Evening star., 1897-11-03
THEY TILL THE SOIL.
crow Indians, Once n warliLe Nation,
Are Now Farmers,

Crow Indians, Once n Warlike Nation,
Are Now Farmers.
From the Helena Independent
ITS all mistake to suppose that the
only good Indian is dead Indian" said
man in the employ of the United States.
who arrived yesterday from the Crow res
ervation. I've just come from a place
where there are good live Indians and
many OF them, too. / used to think that
knew thing or two about our tribal In
dians. but 1 lately come to the conclusion
that had known mighty little about them.
after all.
"hen was among the Crow Indians
nine years ago If you had told me that in
lew years these same Indians would be
farming. digging irrigation canals and
working for wages, / would have told you
hrmiy, but politely, 1 hope that YOU were
TOOL Wen, this has all been accomplish
ed on the Crow reservation and more The
Indians there are farming or MANY of
them are, and are making a success of
their work, too.
This year the Indians have raised some
fine crops, and they are beginning to show
signs OF prosperity and thrift They are
not doing as well as they will do in five
years from now. but that can not be ex-
pected. A large per cent of the farming
mas. mas oeen carried on by communities, but
mat system mas not proved satisfactory.
IL never did any place in the world and il
won't there, for there are always some
more industrious and thrifty persons in
each community who feel, and doubtless
with justice, that they do not get their
snare OF the proceeds at the end of the
year, while there are others too lazy to
work much, who get about as much out of
the community property as the thrifty,
hard-working class. In time it is bound
to come to individual farms on all parts of
the reservation, for that is the only satis-
1aclory way TO manage the business.
The greatest wonder of all on the Crow
reservation is the irrigating canals that
have been built there. Work was COM
menced on them in 1890, / believe and
since then eight big canals, carving suffi-
cient water to irrigate from 1900 to 1oOOO
acres each, have been completed and are
row In use, while a NINTH the largest ditch
OF all, is being constructed. This big canal
VIII extend from the mouth of the Big
horn canyon about forty-five miles to a
point within five miles of Fort Custer The
water, you know, is taken from the Rig
Horn river, down which the canal extends
for the first five miles. Nine miles of the
canal have been built
The character of the work on this canal
must certainly impress any one, and par
ucularly the person who has allowed him.
Self to believe that Indians are absolutely
worthless. All the canals constructed by
the government on the reservation were
built mainly by the Indians themselves
fhe skilled labor for the most part of
course. was taken from the ranks of the
whites, but out of about 175 men now
working on the canal there are only thirty
or forty white men. i was told by the SUI
perintendent in charge that the Indians
We're becoming skilled in the various
branches of the work. While most of the
Indians are mere laborers, there are some
who are on the executive force There are
several Indian gang foremen and sub
bosses, and they do their work we'll
The StrangeSt part of this work to me
is the fact that the Indians delight to la
lor. l am told that there is not the least
trouble In securing laborers from among
the Indians. = In fact. there is an oversup-
ply all the time. and sometimes this be-
comes so annoying that the agent is re-
are cases on record where the Indian DO
lice have been offered, and paid too sums
ranging from 81 up by Indians who desired
to be overlooked in the selection of those
who We're to be sent away. The laborers
are paid $1.50 day, and the men with
teams get 50 a day. Those who have posi-
tions as foremen get even better wages
They save their money, as a rule, and in
vest it in sensible ways.
1.-The big canal will carry water enough to
irrigate about $4,000 acres of land That
part that Is built now, or the upper portion
of it, at least, is 50 feet broad al the bot
tom, and it will carry a stream feet deep
"a veritable river in itself The walls of
the canal are 20 feet high at its head. This
great height was necessary, the Big
Horn river in the spring occasionally gets
very high. The first five miles of the canal
We're hewed out of almost solid rock. About
10000 pounds of dynamite We're used on
that part of the canal already completed.
Every feature of the work is perfect and
one can't help but be impressed with the
permanency of it."