TH E C H E M A W A
A M E R IC A N
3
use, th e C om m issioner has m ade special effort to increase the interest in
farm ing and for th is purpose em ployed d u rin g the past year 450 farm ers
to in stru c t the In d ian s. T h e atten tio n of these farm ers has been called
to the determ ined purpose of the Com m issioner to offer every In d ian an
o pportunity to better his in d u strial condition. T hey have been directed
to give th eir tim e to actual farm ing instruction.
D uring th e year, Indian fairs were held on tw enty-tw o reservations
and Indian ex h ib its displayed at eight state and county fairs.
M ention is m ade of the extensive discoveries of oil in O klahom a, and
especially of the m easures adopted to reduce to a m inim um the waste in ci
dent to th e drillin g for and p roducing of o il. T h e enorm ous production
in the C ushing and H ealdton fields necessitated the hasty construction of
open earthen tan k s for storage purposes, and m uch waste resulted through
evaporation and seepage. A nother source of w aste to w hich atten tio n
is directed is of natu ral gas found in connection w ith drillin g operations,
w hich has been perm itted to “ blow o ff,’’ or escape into the air. S trin
g ent regulations, providing a penalty, have been prom ulgated to prevent
th is w aste, and in the instance of several lessees large fines were imposed
for failure to com ply w ith these regulations.
T he Com m issioner finds th at one of his tasks will be the conserving o f
Indian w ater rig h ts from reservation irrigation projects, w here they con
flict w ith the state and individual appropriation by w hites. Some p ro g
ress has been made tow ard perfecting these rig h ts in the In d ian ow ners of
lands, and particu lar m ention is m ade of th e lo n g sta n d in g contention for
w ater rig h ts on the Y akim a Indian Reservation in the State of W ash in g
ton, w hich has been settled in part th ro u g h legislation in the last Congress
w hereby th e In d ian s are to receive w ater from th e storage reservoir con
structed by the Reclam ation Service, free of charge, sufficient for forty
acres of each eighty-acre allotm ent. A ggressive m easures are being
taken to secure to the In d ian s of other reservations an equitable a d ju st
m ent of th eir w ater rig h ts.
O ne of th e biggest resources of the Indian lies in his forests, 'file
C om m isioner prom ises to wisely adm inister th is vast resourse, the key
note of w hich will be the industrial developm ent of th e Inuian through
th e judicious sale and m an u factu re of tim ber.
T h ere are approxim ately eighty saw mills on Indian lands, the o w n
ership of w hich is divided equally betw een the O overnm ent and private
individuals. T h e m ost im p o rtan t of such enterprises owned by the O ov
ernm ent is the M enom inee Indian mill at N eopit, W isconsin, w here d u r
ing the year there were m anufatured 37,000,000 feet of lum ber. M anu
factured lum ber to the am ount of more than half a m illion dollars is on
hand in the yards at this m ill. D uring the succeeding fiscal year, the
Com m issioner proposes to give special attention to the com pletion of an