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<br /> <br />In 1970, Indian unemployment was about seven times that for the <br />United States overall, as high as 70 percent on some <br />reservations. <br /> <br />Econol1l'l <br /> <br />Since the Federal Homestead Act of 1862 opened the land in <br />the Missouri River Basin to agriculture, the basin has become an <br />extremely important producer of the Nation's and the world's food <br />supply. By the early 1970's, farmers and ranchers within the <br />basin annually produced close to 33 percent of the U.S. wheat <br />crop, 25 percent of the Nation's sorghum, 25 percent of the <br />Nation's hay, and 22 percent of corn grown for grain. In <br />addition, the region was producing in excess of 20 percent of the <br />Nation's livestock and poultry. From a broader agricultural <br />perspective, regional production accounts for 10 to 12 percent of <br />the world corn harvest and 4 to 6 percent of the world wheat crop <br />annually. Despite the decline in the number of workers engaged <br />in agriculture, this sector is expected to continue as the <br />dominant economic activity. <br /> <br />The basin possesses significant hardwood and softwood timber <br />resources, primarily concentrated in the Rocky Mountains, the <br />Black Hills, and the Ozark Plateau. Harvesting trends have shown <br />increasing timber production since 1961. A large percentage of <br />forests and woodlands are also grazed, providing a second <br />valuable agricultural use. <br /> <br />Metallic and nonmetallic minerals and energy fuel resources <br />developments are important factors in the basin's economic <br />growth. Deposits of metallic ores in the Rocky Mountains and the <br />Black Hills contribute to the Nation's production of gold, <br />silver, copper, lead, zinc, taconite, uranium, and molybdenum. <br />In addition to metallic minerals extraction, large quantities of <br />nonmetallics such as fluorspar, feldspar, phosphate, lime, mica, <br />bentonite, and construction aggregate are mined in the basin. <br /> <br />Energy fuels presently constitute the largest and most <br />valuable share of all nonrenewable resources produced in the <br />basin. The 10 basin States collectively have more than 450 <br />billion tons of recoverable coal reserves, or about 55 percent of <br />the Nation's total. The national importance of the reserves is <br />evidenced by recent dramatic increases in coal and lignite <br />production. In the seven years from 1965 to 1971, coal <br />production as a percentage of the national tonnage grew only <br />slightly from 3 to 4 percent. For the period 1971 to 1973, <br /> <br />-22- <br />