2. Installing of an electric gate-lifting device at the main dam.

The caretaker finds it necessary to call for assistance, which is not always at hand, in raising the gates. This should be remedied, as a catastrophe might occur if proper assistance should not be available at a critical moment. (Rept., p. 981.)

3. Widening and improving the main or Idaho Canal which brings the water of the Snake River to the Blackfoot River.

The canal should be thoroughly cleaned and enlarged where necessary, and all impeding structures removed and replaced in such a manner that they will not reduce the necessary capacity of the canal, namely, 600 cubic feet per second.

4. Building dams or dikes to stop the leaks that have developed in two of the southern arms of the reservoir.

Fissures have developed in the volcanic rocks on the southern edge of the reservoir.

The two southern arms of the reservoir were not shown in the original surveys. This demonstrates the inaccuracy of the original surveys and the uncertainty existing with regard to the quantity of water which may be available for the use of the project.

5. The reconstruction of the general canal system.

In the construction of the canal system it was apparently

assumed that the capacity of the canal would always remain the same as when constructed, no allowance being made for retardation of flow due to growth of moss, inflow of earth during violent summer rains, and deposits of sand, weeds, and other débris. * * It is also apparent that no consideration was given to possible losses due to seepage and evaporation and no consideration was given to the now well-established fact that for proper irrigation different quantities of water are required during various parts of the season and that the capacity of the supply canal should be ample to furnish the maximum amount of water needed during the period of greatest demand.

*

The canals and many of the laterals were designed and built with such dimensions and gradient that the velocity is so low the growth of moss is encouraged. At other places the laterals were built down steep natural slopes without structures for prevention of erosion, and the result is that erosion has taken place and the ditches on the slopes are washed deep into the ground, while the ditches at the end of these steep slopes are either filled with sand and silt or have been maintained at a great expense. * ** Except in a very few cases no provision has been made to take care of tail water and the few exceptions referred to are wholly inadequate. (Report, p. 984.)

6. The extension of the upper canal with the rebuilding of the inverted syphon, where the engineers "doubt the quality and the skillfulness of the construction" and declare that "either poor material or bad workmanship entered into the construction."

7. The building of many new laterals with the necessary bridges. 8. In their concluding recommendations the engineers say:

In closing this report we wish to convey to you our opinion that while all of the repairs, betterments, and new construction suggested are advisable, there are some features of this project that need immediate attention in order to preserve and perpetuate the project even in its present state. The first of these is the Blackfoot Dam. This we believe to be vital, and unless the proper steps are taken in the immediate future large property interests and even life may be destroyed. The feature which seems second in importance is the betterment and enlargement of the distribution system. The present system is not adequate to serve the lands now in cultivation, and unless this condition is corrected immediately the project will not only cease to progress but will actually go backward.

It remains to secure legislation which will permit the Government to secure a decent return from the water users. The Government has

expended about $40 an acre for the development of land from which, under the act of 1907, it agreed to collect at the rate of $6 an acre. In fact, nothing has been collected, the Government evidently hoping that a more equitable adjustment can ultimately be made. The Indian Office and the congressional committees should together devise the legislation which shall secure justice. The provision in the new act, as suggested by Secretary Lane in his letter of January 9, 1918, is absolutely essential. This indispensable condition reads as follows:

Provided, That the cost of the improvements herein contemplated shall be assessed pro rata on a per acre basis against all irrigable lands embraced within the project, repayment to be made by the respective owners under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: And provided, That no further right to water from the Fort Hall irrigation system shall be sold except at the actual per acre cost of the completed project as determined by the Secretary of the Interior. Any provisions of the acts of March 1, 1907 (34 Stat. L., p. 1034), and April 4, 1910 (36 Stat. L., p. 274), which are in conflict are hereby repealed.

CONCLUSIONS.

It will be seen that the two most immediate necessities of this jurisdiction are (1) the improvement and completion of the irrigation system, with accompanying legislation, and (2) the stabilizing and energizing of the staff of officers and employees at the agency' and school.

