plane rushed outside. We circled and decided to drop a note tied to a red flag inquiring if there were stranded Navajo pinon pickers in that area. This we did. In answer to our inquiry, a boy drew a huge "No" in the snow. We decided that we were too far west, dipped our wings as a "thank you", and flew in an easterly direction, north of Highway 60. We had flown perhaps thirty miles and had seen only deserted snowbound ranch houses when we came to another house out of which people rushed to see the plane. We de- cided to drop another note. This note brough imrnedia.te response. A little girl drew a huge arrow in the snow pointing in a northeasterly direction. We dipped our wings, then flew east, making circles across a heavily wooded mountain slope. We had flown perhaps another hundred air miles when deep in the woods we sighted a lonely Navajo brush shelter. We would not have seen this shelter had not the boys waved frantically to us with what appeared to be a red Navajo blanket. We circled lower and lower, not daring to fly'very low because of the deep mountain slopes, until we could distinguish three or four crude shelters. There were probably ten or fifteen Navajos clustered around these huts all waving to attract our attention. We threw slabs of bacon, marked by red flagging, down to them and continued our circling of this moun- tain slope. About ten miles from this camp we sighted another Navajo group. These pinon pickers had apparently taken over a deserted ranch hut. They, too, seemed to sense that the plane was there in their behalf and waved frantically to us with sticks and blankets. We circled as low as we dared 14 and dropped slabs of bacon. We aade notebook locations of these canrps, using the mountain peaks as a reference point. We completed our circle of this mountain and noticed a truck led by a Navajo horseman breaking its way through the snow in the direction of these camps. By this time our gas supply was running dangerously low, so we de- cided to duck back into Gallup, refill the tank and get any reports that might have come in. There were no new reports and by the time we had filled our tank with gasoline there was too little daylight left to make another flight. There is no question but what we flew over a great number of Navajo camps which we did not see. We had expected to locate these camps from the smoke of their fires. Strangely enough, in flying over this entire area we did not see a single wisp of smoke. If these people did not have fires they must have suffered tremendously. The thermometer on the plane registered fifteen degrees below- zero at 9,500 feet. If they did have fires, they must have used only very dry cedar. It had not occurred to them, apparently, to use green wood and make smoke fires so that they might be located. A Later B u lletin - January 5. last night we received the first word from the truck sent into the Pietown area with supplies. Mr. Baxstrom from the Regional Forest Office, U.S.I.S. Albuquerque, who accompanied this truck upon my request to Mr. William Zeh to lend what- ever assistance he could, reported last night from Magdalena. He stated that there are between 425 and 450 Indians in the area eight miles north of Pie- town. These Indians, according to Mr. Baxstrom, refused to leave, believing that with clearing weather they can continue picking pinons. Apparently, this group of Indians have not suffered to any great extent. Thirty miles north of Pietown the supply truck found the Navajo outfit to whom supplies had been dropped from our plane last Saturday. One of these grouns consisted of eleven people, all women and children. Among them was a two-weeks-old baby. These people, who had suffered miserably from hunger and exposure, had been taken into that section by a Gallup trader at the be- ginning of the pinon season. The second group found by the supply truck consisted of twenty people, three of whom were men; the rest women and children. The group, I gather, was entirely out of food and had suffered considerably from exposure. The eleven women and children were taken out as far as Magdalena where they were housed that night in an auto court. At that point Mr. Baxstrom made ar- rangements with a CCC camp at Magdalena to transport them to Gallup. They will arrive at Gallup tonight where they will be picked up by one of our trucks and taken to their homes in Gallup-Two Wells area. This morning our supply truck, with a rented truck, is returning for the twenty Navajos remaining in that area. 15 January 6 . Last night Mr. Allstrora telephoned again from Magdalena stating that he had found about 75 more Indians in the "Peak Area" over which we flew. The great majority of them were women and children. January 8 . Mr. Allstrom telephoned that there were about 50 more Navajos with- out transportation who were snowed in and needed help. On the basis of this information a "caravan" of trucks was formed and three men were placed in charge of the Navajo removal; one was placed at Magdalena to gather them; one was to accompany the truck between Gallup and Magdalena; one to distribute the Navajos on the reservation. January 12 . Three hundred Indians have been taken out of the snow area and we are still hauling. Too much credit cannot be given Mr. Allstrom of the Regional U.S.I.S. Forest Office who is still working twenty hours a day fight- ing snowdrifts to get into the stranded pinon "camps." REORGANIZATION NEWS A resume of constitution and charter elections in recent months shows the following results: The Oneida, Wisconsin constitution was accepted November 14 by the tribe's vote of 742 to 18. On November 21 the Fort McDermitt Indians of the Carson Agency, Nevada, ratified their constitution by a vote of 62 to 9. On November 28, the Fort Yuma, California constitution, (a previous draft of which had been rejected by a vote of '138 to 129; was accepted by a vote of 129 to 116. The Papago constitution was accepted on December 12 by a vote of 1340 to 580. The story of the working out of this constitution is told on page 21. 16 IMPORTANT INDIAN SERVICE EDUCATION MEETINGS SCHEDULED The month of February will witness several important meetings in the Indian Service. The first and second will be devoted to an invitational meeting of school superintendents and principals interested in the problems raised or settled by the introduction of scrip into our boarding schools. Sherman Institute and Salem Indian School have pioneered in the introduction of a money substitute with which to pay pupils for work done and with which the student pays for clothing and sometimes food and other advantages, as well as admission fee to games, plays and similar campus activities. The scheme has demonstrated a number of clear-cut advantages and has also re- vealed weak points. At this conference it is hoped through discussion to determine an improved technique for the administration of the scheme which may allow for its introduction into several other schools which wish to profit by its advantages. Beginning on the 16th of February, a four-day gathering of regional superintendents of education is being held at Hot Springs, Arkansas. This group will be joined on February 18 by the education field agents and social workers for a two-day session. Problems of public school relations, relief, social problems, budgeting and so forth will be discussed. This meeting will be followed by gatherings of a number of Indian Service employees at the National Education Association Department of Superintendence which is being held at New Orleans the 2lst to 24th and the Progressive Education Associa- tion in St. Louis from the 25th to the 27th. 17 8 x B 3 PL, O 3 CO Eh Eh O K B 18 " HILL 57" By D'Arcy McNickle Administrative Assistant - Office Of Indian Affairs People sometimes ask why one should devote thought and effort, particular thought and effort, to the "Indian problem. " Meaning, of course, that the problems of poverty and social maladjustment are as hroad as the modern world; and meaning, too, that these problems can't he treated in a vacuum; and meaning, finally, that the slum-dweller, whether of the Indian reservation or Manhattan variety, is enmeshed in a system which must he taken apart and put together again in a better socio-economic pattern, not palli- ated. All of which is true. Leaving that question for the moment, let me bring into focus one picture of the "Indian problem." The background is Great Palls, Montana, or rather, sharpening the focus, what is locally called "Hill 57" - - in dubious tribute to the enter- prise of a pickle manufacturer. Let me sketch for you what you would have seen and felt if you had been with us in these first winter days. The Missouri was frozen over. The thermometer stood at 14 degrees below zero and would go lower. A strong stinging wind blew down the river valley. We left town, crossed the river and then went up the slope toward the bluffs which mark the river's ancient bank. There, scattered in the snow, were the flapping tents and patchwork shacks of some of Montana's home- less Indians. The situation is wholly exposed. It is windy, always windy, and treeless and grassless. Barren as a rock. We knocked at many doors; were asked in. This is a composite pic- ture, many focus sings, of what we saw. A woman - black hair, parted