Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-05-25
MESCALER0
APACHES
Younger Men and Women Be-
coming Civiized.-- .--0ld Peo-
pie Ayerse to Progress.
GOOD SCHOOL
ATTENDANCE
Indian Labor Utilized When and Where
Possible. ..-PeaceabIe and TractabIe
STEADY Advancement.

Dr. r !. Mcneil. physician at tn,
Mescalero Apache Indian Agency il
Lincoln County, who brought four Mes
calero boys to the U. S. Industrial In
dian School in this city, was seen by {
representative of the New Mexican
Yesterday and asked as to the condi
tion of affairs at the Mescaler6
agency
affairs there" he said. "are in &
very satisfactory condition. Superin
tendent Henry c. Carroll has eyes fol
everything and in every direction. He
is very painstaking. energetic and eff
cient and fully alive to the best inter
ests OF the government as well as OF
the Indians under his charge. By day
and by night he is at work; he is
scrupulously careful in the guarding OF
the interests of the government and
in doing everything possible for the
advancement and progress of the In
dans.
Evidences of Advancement.
There are now about $50 of these
Indians; their number has been sta
tionary of late years and there has
been no perceptible increase. There
are 112 male adults, above the age of
eighteen years and about $50 females
above that age. The remainder are
persons of both sexes under eighteen
years. There are 112 of school age,
that is between the years of six and
sixteen at the agency school, They
are of both sexes. There are also a
few not of school age and above eigh-
teen years attending the school. At
school they are docle, quiet orderly
and tractable. The progress they
make is as good as can be expected
considering the circumstances. Some
of the boys are quite ambitious and
the four | brought here yesterday re-
quested to be sent to the Industrial
Indian School that they might learn
more and do better than they could at
lhc agency. The 6ld ~ lnembers IF lie
tribe are very slow to adapt civiliza-
tion and prefer to live in tepees, al
though good log houses have been pro-
vided for their comfort The younger
members are becoming civilized and
the men and women of this class have
adopted civilized dress and customs. A
case in point is the one of Henry Trias,
who will next month marry Miss Vera
Shelta. The young fellow has been
working hard for several years to get
money enough to marry and the girl,
x,,l,r 5,+, ot hne, l.
wedding outfit to ST. Louis. Tras and
bride have agreed to live in a cottage
erected for them and will live in
American style.
Doing Well Materially
There are between 800 and 1000
acres of land under irrigation and
nearly all of this is cultivated. This is
located On the south fork of the Tula-
rosa River. There are also several
hundred acres upon which crops can
be raised without irrigation and these
are planted in cats. A number of In
dians have gore into the sheep and
goat raising business. Several of them
own focks of several thousand head
of sheep and goats Andy little, who
is OF Mexican parentage, but who was
captured by the Apaches when baby
and brought up by them and married
an Indian woman, owns about $500 of
these animals and is the wealthiest of
the tribe He sold 5000 pounds of
wool this spring at thirteen cents per
pound. Cattle and sheep have not
done we'll this last winter and this
spring because of the long prevailing
drouth. We have had no rain of any
consequence since July of last year
and very little snow fall in the noun.
tains on the reservation. Unless we
get good deal of rain promptly there
will be great losses among the cattle
and sheep of this section, although not
so much among the animals owned by
the Indians. as there is still plenty of
pasture on the reservation and as in
the higher mountains there is consid-
cradle water. Portions of the reserva-
ton, as the Elk Springs and Three
Rivers sections, have been leased to
stockmen and Indians derive an in
come of several thousand dollars an
nua1ly from these leases.
New Buildings.
Superintendent Carroll is now en-
gagged in erecting new and modern
buildings for administration Offices for
shops, for quarters for the employees
and also to be used as school build
ings. Several of these have been CON-
pleted and others are in course Of con-
struction 1t is planned to build sew
eral modern two story houses sup
piled with all modern improvements
for school and administrators use.
Some of these will be Of brick and
some Of frame. The brick have been
made and burnt by Indian labor and
are ou the ground ready for use. A
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