IRRIGATION WORK OF THE CROW INDIANS. 



THE CROW COUNTRY. 



The Crow Reservation is about the size of the 

 State of Connecticut, and will probably support fully 

 as many people at some time in the future. The 

 government purchased 1,800,000 acres on the west 

 side of the reservation, and there was still left to the 

 Indians a little principality of 2,913,960 acres. The 

 Crow country has a varied landscape. There are 

 undulated plains, areas of mesa and valley, pine- 

 covered ridges, grass-covered hills, with rivers and 

 small streams, fringed with a luxuriant growth of 

 native grasses. The surrounding mountains form a 

 picturesque background. There is also considerable 

 broken land. The reservation flanks the outer 

 ranges of the Rocky Mountain system, where it 

 begins to blend into the great plains region. The 

 altitude ranges from 2,700 feet along the lower val- 

 leys to 8,500 feet at the crests of the Big Horn 

 mountains, and perhaps 3,500 feet is the average 

 altitude. The soil in the valleys is generally good, and 

 the climate is described as "between cold and tem- 



THE RIVER SYSTEM. 



The Big Horn is the important river of the Crow 

 territory. Rising far to the south in the heart of the 

 Rockies, it drains an immense territory in Western 

 Wyoming. It becomes a tributary of the Yellow- 

 stone in Montana. The discharge of the river was 

 found to range from 2,263 to 5,700 cubic feet per sec- 

 ond. The Big Horn river enters the reservation 

 through a narrow gorge from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in 

 depth and sixty miles in length. The river debouches 

 from this canyon at a point twenty miles north of the 

 Montana line into the largest and most important 

 valley of the reservation. On the east side the 

 line of the foothills follows the general course of the 

 river, three or four miles from it, and rising abruptly 

 from the surface of the valley, they distinctly mark 

 its outlines. The valley on this side extends down 

 the river for some thirty miles or more, and its sur- 

 face is rather smooth and unbroken, except occa- 

 sionally where cut by washes and streams in the 

 hilly part to the east. Within this strip of valley 

 there are from 40,000 to 60,000 acres, about three- 

 fourths of which is suitable for irrigation. The total 

 number of acres of irrigable land in the Big Horn 

 valley is 80,000. 



THE SEAT OF THE AGENCY. 



The valley of the Little Big Horn lies just west of 

 the Big Horn valley, and opens into it about midway 

 between the mountains and the Yellowstone River. 

 These two valleys together furnish all of the territory 

 of the irrigable lands and water supplies that the 

 Indians can ever possibly need. The agency, with 

 its churches, school buildings, store houses and other 

 improvements, is located in the Little Big Horn val- 

 ley. In this respect it is the central point of the 

 reservation. The Little Big Horn river has its 

 source in the mountains, also in northern Wyoming, 

 but so near the Montana line that its waters, as well 

 as its principal tributaries, flow directly into the 

 reservation and cannot be diverted elsewhere. The 

 general course of this river is north, but, gradually in 

 varying to the west, it empties into the Big Horn at 

 a point about thirty-five miles above the junction of 

 the latter stream with the Yellowstone. 



The valley proper is a narrow strip from one to 

 two miles in width, bounded on either side by a 

 broken line of hills and bluffs from 50 to 200 feet in 

 height. The valley of the Yellowstone river also 



furnishes considerable land of excellent quality, well 

 suited to irrigation. Along the south side of the 

 river, the northern part of the reservation, there are 

 40,000 to 50,000 acres of bottom land. It is probable 

 that one irrigation system could be made to supply 

 the entire tract, but nothing will be done here at 

 present, as the works in course of construction in the 

 Little Big Horn and the Big Horn valleys will sup- 

 ply the Indians with all the land they can possibly 

 cultivate. 



THREE CANAL LINES. 



Along Pryor creek and its tributaries in the ex- 

 treme western part of the reservation, there is also 

 considerable irrigable land, with an available water 

 supply. Three canal lines have been surveyed on 

 the reservation, but that on the east side of the Big 

 Horn valley was selected as the one promising to 

 meet most satisfactorily the requirements at this 

 time, as it involved no excessive expenditures. The 

 location of the head works, at the opening of the 

 canyon, is a most favorable one, the river at this 

 point being narrow, only 200 feet in width, a r.d the 

 steep rock walls affording excellent anchorage for 

 the diverting works. 



MEANS FOR THE WORK. 



The government paid the Crows for the ceded 

 land $946,000, and of this amount $200,000 were set 

 apart to be expended by the Interior Department 

 for irrigation works in the Big Horn, the Little Big 

 Horn and Pryor Creek valleys. A very important 

 provision was made, as follows: "Not to exceed 

 $50,000 shall be annually expended in performing 

 this work of irrigation, and provided further that the 

 superintendent in charge of said work shall, in the 

 employment of laborers, be required to give prefer- 

 ence to such Indians of the Crow tribe as are com- 

 petent and willing to work at the average wages 

 paid to white laborers for the same kind of work, and 

 the laborers so employed shall be paid in cash." 



The sum of $75,000 was set apart for the mainte- 

 nance and management of this system of irrigation; 

 $25,000 for the construction of grist mills, one to be 

 located in each of the valleys mentioned ; $20,000 for 

 construction and maintenance of the sub-Indian 

 depot, to be located on Pryor creek ; $5,000, or as 

 much as necessary, for building houses; $10,000 for 

 repairing and improving the houses of Indians now 

 erected on the reservation; $3,000 for the equipment 

 of blacksmith shops; $552,000 approriated and set 



A BIT OF THE DESERT. 



