Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-13

batch of nicely Drowned mutton
chops.
Forestry and numbering is one of
the vast Industrial enterprises of the
Indians of today. They own 6,500.O00
acres OF valuable timber land, conser-
vatively valued at 100000. These
forests are rapidly and economically
being converted into lumber through
the daily operation of seventythree
sawmills located upon the various
reservations The most extensive lum-
bering operation Is conducted on the
Menominee reservation in Wisconsin.
which turns out about 20.000.000 feet
of lumber each year. The logs are
brought to the mills over a logging
railroad distance of eighteen miles.
The lumber produced at these mills
consists principally of white pine,
hemlock. birch. Eastwood. elm and
maple. So we'll manufactured Is this
lumber that ready market is found
in Milwaukee. Chicago and neighbour
ing cities.
Perhaps the biggest line of business
coming under the management of the
Indian commissioner is the handling
of the oil and gas wells and coal mines
located on the Indian reservations In
Oklahoma. The mineral properties OF
the Indians in that state have In
creased in value and greatly enlarged
the work Of the Indian bureau in re-
cent years. The 2.1S8 Osages. whose
property, aide from the mineral
product. valued at $20,00O,000, re-
ceived during the year 1918 an income
of $S,0O0.000 from oil and gas alone.
The restricted Indians of the five civil
lized tribes also received $4,O0O.OOO
royalty from oil and gas during the
same year. During the past six years
the royalties paid the Indians on Oil,
gas coal and other minerals amount
ed to $27,637.0oo. conservative
value of the individual and tribal
property Of the Indians. exclusive OF
oil and gas. is $667,o00.O00. Add to
this the value Of oil and gas proper
ties and It will run we'll above the
billion mark.
The progressive red men have
found that 1t pays better to raise
good crops. They are damming the
rivers and creeks that flow through
their arid and semi-arid lands and
are conveying this "harnessed" water
to their broad and fertile acres by the
latest and most approved scientific
irrigation methods. The result Is
astonishing. Land that was idle for
centuries, producing nothing but
lizards, rattlesnakes, skeletons and
buzzard food. is now producing
crops worth $500 per acre each year.
These crops are varied, consisting OF
alfalfa, corn, cotton and vegetables
of all kinds.
The Indians are. rapidly learning
that civilization begins and ends
with the pillow. Like some white peo-
pie. they are catching the great idea
that those who till the soil are bene-
factors of the human race and pro-
duce the stuff that makes for all
kinds of progress, development and
civilization.
Forty thousand Indians have al
ready become enthusiastic farmers
and their number is increasing each
season. The crops produced by these
thrifty agriculturists last year were
sold for more than S12000000.
The Indian bureau is rendering all
possible encouragement to the In
dian through the establlshme of
experimental farms. One OF these
farms Is maintained at Sacaton, on
the Prlma reservation, in Arizona, in
cooperation with the bureau Of plant
industry of the Department Of Agri-
culture. The main object is to de-
tcrmine the variety OF crops best
suited to the unusual conditions Of
the southwest. The most conspicuous
achievement Of this work has been
the development of what 10 known as
the "Prima" variety Of long staple
Egyptian cotton. Seed for this pvr-
pose was imported from Egypt aud