Culture and Agriculture

By "The Cowboy" Jim Gray

In a report dated Jan. 30, 1830, Indian Agent John Dougherty noted that governmental intervention in the lives of the Indians dwelling in the Missouri River region was not living up to expectations. The effort to shift their culture from primarily a hunting existence to an agrarian lifestyle was showing no improvement. In his estimation, they knew no more than they had always known. Only able to grow “ in a very rude manner, a little corn, a few beans and pumpkins ... ”, they were at the point of starvation. He was no more impressed with their education.

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