Campbell in defense of his Five Year plan
cited the increasing planting done by full bloods, and the extensive irrigated
lands that came under the plow, although the Indians actually farmed only 186
acres of irrigated lands. Campbell kept his hard line against supporting a Blackfeet
range cattle industry to encourage economic development for the Indians, not
even as part of his failed five year farm program stating “They will never
succeed along the lines of range livestock and I do not believe any of them
will want to try it as they have already had sufficient experience along that
line.” The Indians complained he was in cahoots with large sheep corporations,
who were overgrazing the allotted Indian lands for ten cents an acre, while the
warriors were forced to milk goats.
Superintendent Campbell
proposed to advance the Blackfeet landowners through the purchase of a few
dairy cows and sheep, but their irrigated lands would have to be leased for 10
cents an acre to local white “professional” farmers and pay annual operating
and maintenance costs, as well as some small payment toward total Blackfeet irrigation
project construction costs of over $1,000,000 unloaded on the Indians.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.131
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