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<br />"'foreign owned" enterprise with few, if <lIlY. family <br />obligations in the rIlral area. In this capacity, the general <br />viewpoint is 10 reduce the community, educational. i.lnd <br />public service costs to J minimum. <br />Regardless of the extent of the future out-migration. <br />there will be a group of people who will choose to <br />ren13in in the rural are;]s for a number of reasons. <br />However. even though these people treasure some of the <br />attributes of rural living. they still will demand adequate <br />social se[lr'ices. <br />C.m the rural areas adequJtely pf(lvide the kinds and <br />the amount of services which will be demanded? At <br />some point, the continuing shifts in the setllemenl <br />patterns anu the denlJnds which will be impo$ed will <br />require new patterns of socii..ll institutions better :..ihle to <br />cupe with oUI-migration and the problem~ of high <br />concentr;Jtions of depend en I popuhltions. <br /> <br /> <br />Many Small Trade CentetS Serve the <br />Agricultural Areas <br /> <br />ETHNIC GROUPS <br /> <br />Even though most of tIH' basin settlement was by <br />individual families rather than by groups of colonists, <br />there was a tendency to cluster by natiolli..llity into <br />cultural islands throughout the basin. Thus, there were <br />llumerous concentrations of settlers of German ex- <br />traction in Missouri, Kansas, NebrJska, and Montana~ <br />Russians in the Dakotas, Colorado. and Nebraska; and <br />Norwegians in North Dakota and Montana. In addition, <br />there were concentrations of seWers from specific areas <br />of the Nation. For example, the Ozark Plateaus were <br />occupled primarily by settlers frolll the southern <br />Appalachians; north-western Missouri was occupied <br />largely by people from the Upper SOl/lh: some areas in <br />KanSaS were settled almost entirely by people from Ohio <br /> <br />28 <br /> <br />and Indiana: and other arcas in Kansas were uccupied by <br />seltlers from New England. The remnants of these <br />scUlernenl concentrations are still discernible. <br />Predominant nationality groups thai came to the <br />basin were the Germans. Russians, Norwegians, Swedes, <br />('zet.:hs, I(alians. and the English, in about that order <br />numerically. The Germans accounted for about 20 <br />per("ent of the foreign-born population. However, if all <br />of the people with a British Isles background were <br />grouped together, they would probably rival the <br />Germans as the most numerous. In addition. there were <br />several other nationalities, but their numbers were <br />relatively small. By and large, it is the descendants of <br />these uriginal settlers that Ol:cupy the basin today for <br />later immig.ration has been relatively small. <br />Population shifts. easier communications and trans- <br />pOrlalion, mi1iti..lry service, and the general social <br />mobility of the basin have tended to blur the boundaries. <br />of most of the cuilur.al islands since the settlement days. <br />However, sume of tht.: ethnic dusters are still in evidence <br />and are distinguishable by their kinship paUerns, <br />religious institutions, and the perpetuation of their <br />national languages. <br />Mas! evident today of the ethnic cultural islands are <br />the lndian reservations. Approximately 58,000 Indians, <br />comprising 4 percent of the b;Jsin population, are <br />concentrated on 23 reservations and uwn about 12 <br />million acres of land. principally in Monlan:J, Wyoming, <br />and the Dakotas. Financia1\y poor, the average annual <br />income of the Indian family is under $3,000 and often it <br />is below $1.000. Their basic economy for the reservation <br />has been cattle ranching, some farming, and the leasing <br />of land to white operators. An jnadequacy of the <br />resource base on the reservations to support the popula. <br />tion is evident from unemployment rates as high as 80 <br />percent and a standard of living which is woefully <br />inadequate and declining steadily relative to the rest of <br />the society. <br />Few employment oppurtunities have been attracted <br />10 the reservations by these unemployed human <br />resources. Further, the Indi:ms have been reluctant to <br />forsake their heritage and culture by leaving the reserva- <br />lion to find employment. A century of management of <br />the Inuians' assets and economic existence as a resuil of <br />their dispossession by treaty has shown little progress in <br />providing a salisfac.::!ory solution to the basic problem. <br />The Indian tribes of the basin have governmental <br />institutions patterned on non.lndian principles, but <br />whii.:h have a peculiar autonomy set forth in treaties and <br />subsequent national legislation. Tribal and allotled <br />Indian land, whic" is held in trust by the United States <br />Government, is subject to tribal and Federal jurisdiction. <br />but not to State, county, or city jurisdiction. Thus, this <br />land is neither subject to taxation or other assessment by <br />the State and county governments, nor to State and <br />county laws governing land use and development. Also, <br />