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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />fl 0533 <br /> <br />May " 1888, which established the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation as a <br /> <br />permanent home for the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Indian Tribes, on a <br /> <br />tract that was within a vastly larger I ndian reservation set apart by Act <br /> <br />of Congress in 1874, but which the Federal Government in 1888 found to <br /> <br />be "wholly out of proportion to the number of Indians occupying the same, <br /> <br />and greatly in excess of their present or prospective wants." <br /> <br />Even so, the reservation at the time of the Winters litigation, com- <br /> <br />prised some 1,400 square miles, embracing some 1,000,000 acres of land, <br /> <br />about 30,000 acres of which were suitable for agriculture when irrigated <br /> <br />by the waters of the Milk River, which was at the northern boundary of <br /> <br />the reservation. In fact, the middle of the main channel of the river was <br /> <br />the northern boundary. Beginning in 1898, the Indians diverted up to <br /> <br />10,000 miners' inches from the Milk River by means of a canal and lateral <br />ditches in order to irrigate their land and supply domestic needs. (Note: <br /> <br />A miner's inch is a. flow of water amounting to approximately 1.5 cubic feet <br /> <br />per minute.) <br /> <br />In the meantime non-Indian settlers, with the blessings of the Desert <br /> <br />Land Act of 1877, had settled on lands adjoining the reservation and had <br /> <br />secured appropriated rights to waters of the Milk River pursuant to <br /> <br />Montana law. They constructed dams and reservoirs to ensure a depend- <br /> <br />able supply of water for their properties, without which they would have <br /> <br />been unable to grow their crops and sustain herds of cattle, since the <br /> <br />land they occupied was as dry and arid as that of the reservation prior to <br /> <br />obtaining use of the Milk River waters. The non-Indians applied some <br /> <br />5.000 miners' inches to beneficial use. Moreover, they and the corpo- <br /> <br />rations which shared in the enterprise had spent nearly $100,000 on <br /> <br />homes, schools, highways, reservoirs, and irrigation systems by 1905. <br /> <br />.. ,. ..,... ~- <br />'",~.,~:r..-.~: ._. -.. <br />-i"::: ... <br />.~~:':;L. . ~,'o._'~. :..'~. ~-; ::~.:....L~ ~.~G::~i:~.:..~. <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />""-" <br />-.".".- <br /> <br />. ..--;... ..: ~,'" <br /> <br />....---, <br /> <br />..~_....~.... .~~... '-..'" <br /> <br />~ .._" ..0".:' ~ ~ <br /> <br />. .~- <br />