in the middle and hanging in braids; her face long and narrow and smiling; eyes blinking at us; her hands rubbing a piece of buckskin to soften it. Children playing quietly on a sagging bed, cutting out the chic women who pose in the slick magazines. Men asking questions, expressing doubt, looking their suspicion, eyes searching us to get at our deeper design. We remember having heard it remarked that these people are filthy and we looked for filth. What we see is that the rooms are unbearably crowded with boxes and bags of belongings, obtruding dilapi- dated furniture, cooking utensils and children - too many children. The floor is the prairie, overlaid with pieces of figured linoleum and old car- pet. The stove is a gasoline drum with wood hole and bottom draft chiseled 19 out. And here people live on the thin edge of community tolerance. They are squatters. They are Indians who have no rights anywhere. For most part they are a legacy of the fur trade, the romantic fur trade of "singing voyageurs" , which made fortunes for its gentlemen exploiters and left behind it, every- where, problems of racial disintegration for pioneer society, coming of age, to solve. The gentlemen exploiters have never been concerned. Perhaps no one has called these things to their attention. A century and more ago the ancestors of "Hill 57' s" casuals were on Red River in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Red River was strategic in the trade. It was the food factory. Every year the "breeds", French-Cree-Chippewa, killed thousands of buffalo, stripped and dried the meat, pounded tallow into it and packed it in 90-pound rawhide sacks. This was the pemmican which was sent all over the Northland, as the chief dietary staple of the Company's employees. Red River also furnished guides and canoemen, laborers of all sorts, including the clever artisans who constructed, entirely of wood, the great two-wheel carts which carried, screeching, the traffic of the prairies where there were no rivers. And when the voyageur lost his supoleness and skill he usually went back to Red River to a little piece of ground on the river bank to spend his days en menage and wait for the long rest. Nobody gave him a paper saying he owned his piece of ground. In those times nobody but the Company could have given such a paper and the Company was not selling land. In 1873 the northwest territory passed from the Company's jurisdic- tion to that of the Canadian government. The province of Manitoba was carved out first. The Queen's surveyor went out to Red River. Trouble, long brew- ing in a pot in which smallpox, famine and the encroaching white settlers were mixed together, broke out with the coming of the surveyor. He was going to take over the land for the Queen. There was brief fighting but the Red River buffalo hunters and coureurs par excellence , wild and imprudent and full of song, never had a chance. When they fought Her Majesty's Red Coats they foolishly exposed themselves to flying lead to sing songs of the old days of daring. Quel betesse ! And they had no paper for their land. They had to run for it. Up to Duck Lake, in what was soon to be the Province of Saskatchewan. Again they squatted, laid out their Red River villages, narrow strips of land running side by side back from the river - the Saskatchewan, this time. The same story again. In 1885 Her Majesty's surveyors caught up with them once more and again fighting broke out. The western prairie flamed for a few weeks. A general uprising of all the prairie Indians was feared. It had been expected for years. The Indians, however, faltered, backed down. 20 It was the old Red River people who caught the recoil and had to go on the run. This time to the United States, in whose territory many of them had ac- tually been born. There they found asylum from the Red Coats, "but no land. No recognition from Washington. They squatted wherever they could, at other reservations, on the edge of Montana's prairie towns, on "Hill 57." That is a telegraphic account of the history of these t>eople, now living so precariously on the edge of community tolerance. Such derelicts do not make good company for respectable towns. Their living nags at con- sciences. Their rags are an offense. No doubt they depreciate real estate values. No doubt many a community has secretly wished that the whole lot of them could be quietly lethalized in some humane way. Sitting in a wind-drummed tent on "Hill 57", one thinks beyond these people to Indians everywhere and remembers what one has heard so many times — "Poverty is everywhere in this world. Why be concerned about Indians?" One can answer the interrogation, at least partly, if one recalls that in Mexico, in Spain, in Ireland, in every country where the land has been taken away from the peasants, from the only people to whom land really belongs, there has been, sooner or later, bloodshed, hanging and burning. Indians of the United States are too few and too broken in this latter day to a.ttempt to take by force what is theirs, as the peasants of other coun- tries have attempted, sometimes successfully. But theirs is the same need; theirs is the same hunger. The task is to understand that and to provide for it, witfully. To that extent one's concern about Indians need be no mere special pleading; it can be a realistic approach to the future. Give the Indians land, not land to sell, but land to use. In their ancient economy they understood production for use rather than for profit. Perhaps old memory will stir in them. Perhaps we will yet learn from them. A Typical Home On "Hill 57" 21 FOREWORD OF INDIAN OFFICE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1936 The annual report of the Secretary of the Interior to the President for the fiscal year 1936 is now in print. As copies of the complete report are scarce, and available only to agencies and executive personnel » Commissioner Collier's foreword is reprinted here. "An annual report on Indian affairs, were it adequate, would he a report on the whole life of a race. What follows describes governmental ac- tivities and only through shadowy implication reveals the forces of life work- ing within the reviving Indian population of more than 230 tribes and bands. "For many decades the Indians were thought of, and they thought of themselves, as a dying race. Numerically they were dying. As battling groups they had lost their fight. As civilizations their day was ended. "Then very gradually but unmistakably the Indians' life-tide se.emed to turn. The critical change goes back a decade and a half, or longer. Three years ago, the basis of Indian law was altered. Indian law had presumed the cessation of Indians. The changed law presumed their permanence and their in- crease. Indian Service, the Indians' mind, the general public's mind, became hopeful of the Indians' future. This future would be realized in terms of numbers increasing, not dwindling; of property holdings increasing, not con- tinuing to melt away; of cultural values preserved, intensified and appreci- ated and sought for by the white world and no longer treated as being signif- icant only in terms of an outlived or crushed primitive world. "All of these evidences of new birth and new assurance have been forthcoming in the recent years and never so richly as during the year just closed. The population record alone is an impressive one. Indians are in- creasing faster than any other group in the United States. Full-blood Indians are increasing at more than one per cent a year. This, although the orevent- able morbidity rate is still excessive. "From 1887 to 1932, the average diminishment of Indian landholdings was 2,000,000 acres a year. Now, an increase is recorded at the rate of hun- dreds of thousands of acres a year. But the land supply of fully half the In- dians is all but hopelessly insufficient. Their economic level, by and large, is still the lowest in the United States. "The renascent Indian spirit has shown two great evidences. One of these is the universal, eager resoonse of Indians to the opportunity to work and their faithfulness and technical capacity when employed. The other is the adoption by more than 180 tribes of the Indian Reorganization Act and their self-control and enterprise in organizing their common life under the author- ities of the act." 22 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PAPAGOS By John H. Hoist Supervisor of Indian Schools The Papago Reservation extends for sixty miles along the Mexico-Arizona Border and lies in the center of the great Sonora Desert which extends north from Mexico into the United States. It is occupied by some five thousand people who have lived in that territory for many hundreds of years. Prom the parent center near the Mexican border, offspring villages have grown up to the north, each in turn becoming parent to another group. The Papagos, like their neighbors and blood brothers, the Pimas, to the north, belong to the great Aztecan language fami- ly. For uncounted generations they have occupied their nresent land, an inhospitable desert refuge rather than a land of promise; yet even here they have in times past suffered from marauders, chief among whom, in former years, have been the Apaches. The Spanish The Papago Desert In Arizona 23 A Papago Family