 The population of the new settlement was calculated in 1858 to be 201 persons, and its inhabitants' annual revenue from land purchases was $1894.21.Notwithstanding this income, a government report of 1858 commented on the "lamentable" conditions of life among the Chippewas of Rama, observing that, owing to government neglect, "the log houses built for them ... being badly constructed, are all going to decay", that farming was not being taken up, and that the residents "are dragging through a life disgraceful to humanity".Indebtedness to white traders accounts for some of the settlement's early economic woes.