FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



2 33 



sistance could be given, and in many 

 cases the Indians took matters in their 

 own hands, building ditches to the best 

 of their ability; some proving successes, 

 others failures. 



It was as difficult in the early days 

 as now to secure money appropriations 

 for an unknown project. This, in con- 

 junction with the few and modest de- 

 mands made for irrigation systems on 

 Indian reservations at that time, may 

 account for the slow though steady 

 growth of a policy that has been proven 

 wise without having to its discredit any 

 big or costly experimental blunders. 



During later years the further en- 

 croachment of the whites, the increasing 

 aridity, the gradual doing away with 

 the baneful ration system, the com- 

 mendable allotting of lands in severalty , 

 the progress and advancement of the 

 Indian through natural and educational 

 channels, and his awakening to a fuller 

 realization of the new conditions, coup- 

 led with a natural desire for existence 

 and welfare, are all tending to increase 

 his demands for arable lands, for homes, 

 for a chance to become self-supporting 

 and independent. Urgent pleas are 

 coming now from all the reservations 

 within the arid region, and they call for 

 irrigation works of greater magnitude 

 than were formerly thought of. To 

 carry them out will necessitate expendi- 

 tures in excess of amounts that have 

 heretofore been appropriated, since the 

 limitations and restrictions are such 

 that the Indians cannot undertake the 

 work unaided. To make a success of 

 it a plan of procedure will have to be 

 elaborated from the methods of the past. 



In the old days, when the need for an 

 irrigation ditch was apparent and its 

 utility reasonably assured, usually the 

 government agent urged the Indians to 

 construct it, detailing to their assistance 

 any of his available employes, and aiding 

 them in whatsoever manner he could. 

 Sometimes an increased ration or an 

 extra article of issue was the incentive 

 to labor; in some cases a small daily 

 wage was paid, while in the non-ration 

 tribes an issue of food was nearly always 

 responded to. 



Sometimes a little money could be had 

 to pay for the running of a level line by 



some local surveyor, if such could be 

 found in the region. Often the grade 

 or fall of the ditch was determined by a 

 carpenters' level and a long, straight- 

 edged plank, by a wooden triangle and 

 a plumb bob. or by digging or plowing 

 a small furrow for a short distance and 

 running water into the little channel. 



While most of these early ditches were 

 crude makeshifts, resembling the little 

 acequias of the Mexicans, they have 

 served their purpose and done good 

 work. 



In later years both individual and 

 communal farming among the Indians 

 have greatly increased, and the demands 

 for more and larger arable tracts has 

 necessitated the undertaking of larger, 

 better, and more permanent irrigation 

 works. When a meritorious case is 

 presented a local engineer is sometimes 

 secured to make an examination and re- 

 port on the scheme. If it is found feasi- 

 ble, he may be continued on the work 

 to direct it to completion, or one of the 

 superintendents of irrigation, in the 

 employ of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

 of the Department of the Interior for 

 such work, may be assigned to it. 



While the object is to give the Indian 

 productive farming land, it has been the 

 custom, with very few exceptions, to 

 employ him in every way possible on the 

 work. The idea is to give him manual 

 training, to teach him to build and care 

 for a ditch, to create a market for his 

 labor, and make him work for a daily 

 wage, even though he be paid to work 

 for his own advantage. Under such a 

 system it has been possible to do most 

 of the work with Indian labor, and only 

 such material as the reservation could 

 not furnish has been bought, and such 

 skilled labor as the Indian could not do 

 has been hired. As a rule the Indian 

 has proved an apt and willing pupil, 

 doing as good and as much work as 

 white employes in like occupations, and 

 is reliable and trustworthy. 



In some instances money has been 

 secured for the construction of these 

 irrigation systems by small annual ap- 

 propriations for the past few years, or 

 by special appropriation to some par- 

 ticular scheme, or by tribal sanction 

 for the application of their own funds. 