Near Big Fields, Arizona. Conquistadors of the sixteenth century disturbed them little while the zealous Spanish Friars endeared themselves to the Papagos by their un- selfish and understanding devotion to their welfare. The more than fifty villages of modern Papagueria arrange themselves in natural community grouns around parent villages where live the head men and the wise men who rec- ognize the provinces of the sub-chiefs of the offspring villages. These Tho-ho-no O'otam, these desert men, have through centuries adjusted themselves to a satisfying life in the great desert. They have learned to live happily where others cannot live and to utilize what others do not want. They have learned to work together in family groups and closely related units where every individual has his place and his rights and wherein each contributes to the whole. Nowhere is there more consideration given to the individual on the one hand or more felt responsibility of the individual for the group on the other. All important actions must be by unanimous con- sent and without undue pressure from anyone or faction. The Paoagos have not yet reached the stage of larger group action through representatives. When the Papagos express their desires to retain their "old laws and customs", they refer mainly to their methods of group action and to their ceremonials, chief among which is their annual rain dance, a formal prayer for rain, and the only ceremonial at which the sacred wine is used. Individual villages and communities of villages have their rain ceremonials at planting time. Most other ceremonials and festivals are more social than religious in significance. For long centuries these desert men were left to themselves to make adjustments to a most hostile and inhospitable country and in the struggle, to acquire a rugged independence and at the same time, antagonism to encroachments from the outside on their independence, even though encroachments came under the guise of benevolence. The old Montezuma movement, which really means, "outside hands off", has been progressively strengthened, especially since the removal of the agency from San Xavier to Sells in 1917, until now about four- fifths of the Papagos are Montezumans. The little group of "Government 1 * or "Progressive" Indians stand for every benevolent government imposition, while the Montezumans oppose all impositions, benevolent or otherwise. 24 Is it strange that primitive, untutored Papagos should realize that government benevolence is only an insidious means of spiritual subjugation? They reject it, not out of perversity but because a fundamental tenet of their religion is the right of the individual to be self-supporting as an evidence of his independence. They have a simple faith and an abiding confidence in an over-ruling Providence. Everywhere, their old men and their wise men say to the representatives of materialism, "Let ray people go, that they may work out their own salvation according to their destiny under the providences of nature which they respect, whether or no they understand." Any educational or relief program imposed upon the Papagos would be progressively destructive of all the finer aspects of their spiritual life. Organization, then, should be a means through which they are to realize their aspirations under a wise and sympathetic guidance which allows to them the fullest measure of self-ex- pression consistent with their charter of authorization - and organization is now making progress. Sells, Arizona, December 7, 1935. Organization of the Papagos beginsl The first big meeting today. Nearly 200 delegates and visitors from the eleven districts and more than 50 villages. They vote to undertake organization but refuse to select or indorse a constitutional committee until authorized to do so by their various communi- ties. This is as it should be. They are a virile, primitive people. Ethno- logical backgrounds are fundamental in all matters relating to organization. Especially in the outlying districts are there very active remains of their ancient organization under a system of chieftainships. These, also their old customs, still function in ways satisfactory and beneficial to them. They have never been accustomed to a central governing body or united tribal action. They have petty chiefs but no general leaders; they have intra-tribal antag- onisms and localized patriotisms. The dominant party throughout the reserva- tion is the Montezuma which stands for "Outside hands off." The more vocal minority party is the "Government" or "Progres- sive" which stands for, demands, and accepts all government aid and govern- ment rather than Papago responsibility. Sells, Arizona, December 15, 1935. Meetings all over the reservation the past week - big meetings - and all for organiza- One Of The Charcos At Sells 25 A Papago Woman tion when they •understand it. Unhurried, they must think, then act. And they must have confidence in their advisers. What a responsibility for advisers who are determined to deal openly and sympathet- ically with the aspirations of a people and who are yet at a loss to know what will he approved by vested inter- ests which have less regard for the human factor and the immutable principle. Everywhere "the delegates to the constitutional committee have been selected. The Delegate Assembly last Saturday decided on a committee of 25 - too many, but they wanted it so. The committee meets tomorrow. A great occasion. December 16, 1935. The great Constitutional Committee is in action. A schoolroom at Sells has been vacated for their use . The men have come in from every point of the compass. Some of them were on the way two days. Two field represen- tatives and an anthropologist are present. A capable and sophisticated menm ber of the committee has taken the direction of all deliberations. The Pima constitution is to be studied as a guide. The committee men are plainly be- wildered. They are old men or middle-aged men. Only three of them can speak any English. Nearly all are Montezumans. There is disappointment and lapsing interest. December 21, 1935. The first rough draft of the constitution is finished. After a day and a half of fruitless study, the Pima constitution was cast aside and members were invited to express themselves as to what they considered of most importance for their constitution. Interest again, and animation. They held closely to the work in hand. There was a pathetic struggle for expres- sion, not only into a foreign tongue, but also into a foreign system of thought governed by a different philosophy. What they said was gathered up by sympathetic advisers and put in- to a semblance of logical form and under appropriate captions. Then again it was submitted to review and discussion. The result was a somewhat crude document, but virile and representative of real Papago thinking. Yet, from the first, it was evident that it would not satisfy the minority party or special vested interests and some slight changes would be necessary to make it legal. 26 The Constitution will now be published and submitted to review and general discussion. It starts on a stormy way. May 2, 1936. Four months have passed since the drafting of the constitution - four months of strife and turmoil and the building up of antagonisms. The constitution has been through a long series of meetings. Further work awaits the close of the long hot summer now at hand. October 9, 1936. All is calm again in Papagueria. During tne past two weeks the old constitutional committee has been reorganized; misunderstandings have been cleared up and others anticipated. The opposition committee of seven have joined the original committee in a fine spirit of compromise and helpfulness. The suggestions from the Solicitor's Office have been accepted by unanimous vote in twenty-three instances. The constitution is on its way to the Interior Department for approval. Bear Canyon Dam - Baboquivarl Mountains, Sells Agency How quickly the sky can clear after a. season of storm'. How quickly can the violence of human emotions subside and allow reason to rule as mutual respect for ideas and personality begin to appear and understanding dawns. 