The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-25
INDIANS AS LUMBERMEN
Chippewas Getting Rich on Their Resel
walton Along Lake Superior.

1
| A special correspondent of the New
York Sun at Duluth, Mimi, says the ex-
| pertinent of using Indian labor in the
| logging woods is being carried on by the
Red Cliff Lumber company of this city,
which has contract for cutting many
millions of feet of pine in reservations
on the south shore of Lake Superior.
The company's contracts We're made
with the Indian bureau. The Indians
not only get money for their timber,
which is invested by the government
and paid to them i'll installments, but
they are also kept at work so long as
the timber remains on their lands, thus
giving them employment and teaching
| them an occupation.
On the Red Cliff, Dad River and Lac
de Flambeau reservations there are saw
mills, each built and operated under this
agreement with the Indian bureau, and
all the adult male Indians who want to
work are kept busy all the year round
They have sold their lumber for a large
price, the government has put their
money into bonds and pays them the
interest, it gives them many other ia
vors, and they are able to earn money
enough to keep themselves and families
in comfort, so that in time every Chip
pewa family on these reservations ought
to be well off. For many years there
has not been time when these Indians
We're in need of food, nor have they ever
become beggars as most Of the other
fedS nave when once removed from
their original territory.
The experiment of working these In
dams was undertaken with considerable
timidity, but it has proven successful.
It has been found that three men must
be kept ready for the work that two
whites would do, two workers and a
sub" for the Indian will not work
long at stretch. He must knock off
work once in awhile and take rest in
his tepee. An understudy is necessary
to keep the force up to full strength
In most cases they are not trusted with
responsible work. In the woods they
are choppers, cooks, sWampers, but
never teamsters or leaders. At the mills
in summer they are common laborers,
car pushers, pile leaders, ETC., but sell
dom machine hands, head pliers, saw
yers or skilled men. Skilled work they
do at times, but usually in couples. with
a white man to act as leader, as in the
lumber piles, where three men are
needed for the work. There are excep-
tons to this rule, and some of the In
dams have shown as much aptitude for
business as whites and there are few
on each reservation who are taking con-
tracts independently and doing well in
the logging business. These are able to
get along without white help. In most
cases where ambitious Chippewas have
tried contracting it has been found that
the chief trouble was in the refusal Of
men of their own race to obey orders
tor to work for the Indian boss as they
would for white man. Most of the In
dian contractors have gone broke as the
result of just this fact
About 45,000,000 feet of lumber are be-
ing cut this winter on the three reser-
yations in which these contracts have
been made by the Indian department.
In these operations some 400 Indians
find as steady employment as they are
willing to accept. They work well when
they work at all, and receive the same
wages as whites from $40 to $40 month
and keep. In the summer at the mills
they get from 81 to $1.25 day