But the problem of these Indians is one that will not be solved by the ordinary methods of developing the means of material support and supplying educational facilities. Those provisions have already in some measure been made, and they have failed to produce results. The only stimulus to better living that seems to have any promise of success is the missionary or social-settlement method.

The best thing I saw at Fort Hall was the Mission of the Good Shepherd, a school, home, and chapel maintained by the Episcopal church. Here two devoted women were caring for 20 little Indian girls, giving them a glimpse of genuine home life, elementary instruction, and some real moral and religious training. This mission is but meagerly sustained, but it has a good building and under very hard circumstances is doing a noble work. The only sign of promise on the reservation is that some of the better Indian families appreciate this mission and want their children to be under the influence of these overworked but indomitable women.

The Indians appreciate kindness and can be influenced by friends they have learned to trust. The Government should employ from two to four capable field matrons and provide them with motor cars. These matrons should live among the Indians and teach by precept and example the ways of civilization. A community house for Indians only should be established at or near the agency with a white director, who should be a sensible, efficient leader of Indian games and pastimes and a moral counsellor. The churches should be encouraged to establish and maintain missions, with an adequate equipment, where moral and religious instruction can be given and where the Indians can discover what Christian living is.

In addition to these efforts the criminal laws should be justly and impartially applied on the reservation. White grafters and crimi

nals should be vigorously dealt with. The Indian dances and exhibitions should be abolished. The Indians should be encouraged to work, and those that won't work should be made to understand that laziness will mean suffering and starvation. They must earn their own living, while at the same time they are persuaded by competent teachers and counsellors to practice self-control, thrift, temperance, honesty, and the primary virtues of civilized existence.

Respectfully submitted.

SAMUEL A. ELIOT,

Member, Board of Indian Commissioners.

Hon. GEORGE VAUX, Jr.,

Chairman, Board of Indian Commissioners.

APPENDIX 0.

REPORT ON THE OMAHA AND WINNEBAGO INDIANS OF NEBRASKA, BY SAMUEL A. ELIOT.

BOSTON, MASS., April 15, 1920. SIR: I beg to submit the following report and recommendations in regard to conditions on the Omaha and Winnebago Indian Reservations in Nebraska.

These reservations are in Thurston County, in northeastern Nebraska. The agencies are established at Winnebago for the Indians of that name and at Macy for the Omahas. Thurston County has a rich soil and is in the corn belt. Many white farmers and settlers have bought or leased the Indian lands. The population of the county is, in round numbers, 10,000 white and 2,000 Indian. The Indians are citizens and taxpayers, and a fair proportion of them are voters. Many of the Indians, through the proceeds of the sale or lease of lands, are comfortably off. Their funds are held in trust. for them by the superintendents, who pay monthly annuities to the Indians or transfer to them the proceeds of the leases.

EDUCATION.

The public schools of the county are open to the Indians, and there are three mission schools at Winnebago conducted by the Catholic, Protestant Episcopal, and Dutch Reformed churches. A number of Indian children attend nonreservation Government schools, particularly the school at Genoa, Nebr. The enrollment of Indian children at the public schools is fairly satisfactory, but the attendance is said to be very irregular and unreliable.

CRIME.

The criminal laws of the State of Nebraska are applicable on the reservations, but they are seldom enforced. For a long time the marital relations of the Indians have been exceedingly slack, and little or no effort is made by the county officers to improve matters. The white voters of the county evidently do not care to incur the expense of prosecuting Indians, and therefore let them violate the

laws without being called to account. Evidence in criminal cases is very hard to secure. Indians will not testify against their own people.

HEALTH.

There is more than the usual proportion of tuberculosis among these Indians, and trachoma is very prevalent. Both tribes are fearfully scourged by venereal diseases. The tests show a higher proportion of diseased individuals than in any tribe with which I am acquainted. Peyote is extensively used by both tribes, with the usual debasing and demoralizing results.

INDUSTRIES.

A few of these Indians are successful farmers and mechanics, but the great majority draw their annuities or the proceeds of their leases and live in idleness.