27 December 12, 1936. Election day! A year of intensive education over. Ballot boxes have gone out to the desert villages and to the mines and cotton fields be- yond the borders of the reservation. The months of discussion are over and now there is an orderly recording of decisions. Evening, and the locked ballot boxes are coming in to be opened in the presence of the august election board. The telephone is busy with ad- vance returns which are recorded on the big bulletin board for the informa- tion of the waiting crowd. It is a real election with all the trimmings. The majority for the constitution continues to roll up as the evening advances. The Papagos are under a constitution. AFTER ELECTION By Superintendent T. B. Hall, Sells Agency, Arizona (Taken Prom "Aw-O-Tahm-Pa-Tac" - Papago Progress - December 15, 1936.) On December 12, the people ratified the constitution and by-laws for the whole tribe by a vote of 1,340 for and 580 against. Over half of the people twenty-one years old and over turned out and voted. This made me very happy because it shows that most of the people are interested in the affairs of the tribe and it shows that- most of the people want a constitution and by-laws and want to have a voice in managing the affairs of the tribe. This election was a free election. Any member of the tribe twenty-one years of age and over was entitled to vote any way he wanted to. Now that we have adopted the constitution and by-laws, we should all lay aside our past differences and work together to make the land better. While no call has been issued as yet for the first meeting of the coun- cil, I think it would be a good plan for the people of each district to be thinking about whom you would like to have on your district council and whom you would like to have represent you in the Papago Council. Last spring the people organized temporary district councils and a temporary Papago Council in the same way as your constitution says it should be done. I think the plan you followed last spring in electing your district councils and hav- ing the district council select the two representatives to represent the district in the Papago Council was a very good plan, but, of course, if you want to select your representatives in a different way, your constitution says you can do that. In any free election there is always difference of opinion — some people are for a thing and some are against it. I think some difference of opinion is a good thing because if some are against a proposition, it causes the people to think more and be a little more careful than they might be if there were no opposition. 28 OLD INDIAN BUREAU ANNUAL REPORTS REVEAL POLICY DEVELOPMENTS From time to time "Indians At Work" will publish excerpts from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of other years. Much that is informative and revealing, not only of official attitudes, hut of official attitudes as a reflection of public wishes with regard to Indian liberties and Indian property, lies buried in these Annual Reports. And much of good inten- tions and high-mindedness is also there, as a caution to all of us who are concerned with devising a future for underprivileged peoples. History has a way of dealing ironically with high-mindedness, which is reason enough for knowing what has been tried in the past, and if possible, learning why it failed. The excerpt quoted below gives some idea of the impatience with which government of another year pressed civilization upon its Indian wards and of how the way was prepared for the eventual adoption of the General Al- lotment Act in 1887. "Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith the Annual Report of the Indian Bureau for the year 1679 . "During the year there has been a steady and manifest progress in civilization which has had no parallel in any previous year in the history of Indian civilization under this government. The spirit of progress cannot be said to have pervaded all tribes alike, or with equal force; but, as a whole, the Indians of the country have taken a long stride in the right direction to- ward complete civilization and eventual self-support. The most decided advance in civilization has been made by the Oglala and Brule Sioux, and their progress during the last year and a half has been simply marvelous. They have manifested an excellent disposition and shown commendable zeal in carrying out the plans of the government for their benefit. "It is no longer a question whether Indians will work. They are steadily asking for opportunities to do so and the Indians who today are will- ing and anxious to engage in civilized labor are largely in the majority. 29 There is an almost •universal call for lands in severalty and it is remarkable that this request should- come from nearly every tribe except the five civilized tribes in the Indian Territory. There is also a growing desire among Indians to live in houses and more houses have been built and are now in course of erection, than have been put up during any previous year. The demand for agricultural implements and appliances and for wagons and harness for farming and freighting purposes is constantly increasing and an unusual readiness to wear citizens' clothing is also manifest. "The loss of the buffalo which is looked upon by Indians as disastrous, has really been to them a blessing in disguise. They now see that they must get their living out of the soil by their own labor and a few years' persever- ance in the beneficial policy now pursued will render three-fourths of our In- dians self-supporting. Already very many tribes have a surplus of products for sale. "The only exception to the general improvement for the year is shown in the bad conduct of the White River Utes and the marauders in New Mexico which will be referred to hereafter. A Patent For Land "The more intelligent and best disposed Indians are now earnestly asking for a title in severalty to their lands as a preliminary to supporting themselves from the products of the soil. The number of persons who can be employed in stock raising is small, since comparatively little labor is re- quired and few men can herd and take care of a thousand head of cattle; but the cultivation of the soil will give employment to the whole Indian race. The only sure way to make Indians tillers of the soil, under the best condi- tions to promote their welfare, is to give each head of a family one hundred and sixty acres of land and to each unmarried adult eighty acres and to is- sue patents for the same, making the allotments inalienable and free from taxation for twenty-five years. "A bill to carry out this beneficial object was submitted to the extra session of the Forty-sixth Congress (H. E. 354). It was carefully pre- pared by the department to meet all the wants of the situation and was sim- ilar to a bill which had been introduced into the Forty-fifth Congress and had been favorably reported on by committees in both Houses, but which had failed to receive action. The speedy passage of such a bill would be a great- er boon to Indian civilization than any other that could be bestowed. As will be seen throughout this report, the willingness of the Indian to work has al- ready been demonstrated. Give him the land and the opportunity and the re- sult is a foregone conclusion. But so long as he has no individual title to the land he is asked to cultivate, the fear that it will some day be taken 30 from him will operate as a serious hindrance to his progress. With the Indian as well as the white man industry and thrift have their root in ownership of the soil. The uatenting of lands in severalty creates separate and individual interests which are necessary in order to teach an Indian the benefits of la- bor and induce him to follow civilized pursuits. I ndian Education "The work of promoting Indian education is the most agreeable part of the labor -performed by the Indian Bureau. Indian children are as bright and teachable as average white children of the same ages; and while the progress in the work of civilizing adult Indians who have had no educational advantages is a slow process at best, the progress of the youths trained in our schools is of the most hopeful character. During the current year the capacity of our school edifices has been largely increased and some additional schools have been opened. Granarie s And Ro ot Houses "Indians in their natural state are exceedingly improvident and while for one year, if left to themselves, they might -procure seed and raise a large crop, the probability is that before the next planting season their supuly of seed would be entirely exhausted. It is necessary, therefore, to exercise some forethought in their behalf and during the current year the office has directed agents to construct granaries and root houses and to call uoon each Indian who has been engaged in farming to deliver at the agency a sufficient amount of seed for the next crop. In return, the agent gives a receipt for its safe-keeping. This of course renders it necessary for the agent to have a place of storage where the seeds or roots will be safe from destruction or frost. "It is not unusual for Indian traders to give Indians credit to an amount not only sufficient to absorb their whole year's crop but also to demand in payment for debt even the amount left over for seed. For this reason trad- ers have been enjoined not to give Indians credit but to let them pay in cash and products as far as they may go. "These granaries and root houses which are necessary to make sure that the Indians do not part with their seed to satisfy passing wants, have been completed or are in course of construction for the following agencies: Cheyenne River, Lower Brule, Crow Creek, Yankton, Fort Berthold, Sisseton, Blackfeet, Crow, Flathead, Shoshone, Yakima, Tulalip, Neah Bay, S'Kokomish, Siletz, Umatilla, Round Valley, Cheyenne and Arapaho , Pawnee, Osage, Sac and Fox, Santee, Omaha, Winnebago, Great Nemaha and White Earth. 