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Exciting Transformation Underway On Fort Apache Indian ReservationMcDOWELLdemonstratingBy EDWIN McDOWELLWHITERIVER - Here on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, an exciting transformation is well under way.Its impact, already felt thro ughout eastern Arizona. is certain to be felt throughout the state and thro ughout much of the nation.For the ap-p r o x imately5,0 0 0 White Mountain Apache Indians are entrepreneurial ability and business skills that few non-Indians ever dreamed they were capable of.What they have done is convert this 1.6 million-acre lt;2,601 square miles) reservation— twice the size of Rhode Island, and slightly larger than the State of Delaware—into a scenic year-round playground.MORE than one-third of all fishing in Arizona takes place in the more than 300 miles of fishing streams on the reservation (which includes about one-half of al! Arizona's trout streams).Twenty recreational lakes, created just since 1957, afford almost unlimited swimming, boating, and camping opportunities.More than 700 well kept campsites, equipped with picnic tables, toilet facilities, and fireplaces. are provided free of charge.Antelope, elk, bear, javclina.predators, and quail abound, and the tribe will provide guide service to anyone who wants it.A major ski facility is being built on a 6.400-acre site at Mt. Ord to accommodate 2,000 skiers a day.Meanwhile, the ski run at Big Ciencga between McNsry and Eager (leased from the tribe by the White Mountain Ski and Sports Club) is available to tourists.And there are tribal-built and operated motels, trailer parks, stores, and service stations.IN ALL, this is the largest privately owned recreation area in* the entire West.Yet tourism, while better than a 81 million business employing more than 100 Apaches, is only part of the tribe’s success story.The tribal-owned Fort Apache Timber Company, now milling more than 40 million board feet of timber annually, employs several hundred workers and has a payroll of better than8500.000 a year.And exactly 50 years after some 800 head of grade Hereford cattle were shipped from Mexico and driven from San Carlos to Fort Apache, tribal cattle owners graze more than20.000 animals on their ranges each year.From one end of the 75-mile-long reservation to the other, the Apaches are drumming up tourism, hoping to claim their place in the economic sun.Only about one - third of the adult labor force is employed, at an average annual income of less than §1.000. But that is far better than it used to be, not so manv years ago, when few Apaches could find jobs and poverty gripped almost the entire reservation.Today more than half the reservation families live in permanent dwellings, and many who continue to live in the traditional wickiups do so by choice rather than necessity.Nelson Lupe Jr., onetime tribal chairman and longtime tribal council member, forsook his wickiup in the early 1940s. But Ins mother still won’t go.I wanted her to move into a house, but she won’t do it, lie said. “To her, the wickiup is home, and she won’t leave tier home.THE TOURIST facilities—Ihe beautitul scenery and nature'smany grand attractions — were always here. But few Apaches thought of opening the reservation to the outside world.And those who did were overridden by tribesmen determined to resist what they considered the cultural, economic and scenic exploitation of their homeland.Thanks in large part to the farsighted Nelson Lupe (whose son Ronnie is the current tribal chairman), the traditionalists’ objections were finally overcome—largely because they decided they had little choice but to compete in the white man’s world or perish, at least as a cultural entity.So they decided to make the best of an undesirable situation — to throw open the reservation while simultaneously trying to create jobs and conditions that would attract their youngsters to the reservation after they finished school off-rcscrva-tion by giving them something to come home to.Thus these semi-nomads, who for centuries lived off the land, settled down to the world of commerce with its requisite p.r. men and advertising agencies.Their self-help housing program enables poorer tribal members to obtain low interest long-term loans in order to erect modern, comfortable homes.A 82 million government loan negotiated by the Tribe enabled them to erect the timber company.And wise conservation and range improvement practices have resulted in selective cutting which insures that the reservation watershed—which sii|*-plies some 35 per cent of the water to Salt River Valley reservoirs and irrigation systems—will not be damaged nr wasted.IN SUM. the White Mountain Apaches have jumped ambitiously into the 20th century, with only minor regrets.They face many problems on Future Road, with its zigs, zags and occasional detours.But the mere fact that they made the jump, despite enormous odds, is m itself a sign or their resolution—and a tribute to this proud and ambitious people who finally have reason to hope.
Newspaper Details
Phoenix Arizona Republic
Phoenix, Arizona, US
Sun, Sep 17, 1967
Page 132
Full Page
Clipped by
Susun W.
USA 12 Aug 2017
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