92 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS \"0L. 66 



Ball and Ruin Canyons. The special object was to compare them 

 with Sun Temple, a mysterious building uncovered last year ( 191 5) 

 on the Mesa Verde. The data obtained, too exteaisive to be here 

 considered save in a general way, support the view, already pub- 

 lished, that the tow^er is a type of kiva or ceremonial room. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK AMONG THE SIOUX AND 

 CHIPPEWA 



Certain critical conditions among the Chippew'a tribe and particu- 

 larly that part of the tribe which occupies the White Earth reserva- 

 tion, have led during the year just past to anthropological work in 

 this tribe, and among the Sioux, which proved not only highly desir- 

 able and interesting, but was followed so far as the Chippewa are 

 concerned by certain very practical results. 



The Chippewa tribe as a whole is considerably mixed with whites. 

 Most of this mixture is of French origin, but that of more recent 

 times includes different elements of whites now settled or employed 

 in the country. 



In behalf of the numerous mixed-bloods on the White Earth 

 reservation, some of whom are well educated and self-supporting, 

 the United States Congress in 1906- 1907 enacted laws which made 

 possiljle individual allotments of the tribal lands and permitted aliena- 

 tion of property. Some of the allotments were covered with 

 valuable timber, while others were desirable on account of the rich 

 soil, the proximity to lakes, or for other reasons. The majority 

 of the Indians were poor, without knowledge of the value of their 

 proj^erty or of the ways of white men, and with little or no pro- 

 tection. They became a rapid and easy prey of lumber companies 

 and a multitude of land sharks, as a result of which, within a few 

 years, hvuidreds of individuals, including full-bloods and minors, 

 were pauperized, and the White Earth affair became one of the 

 most shameful pages in the history of the white man's dealings with 

 the Indian. 



These facts are mentioned, however, only because they led to the 

 anthropological study of the tribe. The frauds practised against the 

 White Earth Chippewa became known to the Covernment, and a 

 serious and prolonged effort was made by the Department of Justice 

 to correct the evil. During the course of the last few years, more 

 than fifteen hundred suits were filed against companies and individ- 

 uals concerned in the frauds, and many of these could have been 

 settled in justice to the Indian had it not been for the uncertainty 

 respecting the blood status of many of those involved. Efforts were 



I 