31 WORKING FOR CHILDREN'S CLOTHES AT POTATO CREE K - FINE RIDG-E RESERVATION , SOUTH DAKOTA Dear Editor: I am sending in this story and two pictures for use in "Indians At Work", hoping that you. will put it in our fine magazine for In- dians. The first picture was snapped near the "bridge just a few rods west of Medicine Bow Day School, our day school here in Potato Creek village on the Pine Ridge Reservation. It is a picture of myself and John Yanktcn and Joe Morrison; also my team. The man driving the team is myself, the one in the center is John Yankton and the other one is Joe Morrison. Will H. Spindler snapped this picture one day last September when we parents were working around the school to earn our children's school clothing. Mr. Spindler is the day school teacher here at Medicine Bow Day School and this day school is on the Pine Ridge Reservation about 20 miles south of Interior, South Dakota. It used to be called No. 23 Day School but now we have a new name for it. We three men put a new floor on this bridge and graded up the dirt on both sides. We also hauled a few loads of gravel on this new dirt, again. So now we have a good safe bridge here This was the first year that we had the Clothing Work Project on the Pine Ridge Reservation and at first we Potato Creek people did not under- stand all about it and some did not like it. But we all met with Mr. Spind- ler several times in Septem- ber and he explained it all to us. So then we all took hold and pulled together with Mr. Spindler and the school and everything went along fine. And I think our day school was one of the first schools on the Pine Ridge to finish working out the clothing for the chil- dren. Some of the projects that we worked on here at Medicine Bow Day School were 32 "banking Tip the buildings, cutting and hauling thistles for hay, graveling the school grounds, repairing fences, fall plowing the school garden and so forth. I am also sending you a picture of some of the men hauling gravel here on the school grounds. These five men in the graveling picture are (left to right) Silas Red Horn, Tom Swimmer, Brooks Wounded Head, Earl Blue Bird and Pete Wounded Head. Mr. Spindler snapped this picture too. We al- ways help Mr. and Mrs. Spindler in the school and community matters and so we all get along fine together. We finished the Clothing Work Project last fall so that now we are working on other projects for rations. Most of us Potato Creek families are very hard up , so this work sure helps us out . I am the foreman on these projects in working out for rations and my men are all good workers. So now I will close my story and I hope you will know what we are doing here in the Potato Creek community. Prom Charles Under Baggage, Sr . HOLST BEGINS ADULT EDUCATION PLAN During the month of January, John H. Hoist, Supervisor of Indian Schools, has been released to the Education Division by Indian Organization, with which he has been associated for the last year and a half. Supervisor Hoist has made an enviable record with Indian Organization in that all of the tribes with which he has worked have not only accepted the Reorganization Act, but have also approved the constitutions which he has shared in prepar- ing. His work with Education will continue to be concerned with reorganiza- tion problems, for Mr. Hoist is being assigned the development of an adult education program to broaden and strengthen tribal understanding of the new rights and duties which they gain through the acceptance of constitutions and charters. COVER DESIGN The cover page design which appears on this issue of "Indians At Work" was submitted by Bert Poneoma, a Hopi Indian who is a student at the U. S. Indian School at Santa Pe, New Mexico. The drawing was adapted from an ancient Hopi design. 33 s O w PL, g SI SI 2 l-H to Pi SI 34 HELPING- THE NAVAJO S HELP THEMSELVES By M. E. Musgrave Soil Conservation Service, U. S. Department Of Agriculture Spillway Construction At Mexican Springs, New Mexico. Taking advantage of the goods which the gods provide is nothing new to the American Indian. Probably because of this the Soil Conservation Serv- ice staff at the Mexican Springs Station spent some time in studying the work of present and prehistoric Indians. From it a technique in a land-management urogram was developed that included, first of all, the use of natural materi - als at hand for our work. We felt that if we were to do a job that would be of great value to the people we were serving, it would have to be done with rather primitive equipment. It was contended, moreover, that by using the na- tive ability in taking advantage of natural conditions, the additional costs brought about through the use of the primitive equipment might be offset. Our job is to increase the productivity of the Navajo lands in or- der that they may take care of the rapidly increasing population. Formerly, Navajos had farmed a great deal more in this area than they do at the present 35 Navajo Girl Standing Near a Mammoth Sunflower Raised With Flood Irrigation Near Nakai Bi'to time. Because of the gully- ing of their fertile valleys by erosion and the consequent lowering of the water table, however, and the creation of a too-rapid drainage system, the acres of cultivable land became fewer and fewer. They were finally forced to depend more and more on their sheep, cattle and goats for a live- lihood. All of these things were taken into consideration in forming a program for the management of the Navajo Ex- periment Station located at Mexican Springs, north of Gallup, New Mexico. Making Flood Waters Work For Us Water, the most valuable natural resource in the Southwest, had be- come an enemy because it was washing away the most valuable land that the Navajos had. Therefore, our first thought was directed toward water conserva- tion. Water had to be diverted from the arroyos where it was concentrated and doing great damage, and put where it could be spread over the fertile top-soils and made to work for us. Navajos understood that kind of work be- cause they had always practiced flood irrigation until the arroyos got so deep that their primitive engineering structures could not handle them. They knew that if this water could be spread, there would be plenty of grass. Foundation Stock Improved With that in mind, they also knew that they could take care of a much better class of live stock, so they consented to sell their cattle and replace them with purebred Herefords. Following that, they traded their none-too-good sheep for purebred Eambouillets, giving two of their sheep for one purebred. Diversion Dams and Dikes Hold Water Back In the meantime, construction was started on dirt diversion dams, our objective being the building of a diversion dam across every water course entering the Experiment Station area.. This work was started in 1934 and com- pleted in June, 1936, so that at the present time no water is allowed to cross the area via gullies or arroyos. 36 All dam construction was carried on by the Navajos with slip scrapers and light teams and under Navajo foremen with only a construction engineer in general charge. Very little material outside of native earth and rock was used. We realized that this method and type of construction might he slightly more expensive than work done with big machinery, much cement and other materials, but the Navajos had plenty of time and only this sort of equipment, so again we took the natural materials at hand and put them to work because it was something that the people with whom we were working understood and could do themselves without the aid of high salaried technicians, big equipment and costly materials. In addition to these larger structures, additional work was done on a small compact watershed of 450 acres, consisting of a number of small- er individual watersheds. On it were built detention dikes with rock spill- ways and leveled areas behind these detention dikes ranging in size from about one-half an acre to two or three acres. Our purpose there was to store moisture in the ground by holding it back and then to raise a crop -orin- cipally on stored moisture. This is almost necessary where we depend on flood waters, because the rainy season begins in July and is too late to develop a crop before the frost gets it in the fall. On the other hand, if enough stored moisture is available to germinate seed and keep it alive until the rainy season, splendid crops can be raised. Flood Waters G-ive Bountiful Crops The Service established nine areas in this 450-acre water- shed and by the same methods sever- al larger farms and three orchards were made in various parts of the area. We planted beans, peas, corn, barley, rye and alfalfa. Even though we were optimistic, the re- sulting production was a surprise. Practically everything we planted did well and enough produce was raised on these little plots to take care of the needs of a large Navajo family with vegetables, in addition to which there was some hay and grain for domestic animals and sufficient silage for a small trench silo. The water held back on these little farms, besides raising crops, was prevented from running into the main arroyos and ca.using damage. Wrecked Navajo Land 37 The live stock did especially well. The Rarabouillet sheep sheared an average of more than twelve pounds of wool per sheep as compared with four pounds from the sheep that had been traded off. Our cattle did well and we have some excelent yearlings. This year about forty tons of wild hay were cut and fifty tons of ensilage were put up. On the higher elevations where live stock had nearly destroyed vegetation, seasonal grazing was permitted. After the seeds of the grass and weeds were ripe, we not only fattened some five hundred