THE CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
5
In addition to increasing the acreage farm ed, 32 more In d ian s have
gone on th eir allotm ents who never before as m uch as made a pretense
at farm ing anyw here.
An elaborate irrigation system has ju st been com pleted at a cost of
m any thousand of dollars, and now nearly all th e In d ian land on Pine
River is under ditch.
U p the valley, north of Ignacio, on a fertile mesa th a t never before
had a plow put on it, a fair idea may be gained of w hat is being done.
New fences line on each side of the road and grow ing crops have taken
the place of rank sage brush, w hich was all th ere was on th e ground
but a few weeks ago. T h e same transform ations have been made in
all parts of the valley—on th e D urango road west of tow n, south to
ward La Boca, on eith er side of th e river and east on S pring Creek the
transform ation and th e w ork th a t has been done in such a sh o rt tim e
after so many years of leth arg y is rem arkable.
A nnuity paym ents th at heretofore were spent m ostly for tru m p ery ,
brig h t colored blankets, gew gaw s, at gam bling or for firew ater, are now
placed on deposit and can be draw n only w ith a check signed by the
In d ian him self and the S u p erin ten d en t. U nder th is system , the m oney
paid by the governm ent is spent only for the th in g s th a t will do the
In d ian most good.
S tandard makes of w agons, harness, m achinery, and im plem ents are
sold to th e Indian farm ers at prices lower th an the local dealers can buy
at wholesale. M cCormick m ow ing m achines are sold them at $45,
binders $100, 3-inch S tu d eb ak er wagons at $65, galvanized barbed wire
at $2.50 per cw t., and other th in g s in proportion at actual cost to the
G overnm ent. On account of a reduced freight rate this cost is m uch
lower than the average person w ould suppose.
F o rty -eig h t head of horses have been bought th is year for the Indians
at prices ranging from $75 to $100, and 24 sets of harness have been
sold also.
T he policy of S u p erin ten d en t W est is to establish all th e In d ian s on
land as near the agency as possible w here th ey will be m ore directly
under the supervision of the S u p erin ten d en t and the farm ers who are
em ployed especially to direct th eir w ork. To this nine real estate tra n s
fers liavs been made since last fall, land at a distance being sold to w hite
men and tracts bought for the Indians nearer the A gency. In tim e
th is division of the S o uthern U tes —now num bering 360— will be brought
to farm s in the im m ediate vicinity of Ignacio.
If the present policy of dealing w ith the U te is continued in a few
years th is valley will be hard recognize as the same country.
W e can now look forw ard to the tim e when we will point w ith pride
th e m any well kept farm s of our Ute neighbors and when we will be
able to consider these people as citizens and assets to our com m unity
from any sta n d p o in t.— Ignacio (C o lo .) C hieftain.