Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-21
stock In sight,
Indians who Gun Farm Ms We'll ms
the White Man.

inc hltt VIM.
A writer in the New York Evening
Post says he has had opportunities re-
Gently of looking somewhat into the work.
ings of two of the schools on the Ute
aEency-one at the Uintah agency, on the
river of the same name, about fifteen miles
above Fort Du Chcsne. for the Uintah and
White river bands of Utes, and the other
near the junction of that river with the
Du Chosne, about six miles below the fort.
for the UnCompahgre band of Utes. The
buildings are large and Commodious, solidly
and tastefully constructed, and provided
with everything necessary for the comfort
and easy progress of the pupils. The chill
dren within the ordinary school age on the
two reservations are, in round numbers,
about 500. OF these there were at the
former school during the past term about
seventy-ive, and at the latter about fifty;
in other words, about one out of every four
OF these children was a pupil. This will be
considered a most excellent showing when
1t is observed that the schools have been
in existence but a few years. and recollected
that the Indian has been led to think that
in sending his children to school he rather
confers than receives a favor. The progress
of these children in the rudiments of Eng
fish study and in the industrial branches
has been simply wonderful. They talk and
act just as white school children of the
same age and with the same advantages
talk and act, and in the study of books
they are equally as apt and industrious. In
cooking, sewing and all the other essentials
of ordinary housekeeping the girls display
neatness. dispatch and thoroughness, and
the same is true of the boys in mechanical
and field work. A person from the east, in
looking and talking with them, especially
the younger ones, can hardly realize that
only a few months before they would run
from a white man or white woman like an
antelope, or dodge and hide from either like
a squirrel.
The farms belonging to the schools show
all the marks of care, thrift and good man
rn,,nn Tl,Ay n-n ,,nlI rn1Ar ..,II
watered and well cultivated. The grounds
Immediately about the buildings are taste
fully laid out. excellently paved and thickly
planted in trees. For these things much OF
the credit is due the pupils, especially the
male pupils, who, under the direction Of
the officers and by their assistance and that
Of the employees, have done the work. But
this is not all. Between these two schools
and around Fort Du Chesne, for a distance
of over twenty miles up and along the
Uintah river, and below for a distance Of
sixteen or eighteen miles down and along
the Du Chesne river, extends a belt Of hne
valley land, embracing many thousand
acres, which is dotted all about with neat
houses, generally three-roomed, having
brick chimneys and glass windows. These
houses, occupied by Indians, stand in the
midst of little farms largely seeded in al
falfa, by the side of which, in season. Is al
ways found the potato patch, together with
small fields of wheat and oats. The whole
of this strip of country, in length nearly
forty miles, under a system of irrigating
canals, cut mainly by the Indians, has the
appearance of a civilized settlement; and
If it is not exactly one, 1t is more than
half civilized, while rapidly advancing to
the other and higher state. 1t should be
said of the adult Indians on these farms,
as of their children on the school farms,
that they have done the greater part OF the
work of building, d%itching, fencing and cul-
tiVating.
The evidences of Indian advancement here
pragnuta1 arn I nrUn1V tho nntUrnUIh nf thpgA
schools. The settlements are thickest in
the vicinity of the school buildings, made
there by the older Indians in order to be
close to their children; and while these
children, in many instances, give their par
ents the benefit of school-trained assist
ance in building, managing and cultivating,
there close by, and constantly before their
eyes, stands the school farm, as an object
lesson, suggestive of the neatness, thrift
and industry required to reach and hold
the true comforts of life. In this connection,
as further evidence of the earnest wish OF
these Indians to improve their condition., 1t
ought to be mentioned that applications for
farms by those living in tepees on the re-
moter and wilder sections of the reserva-
tions are largely on the increase. During
the past six or eight months they have
come in very rapidly-now and then at the
rate of two or three per week-and in each
case immediate attention has been asked,
In order that all necessary preparation
might be made for occupancy and cultiva-
ton at the beginning of the next season.
A very slight examination into the life OF
this valley will discover not only Indian
children, who, as previously intimated, were
a short time ago wild and impish, now be-
ing prepared by schools for the demands OF
a higher civilization, but Indian women,
who have heretofore been scarcely more
than wandering beasts of burden, now in
telligently and profitably attending to do
nestle duties, and Indian men, who hitherto
have mainly thought of war and the
chase, or, at best, of living as pensioners
upon the bounty Of the government, now
busily and actively engaged. as farmers, In
hOeing, cutting canals and bitches
and building fences and houses; as freight
in transporting supplies TO and from
and about the reservations; as
lumbermen, in telling trees and cutting,
sawing and hauling timber-in a word, as
laborers generally, in meeting and satisfy
ing many OF the chief requirements and
needs OF active industrial life. In a few
years, with certain required legislation by
II may be reasonably predicted
that this new and thriving Indian settle
ment-a settlement as new as II Is thriving, 4
for but a few of the farms are over two
years old, and most OF them have been
opened during the last twelve months-wHl
be in such an advanced condition as to for
ever put to rest all doubts as to the inclfna-
ton and ability OF at least some or these
western Indians to rise fully to the plane
Of earnest, Industrial enterprise and prog
ress.
Persons who have a coughing spell every
night on account of a tickling sensation In
the throat may overcome II at once by q
dose OF one Minute Cough Cure.