sheep ■belonging to the Navajo people hut we used them to scatter the seed out of the vegetation, harrow it into the ground with their feet and distribute it over the range by means of their wool. This practice has been going on for two years and very gratifying results have been obtained. All live stock used in the experiment is owned by the Navajos. The female stock is owned individually and the breeding males, by the community. In addition to the purebred Rambouillet sheep and Hereford cattle, we have two excellent purebred Morgan stallions and a good Missouri jack, all either purchased or traded for by the Navajo people. An Old Navajo Speaks The recovery of the range, the increase in forage and stock pro- duction and the Indian crops present a striking picture of what the Navajo country will do when its resources are properly and intelligently used. I recall the statement of an old Navajo, made sometime ago at a chapter meeting at Coyote Springs. He raised his wrinkled face with its blind eyes and spread his arms dramatically. His voice quavered slightly as he spoke. "Our land was once beautiful," he said. "There were tall trees, many places. There was water in the streams where deer and other game came to drink. And there was grass, much tall, green grass waving in the wind. It was ni-zon-ih, very pretty." He paused while several of the older hearers nodded. Slowly he continued: "Now they tell me that all these things are gone. I can no longer see but I know they speak the truth. The wind is hot and dry and it is filled with sand. There is little grass left for the ponies. I can feel their white ribs through the skin. It is very bad." All were silent. None could voice a denial. 38 ■jffl Orchard Planting Mexican Springs, New Mexico "It nay "be that we have caused these things ourselves. We are told that we have too many ponies and too many sheep and goats. This means many hungry mouths eating on the grass and other plants. Very soon they're all gone. " Again a silence. "But now," he continued more firmly, "it is going to he all right. These white men are going to help us. We will plant many things and make them grow. Pretty soon there will be much grass and many trees. It is good 1 ." Note ; The pictures included in this article were loaned through the courtesy of the U. S. Department Of Agriculture - Soil Conservation Service. 39 VIEWS FROM PINE RIDGE RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA First Aid Demonstration Creosoted Windmill Tower Ready For Transportation To The Field. as^i * trfiiTJir^iirn-r- ~ v -n -' * ^ffn M ,i,,. Bhh ■^BSbl^^QBb^I Partially Completed Spill- way At Kyle Stock And Recreation Dam. 40 INDIAN SERIES GOES ON LOCAL RADIO STATIONS By Gerard Beeckman, Editorial Assistant To The Commissioner For the first time in its history the United States Indian Service is making use of the nation's radio facilities. Beginning about January 1, nearly 170 independent radio stations located in every state, with the ex- ception of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, and including Hawaii have written they will carry the first of a series of orograms dealing with the historical background, development and oresent-day life of the American Indian. In the list of stations to broadcast the series are eighteen operated by colleges and universities, including Purdue, Michigan State, Kansas State, University of Oklahoma., Washington State, Iowa State, University of South Dakota, South Dakota School of Mines, University of Wisconsin, University of Florida, Texas A. & M. , New Mexico A. & M. , Grove City College, Pennsylvania, Oregon State Agricultural College and Iowa A. & M. Subjects to be covered by the series of thirteen programs are: I. Origin of the Indian; 2. Ancient Indian Civilization; 3. Cultural Areas of North America and Variations Among Tribes; 4. Indian Contribution to Amer- ican Culture; 5. History of Indian-White Relations; 6. Indian Customs and Rituals; 7. Arts and Crafts; 8. Industry; 9. Education; 10. Extension; II. Homes and Home Life; 12. Indian Reorganization; 13." United States Indian Service. M. W. Stirling, Duncan Strong and Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., of the Bureau of American Ethnology have cooperated with the Indian Service in ore- oaring orograms dealing with the origin and ancient history of the Indian race . The radio stations, ranging from 50 watts to 20,000 watts in power, which have indicated they intend to carry the programs, are as follows: KABR, Aberdeen, South Dakota KADA, Ada, Oklahoma KARK, Little Rock, Arkansas K3IX, Muskogee, Oklahoma KOVC, Redding, California KDON, Del Monte, California K3HE, Los Angeles, California KERN, Bakersfield, California KFBI, Abilene, Kansas KFDM, Beaumont, Texas KFEL, Denver, Colorado KFEQ, St. Joseph, Missouri KFGQ, Boone, Iowa KFJZ, Fort Worth, Texas KFOX, Long Beach, California KFPL, Dublin, Texas KFQD, Anchorage, Alaska KFXD KGCU KGDE KGEK KGER KGEZ KGFG KGFW KGGC KGGM KGMB KGNC KGNF KGNO KHBC KHSL KIUP Nampa, Idaho Man dan, North Dakota Fergus Falls, Minnesota Sterling, Colorado Long Beach, California Kalispell, Montana Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Kearney, Nebraska San Francisco, California Albuquerque, New Mexico Honolulu, Hawaii Amarillo, Texas North Platte, Nebraska Dodge City, Kansas Hilo, Hawaii Chico, California Durango , Colorado 41 Minot, North Dakota Oakland, California Shenandoah, Iowa Medford, Oregon Fresno, California Tacoraa, Washington Beverly Hills, California Brady, Texas Oakland, California Albuquerque, New Mexico Eugene , Oregon Lake Charles, Louisiana Denve r , Colo rado We si a co, Texas Lewiston, Idaho Shreveport , Louisiana Oakland, California Manhattan, Kansas San Francisco, California Santa Fe, New Mexico Lowell, Arizona Yuma, Arizona Vermillion, South Dakota Tucson, Arizona Hutchinson, Kansas Stockton, California Decor ah, Iowa Pullman, Washington SI Centre, California San Francisco, California Boston, Massachusetts Jersey City, New Jersey Anderson, South Carolina Zanesville, Ohio Atlanta, Georgia Hazleton, Pennsylvania West Lafayette, Indiana Ponca City, Oklahoma New York, New York Camden, New Jersey Asbury Park, New Jersey Rapid City, South Dakota Joliet, Illinois Meridian, Mississippi Boston, Massachusetts Cincinnati, Ohio Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wilmington, Delaware Waterbury, Vermont WDSU WEDC weeu WELI WEST WEMP WEXL WFDF WGAL WGH WGPC WHA WHAT WHBF WHBQ WHDL WHEB WHLB WHOM WIBG WIBM WIND WIP WJBK WJBO WJBW WJEJ WJJD WJMS WJNO WJTN WKAR WKBB WKBH WKBV WKBZ WLBF WLEU WLNH WLTH WLVA WLWL WMBC WMBH WMBO WMBQ WMEX WMFF WMFO New Orelans, Louisiana Chicago, Illinois Reading, Pennsylvania New Haven, Connecticut Lancaster, Pennsylvania Milwaukee, Wisconsin Royal Oak, Michigan Flint, Michigan Lancaster, Pennsylvania Newport News, Virginia Albany, Georgia Madison, Wisconsin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Rock Island, Illinois Memphis, Tennessee Olean, New York Portsmouth, New Hampshire Virginia, Minnesota Jersey City, New Jersey Glenside, Pennsylvania Jackson, Michigan Gary, Indiana Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Detroit, Michigan Baton Rouge, Louisiana New Orleans, Louisiana Hagerstown, Maryland Chicago, Illinois Ironwood, Michigan West Palm Beach, Florida Jamestown, New York East Lansing, Michigan East Dubuque, Illinois La Crosse, Wisconsin Richmond, Indiana Muskegon, Michigan Kansas City, Kansas Erie, Pennsylvania Lowell, Massachusetts Brooklyn, New York Lynchburg, Virginia New York, New York Detroit, Michigan Joplin, Missouri Auburn, New York Brooklyn, New York Boston, Massachusetts Flattsburg, New York Decatur, Alabama 42 WMFR WNAC WNAD WNBC WNBH WNBX WO I WOP I WORK WPAD WPAR WPAY WPHO WQBC WRAW WEBL WRDO WRGA WRJN WROK High Point, North Carolina Boston, Massachusetts Norman, Oklahoma New Britain, Connecticut New Bedford, Massachusetts Springfield, Vermont Ames, Iowa Bristol, Tennessee York, Pennsylvania Paducah, Kentucky Parkershurg, West Virginia Portsmouth, Ohio Providence, Rhode Island Vickshurg, Mississippi Reading, Pennsylvania Columhus, Georgia Augusta, Maine Rome, Georgia Racine, Wisconsin Rockford, Illinois WRR , Dallas, Texas WRUF, Gainesville, Florida WSAJ, Grove City, Pennsylvania WSAR, Pall River, Massachusetts WSAY, Rochester, New York WSIX, Nashville, Tennessee WSPA, Spartanburg, South Carolina WSPR, Springfield, Massachusetts WSUI, Iowa City, Iowa WSVA, Harrisonburg, Virginia WSVS, Buffalo, New York WTAD, Qaincy, Illinois WTAL, Tallahassee, Florida WTAW, College Station, Texas WTBO, Cumberland, Maryland WTEL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WTFI, Athens, Georgia WTHT, Hartford, Connecticut WWAE, Hammond, Indiana WWRL, Woodside, New York INDIAN SOCIETY SEEKS COMPLETE LIST OF INDIANS HOLDING UNIVERSITY DEGREES The Society Of University Indians Of America, only Indian profes- sional society in the country, wishes to r>oint out that there are several hundred Indians scattered over the country who hold degrees of higher learn- ing equal to any held hy individuals who have had centuries of educational background. Among these are numbered many who are doctors of law, medicine, philosophy, pedagogy and divinity. Mr. William B. Newell, founder and president of the Society, writes that he is compiling a list of Indians who hold college or university degrees and that he would he glad to receive information about persons eligible for listing. The list now includes names of 68 Indians of whom 23 are members of the Society. Mr. Newell is Boys' Adviser at the Wahpeton Indian School at Wahpeton, North Dakota. 