NO. 6 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I92O 75 



THE OJIBWA OF MINNESOTA 



During the fall of the past year. Dr. Ales Hrdlicka was called ones 

 more to Minnesota to assist the Department of Justice in settling the 

 subject of mixed bloods and pure bloods among the Ojibwa. (See 

 Smithsonian Explorations for 191 /.) 



The whole work, now concluded, presents a good illustration of the 

 practical value of anthro])ology in certain directions. The results are 

 outlined in the following extracts from a letter to the Institution from 

 Mr. R. C. Bell, Special Assistant to the Attorney General : 



The Department of Justice in 1910 instituted approximately 1500 suits in 

 the United States Court for the District of Minnesota involving Indian lands. 

 This Htigation to January, 1916, has cost the government a very large sum 

 and little had been accomplished. 



The blood status of the Indians became the determining factor and it was 

 ascertained that all the available evidence (principally testimony as to 

 genealogy) on this issue was found unreliable and always unsatisfactory. 

 Consequently, the Department of Justice, in the spring of 1916, procured the 

 services of Dr. Hrdlicka to make a physical examination of the Indians and 

 report his conclusions as to their status. The doctor spent more than three 

 months in this work and examined approximately 800 individuals. 



The Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and counsel for 

 the defendants agreed to accept his findings as a basis for settlement, and 

 the litigation now has been terminated, resulting in the recovery of more than 

 $1,000,000 in land and money for the Indians; besides, the cost of the work 

 since 1916 has been insignificant in comparison to the cost prior to that time. 



Furthermore, a commission was created by an Act of Congress to make a 

 roll of the allottees of the White Earth Reservation. The law required, in 

 addition to much other information, that the blood status of the Indians be 

 given. This roll, which affects the title to approximately 725,0000 acres of 

 land, has been completed ; and the commission in preparing it followed the 

 findings of the doctor. Only those thoroughly familiar with the situation can 

 appreciate the far-reaching importance of this work. 



FIELD-WORK ON THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 

 The Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Dr. J. Walter 

 Fewkes, continued his field-work on the Mesa Verde National Park, 

 Colorado, during June, August, and September, 1920, in cooperation 

 with the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. 

 Excavation and repair work was done on the Fire Temple Group and 

 Oak Tree House, ruins in Fewkes Canyon and at Cedar Tree Tower, 

 situated about a mile north of Spruce Tree House, leading to im- 

 portant contributions to our knowledge of the culture of cliff dwellers. 

 He was ably assisted in this work by Air. J. A. Jeancon, who made 

 the originals of the ground plans of the Fire Temple Group and 

 Cedar Tree Tower here published. 