I was told that there has been a marked improvement among these people in the last 10 years, but I am constrained to report that these improvements appear to be external only. Comfortable three and four room cottages, with barn and fence, have been built for a number of families by the superintendents out of Indian money and with the Indians' consent. These neat houses are occupied, but they do not appear to represent any real desire on the part of the Indians to live in a self-respecting fashion.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

1. The two agencies should be consolidated without delay. To conduct two offices only 16 miles apart and transacting the same kind of business, but duplicating equipment and office staff, is to disregard all conceptions of economy and efficiency.

The consolidation should obviously be made at Winnebago. The agency at Macy was established when transportation was by flatboats on the Missouri River. It occupies the site of an old trading post which was well enough located for the days when people traveled in boats or by wagon. It is an absurd location for the days of railroads and automobiles. The office is at the extreme eastern edge of the reservation and 8 miles from the nearest railroad station. The business of both offices is chiefly the handling of trust accounts, the arrangement of leases and sales, and settlement of estates. To properly conduct such business the superintendent should be established at a natural center of population where there are railroad facilities and where the cooperation of National and State banks can readily be secured.

The Winnebago Agency is not an ideal location, but incomparably superior to the Omaha Agency at Macy. It is situated a mile from the railroad station and there are roads radiating in all directions. It is sufficiently near the center of the Indian population. Its superiority is attested by the fact that the Government built the hospital for both tribes at Winnebago and that all three of the mission schools have located there.

The transfer of the Macy office to Winnebago will, of course, be bitterly opposed by the local traders and some of the Indians out

on that edge of the reservation, but it is demanded by every argument of common sense and a decent regard to an economical administration of Government affairs.

The land and buildings at Macy should be sold, the office staff, or as many of them as may be necessary, transferred to Winnebago, and the business consolidated under the charge of a single superintendent.

In order to accommodate an enlarged staff and work at Winnebago, certain changes in the plant will be essential. With the proceeds of the sale of the plant at Macy new cottages for the additional employees should be built at Winnebago. Perhaps some of the cottages at Macy, or the material in them, can be carted over. An addition should be put onto the office building at Winnebago to provide (1) a new and much larger vault or safe for the papers, leases, cash, etc., carried in the office; (2) increased dining-room and kitchen facilities to accommodate the enlarged staff; (3) a waiting room for the Indians having business at the office. At present the Indians have to sit outside or crowd the narrow entry and obstruct the work of the clerks.

2. A strenuous and persistent effort should be made to expedite the sale of inherited lands on the Winnebago Reservation. For years the settlement of estates has been delayed to an intolerable degree. The delays are due to the peculiar character of the trust deeds.

One hundred and twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventyfour acres of land were originally allotted to 1,559 Indians. About 500 of the allotments are known as the "Leaming" allotments; for they were made by Allotting Agent Leaming in 1871 and 1876, under the act of February 21, 1863 (12 Stat. L., 658).

These Leaming allotments carry a provision known as the "unlimited restriction clause." They can not be sold, partitioned, or have the restrictions removed from them without the consent of the allottee or all of the heirs. There are other allotments which carry a provision requiring consent of all heirs, but they are limited as to time. The restriction in the Leaming allotments is unlimited as to time. Only a few of the original allottees are living; their heirs are widely scattered. Of the 426 estates of deceased allottees held in trust, 109 are Leaming allotments. In all but six cases of these Leaming allotments the heirs have been determined once, and in most of them redetermined from one to six times as heirs have died before the estate was settled.

It has been impossible to settle these estates because of the unlimited restricted provision in the trust deed. Again and again an estate has been brought up to the point where it was about to be sold when some heir would die. This would develop more heirs, and the whole case would have to reopened, heirs determined, and their signatures secured again.

The census roll of June 30, 1919, shows a total of 1,068 Winnebago Indians. The majority of them have undivided interests in from 4 to 10 estates and some in as many as 15 estates. Besides the Nebraska heirs there are about 300 Wisconsin Winnebagos, out of the total of 1,200 Indians there, who are heirs to Nebraska estates.

I have diligently sought for some way in which to relieve this tangled situation and simplify this tedious procedure. I am obliged to confess that I can find no shorter road than that which is now be