43 AN INDIAN STORY , AND A GOOD ONE By Edward Bear - Port Peck Reservation, Montana Here is a story. Years ago, when our people roamed these prairies, a certain man was out hunting. It happened to "be at the time of the year when game was scarce. Well, he went out looking around to see what he could find and, as the country was rough, he started to climb a hill. As he was on his way up the hill, he spied a mountain sheep lying asleep. He crept up close; it never moved; so he crept closer still. When he was almost on top of the mountain sheep, he spied a little herd of buffalo in the valley below him. So he just jumped straddle of the mountain sheep: The mountain sheep jumped up with the Indian on his back and started down the steep hill at top speed in the direction of the herd of buffalo. He ran right through the herd and the Indian started shooting buffalo right and left. The mountain sheep didn't stop; he just kept right on up the side of the valley but the Indian took him by the horns and turned him right back through the herd and shot a few more until his ammunition ran out. His mount kept right toward where he started from. As the old mountain sheep was going pretty fast, the Indian didn't dare jump off. He felt the mountain sheep's loins as he was running and as he seemed to be pretty fat he just pulled his old skinning knife, stabbed the sheep and dropped with him. So after getting the buffalo, he had the meat of the mountain sheep. 44 BITTER WEATHER AT WALAPAI BRINGS TWO CASUALTIES ; REMAINDER OF MAROONED GROUP SAFE I am happy to say that our road crew finally broke through to the forty marooned Walapais and brought them in to safety. Our road crew had been out for four days and we had received no word from them. We were there- fore much concerned about their welfare as well as that of the marooned Wala- pais. Our Senior Project Foreman, Mr. A. L. Jones, was in charge of the road crew. They had to break through snow from two to five feet deep in getting to the camp. When they finally reached camp they found all the Indians in good condition except that they were getting very hungry. Mr. Jones had the presence of mind to butcher a cow and feed them before starting back over the fifty-mile return trip. As I intimated in my telegram, we were very much concerned for fear that the Walapais at the camp would give up hope of our getting to them and that some of them would start on foot through the deep snow. This would have been almost certain death to any of them who would have attempted it. We had a small camp of seven men on the eastern side of the reser- vation. Two of these men started out for aid and one of them was found frozen to death within a half-mile of camp. The other one has not been found yet. It has now been about twelve days since he left camp and we have had no trace of him. We don't think that there is any hope that he will ever be found alive. The Commanding Officer of Marshf ield came to our rescue immediately upon our request for help. The landing field at Needles, California was the nearest point where they could land. We met them there with food supplies tied up in bundles ready to drop from planes. However, just as we were com- pleting our plans for flying and loading the food on the planes we got word through that Mr. Jones and. his crew had broken through the deep snow to the camp and that our Indians were all safe so we did not actually make the flight over the reservation. However, I feel that we are greatly indebted to General D. Emmons, Commanding Officer of Marshf ield, for his prompt action in coming to our rescue. Had our crew not broken through when they did, the aid of the bombing planes would have saved the lives of some of our Walapais because they were getting to the point where they felt they had to get out and get some food. We are glad to report at this time that all of our people are in safety, except the one missing and the one who was found frozen to death. It looks now as though we are going to have additional snow on top of the present deep snow. If this weather continues very long we will have an emergency need of funds for feeding our cattle. However, we are hoping to see warmer weather soon and if it does come we don't expect to have any trouble with our live stock. We are fortunate enough in having fine browse on our range and the cattle can go for a long period without grass. Letter of January 12 from Guy Hobgood, Superintendent, Truxton Canyon Agency, Arizona . 45 MR. PAUL COZE AND OS-KD-HON Photograph Reproduced Through Courtesy Of William van de Poll, Paris 46 " THE GREEN CORN OFFERING" Mr. Paul Coze, a French artist and admirer and friend of the American Indian, has sent to Commissioner Collier a copy of a hook of poems, "The Green Corn Offering." They are written by Os-ko-mon, a. Yakima Indian. Mr. Coze met him in Paris, where Os-ko-mon was riding horseback in a circus troupe, on the very day, says Mr. Coze, that Os-ko-mon had decided to leave. They became friends. Mr. Coze found that Os-ko-mon seemed to know and care little about his Indian background, and, in fact, felt that it had stood in the way of his success in the white world. Mr. Coze talked with him, not in persuasion, speaking of the might of his Indian heritage and of the power that comes from being one's self, rather than a reflection of one's surround- ings. He suggested that he try to think back on his Indian past. Then he left him alone. Ok-ko-mon began working at dances, songs and poems. "He soon showed he first was an interpreter, then a creator and lastly an artist in his successes and even in his faults," writes Mr. Coze. "Perhaps .... one might say that his words are too simple and too blunt. But one may think too that the 'Green Corn Offering' has value because he simply says what he thinks, while so many white people know how to use words without having any- thing to say." Os-ko-mon writes in English. The French translations which accom- pany the text were made by Mme. de Broglie and the preface and illustrations are by Mr. Coze. It is published by "Wakanda" , a Paris study group whose primary interest is the American Indian. 47 ROAD WORK AT CROW ASENCY , MONTANA By P. J. Van Alstyne, Acting District Highway Engineer Stone Masonry Bridge - Pryor Road, Crow Agency An unusual piece of road work is toeing done at Crow Agency, Montana, by the Indian Service Roads Division. An old railroad grade to Pryor is "being converted into a modern up-to-date high- way. For many years the Indians have used the grade as a road, hut he- cause of its narrow width and high fills, frequent accidents have occurred and the 26-mile stretch has he en dangerous to travel. It is being re- constructed under a two-year program into a modern graveled highway. The job provides many interesting engineering problems. The grade line of the road is already about as perfect as it can be, for it was used for years by the railroad company. The task has been to keep the grade line about the same, and still to widen the roadbed to a standard width, without borrowing or causing too much end haul. All of this work has had to be con- fined to a 60-foot right-of-way. Some of the original cast iron culverts are still in place. Where they are suitably located, they have been lengthened where possible and stone headwalls built to hold the dirt in order to stay within the limits of the right-of-way. The Road Division has had the cooperation of the county and Indian Service officials in securing W. P. A. labor for the culvert and bridge work. This labor has been used for quarrying stone from a nearby pit which road crews have used for both the bridges and culvert headwalls. It is planned to build six bridges out of this material. Practically all of the stone has been hauled from the quarry to the sites and is being cut and shaped during times when it it impossible to do other work. Last year the Road Division built a stone and brick garage and stor- age shed at the Agency; consequently this type of work is not new to our workmen. 