The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-03
Lumber Camp Run By Government On
 Indian Reservation

Menominee Indian Reservation, Kesheno, Wis, July 3.-The Federal government operates, on this Indian | reservation, complete north woods logging industry, including a saw mill valued at quarter of a million dollars.
 It is a successful money making industry, which since about 1914 has put more than two million dollars net profit in the tribal fund of the Men fly to make money, but to afford an opportunity for Menominees to learn business.
 This government lumber camp works in a tract of 227,O00 acres of timber l land, with about 50 miles of railroa d | to haul out the logs, and the rail head at Neopit. in the heart of the by white men, under the general su- pervision of Edgar A. Allen, super intendent of the reservatin, and the logging operations under G. A. Clutches, manager of the operation, a University of Michigan man. White lumberjacks and contractors have done the largest portion of the work,
 for the Indians have not taken to 1 numbering readily.
 The Menominees are encouraged not l only to work in the camps and the ] mill for wages, but to undertake op- sponsibility. Comparatively small tracts are assigned for this purpose. where an Indian undertakes to clear the logs and deliver them to the rail- road, hiring his own help, and fur nishing teams and equipment. This requires capital, skill and business ability. It is not necessary for the Indian jobbers to have capital to intendent of their responsibility, the governmen. advances the means for them to try to make good and to be- l come independent. There are several | Indian jobbers now at work. One l of these camps is conducted by a Carlisle graduate, who was a notable ball player in his college days, and who now plays summer baseball with | the Neopit Indian team.
 Among the staff of white men in the lumber camps is former New York state theatrical man, who re- | tired after making some money, be- | for the camps. studied farming out of | books, and this summer this 3 or 14 | acres under cultivation about the | camps to supply fresh vegetables. Superintendent Clutches conducts the
 major part of the numbering opera 1 tions and watches the market for dis l posing of the lumber His part of the | training work is to show the Indians l the right way, for he says there is one
 right way of getting out logs and about 50 that are wrong. He showed some of the camps a few fundamenta | that raised the amount of their pro-
 
 | witho increasing the labor or the 1 expense. These other loggers were not taking everything as they went, nor clearing the brush and leaving
 the land ready either for reforestra- i tion or farming. The brush and the
 occasional logs that they left multi | piled their work incredibly.
 | Washington maintains an active su- pervision over the entire establish ment. At one of the woods camps ! pine log was used to make water ing trough. Charges were filed that good pine logs were being wasted for watering troughs, and an investigation was held.
 Congress determines how fast these Menominee forests shall be cleared and reservation officials estimate that at the present rate, 60 years will be required for clearing. Congress also determines how often and how much money from the lumber profits shall be distributed among the Menoninees. One year this amounted to about $500 a head, while on other years it has
 been as low as S10 each, and on some
 years nothing at all