KG. 6 SMiTUsoxiAX i:x ri.< »KATioxs. 1920 75 



THE OJIBWA OF MINNESOTA 



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

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

 subject of mixed bloods and pure blodds among the ( )iibwa. (See 

 Smithsonian Explorations for 191 7.) 



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

 jiractical value of anthropology in certain directions. The results are 

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

 yiv. R. C. Bell, Special Assistant to the Attorney (ieneral : 



The Department of Justice in 1910 instituted approximately 1500 suits in 

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

 This litigation to January, 1910, 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 tlie 

 services of Dr. Hrdlicka to make a pliysical 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 

 Sr.ooo.ooo 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 723,0000 acres of 

 land, has l)een com])leted ; and the commission in preparing it followed the 

 findings of the doctor. r)nly those thoroughly familiar willi the situation can 

 appreciate the far-reaching importance of this work. 



FIELD-WOKK OX Till-: Ml-.SA \ IIRDK NATIONAL PARK 

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

 Eewkes, continued his field-work on the Mesa X'crdc National Park, 

 Colorado, during June. August, and September, 19JO. in cooperati»»n 

 with the National Park Service of the l)c])artnK'nt of the Interior. 

 I{lxcavation and repair work was done on tlu' hire TempU' ( iroup ami 

 r)ak Tree 1 louse, ruins in hewkes Canyon and at Cedar Tree Tower, 

 situated about a mile north of Spruce Tree 1 louse, leading to im- 

 portant contributions to our knowledge of the t ultnrc of clitV <lwclU'rs. 

 lie was ably assisted in this work by Mr. J. .\. jeancon, wlio made 

 the originals of the groimd j)lans of the bire rem])le (Iroup and 

 Cedar Tree I ower here publisbcil. 