48 FROM I.E.C.W. REPORTS Report From Shoshone ( W yoming ) The first part of the month found us in the middle of a very bad snow- storm, hut since the previous week the men had received their pay and bought winter clothes, the cold spell did not keep them from going out to work. Two crews were working up on the mountain; one cutting wood for the camp and the other was cutting stringers for the bridges which will be built on the new truck trail. r After the storm the snow drifted very bad on the switchback making it necessary for the road grader to go up on the mountain and open up the road. After the road was open the road grader kept on going over to the side of the mountain where the road had been graded properly, as at the time that it was first worked on, the dirt was loose and very dry and would not pack when the blade was grading it. Since the storms the ground re- ceived plenty of moisture and the road was in good condition for blading. As soon as the trail builder was required the builder was sent to Brooks Saw Mill where it will keep the road open in that vicinity until the logs for the ranger cabins are hauled out. One crew has already gone up there to start foundation work on the locality on one of the cabins. Weather conditions have deemed it advisable for the men to stay in- doors but they still keep on with their basket ball pra.ctices. To date they have played three games, winning them all by wide margins. A club has been organized for the puruose of cre- ating amusement during the long winter nights, raising money to buy a radio ■ and other things such as games, books and athletic goods. Meetings are held every week on Monday nights. Club dues are ten cents a month and other sources of revenue are from fines im- posed on the men who break some of the camp rules. Safety meetings are held every Wednesday night in camp. During these sessions, ways of preventing accidents, how to avoid accidents, how to use hand tools and how to ride trucks are discussed. Besides this the men are giving instructions in first aid. Augustine Snder . Forestry Education Work At Coeur d'Alene ( Ida ho) In anticipation of starting the cruising project some preliminary education work in for- estry subjects has been started. The actual instruction has not started yet except for two days of introductory work in order that those interested might find out the nature of the work and classes so that they would know whether or not they will be interested enough to follow through with the work. All work (class work) will be done in the field as it is believed that it is nearly impossible to handle the subject satisfactorily inside. What lectures there are to be given will be given in the field as practical demonstrations may be given along with them. Much in- terest has been shown so far. Harold Wing , Project Manager . 49 Erosion Control Work At Mission ( California ) Crew is constructing two lines of woven wire fence about four feet apart, to "be filled with rock and brush, forming a diversion dam to hold flood waters in natural channel. Boulders and other debris, brought down in last year's storms, are being removed from the channel, in order to allow storm water to lower same to natural grade . The present condition is largely due to an extensive brush fire which cleaned the upper slope of the drain- age area of vegetation over a year ago, followed by heavy winter rain which brought down e'arth, gravel, logs and boulders filling the chan- nel at point where grade change oc- curs. Robert H. Buck . Report From Rocky Boy' s ( Mon - tana ) Slow progress was made gravel- ing this week due to cold weather and frequent breakdowns of the trucks. Three trucks went out of commission this week which serious- ly handicapped the work. The cattle guard crew did not quite complete one guard on the Sangrey Road, be- ing handicapped by zero weather and snow. The forest improvement crews, however, made a good showing. The ground adjacent to camp has been cleaned up and the brush burned. William W. Hyde , Project Manager . Timber Estimating at Consoli - dated Chippewa ( Minnesota ) Another week and with it behind us, we look back on another successful period of this camp's operation. The most interesting project now in full swing and the one that we are most interested in, is that of timber estimating. The reports show discoveries of heretofore unknown riches in timber assets. Hidden pock- ets of timber are being unearthed be- hind dominating cliffs of rock, re- vealing more additions to the ever in- creasing potential wealth of our Grand Portage timberlands. This has been a busy week for rec- reational activities. Our boys were all invited to a party and dance at the Grand Portage School and Saturday night was spent at the Mineral Center School where our boys participated in games and dancing. ' Our basket ball team journeyed to Grand Marias Wednesday evening and opened the new basket ball schedule for this district. We sent one of the cleanest, hardest fighting teams of players that was ever seen on the gymn floor. Our boys won the game by a score of forty to twenty-three. Not one of our men showed any strain a- gainst the experienced Grand Marias team. Our team displayed everything a well-coached team can show. Andrew B. Lego . Work On Boundary Fence At Carson ( Nevada ) The boundary fence work con- tinued during the past week with a few more men and another borrowed truck on the job. Our greatest problem con- nected with the fencing job is the transportation of materials to the lo- cation of the work. The present proj- ect is the southeast boundary which is about 24 miles distant from 'the reser- vation distance. This makes it diffi- cult in that it takes from one and one- half to two hours ' time to make the trip. However, we are making fair showing considering this. The hills tied onto the north 50 line axe high and rough so that cat- tle will not stray from the reserva- tion at this point. The digging has been hard and the surface of the coun- try over which the line runs is cut up with washes and other ravines. Work in connection with the drilled well has been going on to in- stall a concrete pit in which to place the machinery, pump and so forth. An excavation 12 feet square and four feet deep is being dug and will be walled up with concrete soon with a thick layer for the floor on which the machine or pumping plant will be placed. The large spud pipe around the well pipe will be taken out and the main pipe cut off even with the ground. Roy M. Madsen . Reuort From Truxton Canon ( Ariz - ona ) The Indians on the Yavapai Res- ervation have been getting along nicely on their projects during the week. Posts were hauled in from Wil- iarason Valley and work was started on the Fort Whipple fence. Yavapai Road and Whipple Well are almost com- pleted. Mr. All strom from the Albuquerque office dropped in and conducted a Red Cross school during the week. We were v&ry anxious to have all our leaders, machine operators and foremen attend the school which was held at Peach Springs. We are pleased to report that the Suraai Masonry Dam is now entirely com- pleted and ready to catch the first run-off. This project is a dam with a maximum height of thirteen feet built with limestone rock from the adjacent hillsides. Considerable time was required to secure and transport materials used in construction of the dam but the actual work of placing the rock required only about six weeks with a crew varying from nine to fifteen men. Mr. George Jones, the Indian leader in charge of the work, has completed a very excel- lent piece of construction and cannot be too highly commended for the way he has taken hold of the project and rushed it to completion. This is Mr. Jones' first job on the Hualapai Reservation but the manner in which he has attacked the work has earned him a high ranking in our supervisory force. Amos F. Barlow . Beetle Control At Warm Springs ( Oregon ) The beetle crews are now in full swing and are working out on the Bear Springs Road near the North boundary. For this week they have covered 1,240 acres and treated sixty-one trees. Our spotting crew, together with the Old Mill crew, have covered 3,200 acres and spotted 211 trees. The telephone construction crew working on the Agency-Simnasho tele- phone project have completed one mile of post hole digging and have set up one mile of telephone posts this week. They have been using the compressor on the rocky ground which they en- countered and then blasted the holes out. F. Murdock. Moving Activities At Pine Ridge ( South Dakota ) A good deal of time was spent in finishing moving to the pres- ent location and establishing the new camp. Due to the fact that the weath- er condition during the month was ideal, there was good progress made. We have wrecked the old stock corrals at the Agency and hauled the material to the camp to be used in the con- struction of a corral there. This was completed and a considerable bit of progress was made on a second one. William Hamilton. 51 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBHAHIES 3 9088 01625 0243


text:
More from Our Friends
- '24' Team Hopeful They'll Finish Jack Bauer's Story, Hint at Possible Cameos in 'Legacy'
- Calvin Harris Helps Jennifer Lopez Ring In Her 47th Birthday With Kim Kardashian -- Is He Still Throwing Shade at Taylor Swift?
- Brooklyn Beckham and Chloe Grace Moretz Are Still Going Strong After Yeezy Snafu
- Couple Gets Engaged During 'Supernatural' Comic-Con Panel
- Mother of Autistic Man Caught Up in Florida Police Shooting Says Her Son Is Traumatized
- Canada Teens Detained After Illegal Border Crossing Into US While Playing Pokemon Go
- Happy 68th, Snooty! World's Oldest Manatee Honored With Birthday Bash
- Self Described 'Boring' Tim Kaine Tapped To be Clinton's VP Nominee

subset: commoncrawl


text:
You are a fan of iowa marine ? Come to discover the best forums iowa marine on the internet and share your experience with a community fan of iowa marine . You can also build a forum iowa marine and create your online discussion.
A free non Cannon One Piece Forum.
jeweled, seas, free, piece, pirate, #marine, revolutionary, onepiece
A forum dedicated to the University of Iowa's powerlifting team.
university, #iowa, powerlifting, forum, dedicated, iowa's, team