The New Deal and the American Indian: Apaches

Above: Part of "Apache Scenes," a mural by Allan Houser (1915-1994), created while he was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1940. This painting is in the U.S. Department of Interior building. Born in Apache, Oklahoma, "Allan Houser (originally Hauzous) grew up in a world of farming and ranching, rich with the Apache heritage of his people as taught through the songs and stories of his father... His paintings, which were infused with his Native American background, earned him national recognition" ("Allan Houser," Smithsonian American Art Museum). Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and Carol M. Highsmith.

Above: "Indian using an air compressor on trail construction, ECW [Civilian Conservation Corp, CCC] project, Fort Apache." Photo and caption from "Indians at Work," Office of Indian Affairs, October 15, 1933, p. 30.

Apache Indians in the CCC performed a large amount of work on their lands. For example, the April 1, 1934 edition of "Indians at Work" reported: "For many years past on the Fort Apache Reservation there has annually been much unnecessary fire damage because of a lack of forest roads and trails. Extensive areas bearing a stand of yellow pine timber have been inaccessible, a fact which accounts for the unusual difficulty and expense in controlling these fires... Funds for this work, however, have for a long time not been available. Not until the institution of the Emergency Conservation Work program has there been the means with which to construct these improvements" ("Forest Protection and Range Improvement on Fort Apache,"  p. 27).

Interestingly, the problems that the Apache had to deal with, prior to the CCC, have reemerged today in various parts of the country. Our collective rejection of the New Deal has played a large role in the record-setting wildfires that we've been experiencing these past several years. Inaccessible areas of forest, and insufficient manpower, are allowing wildfires to become much larger, damaging, and deadly than they otherwise would be. FEMA has recognized this problem and recently provided funds to California for additional manpower. Unfortunately, with constant Republican pressure to cut federal spending (in order to give tax breaks to their rich donors) it's extremely unlikely that this funding will be adequate or long-lasting.