The main sources of her anguish-and the agony of numerous others-had a common root.

Poverty was the community's legacy to its young people.

There were few jobs, even less affordable housing and little hope of things ever changing in this Thurston County community tucked away in the state's northeast corner, about 20 miles from Sioux City, Iowa.

"All I wanted to do was get out," Smith said. Now 11 years later, she is back, willingly.

On May 21, the University of Iowa law student began an internship with Ho-Chunk Inc., the tribe's economic development wing.

Recently released U.S. Census figures show there are 14,896 American Indians in the state, less than 1 percent of the state's population.

The Omaha Reservation, also in Thurston County, has the state's largest population base with 5,194. The Winnebago reservation has another 2,588 living in the county, and the Santee in extreme northeast Nebraska has the smallest population base at 878.

Since the Census Bureau did not previously breakdown population figures by reservations, population comparisons with 1990 numbers are not possible.

But the sense of most people involved with American Indian issues is that the numbers of American Indians living on the reservation, and returning after living elsewhere, are rising.

Smith, 29, would like to work somewhere else after obtaining her law degree to gain a little life experience. But she knows she will return to the reservation, probably within five years.

"Family is so important to us," she said. "I want my children to be a part of that."

When her children become integrated into the daily life of this town of 768 people, it will look much different from the one their mother knew as a child, when the tribe's annual income equaled about $150,000-what it could raise leasing its land to farmers.

Today, a building boom with $68 million of improvements under construction is under way.

Among the projects is a new hospital, an addition to the high school, a new office building for Ho-Chunk Inc. and over 150 new homes.

All are a result of the tribe's casino, WinnaVegas, and what it has done with the profits.

Harvard Law School graduate Lance Morgan, 32, left a job with Minneapolis firm in 1994 to serve his tribe as president of Ho-Chunk Inc.-which translates to The People Incorporated- launched to provide job opportunities for tribal members and to make the tribe self-sufficient.

The move to diversify started after the state of Iowa approved riverboat casinos, and the Winnebago tribe feared the river of profits flowing from its casino on reservation land in Sloan, Iowa, would dry up.

Under Morgan's direction, the tribe has built a $50 million portfolio, which he expects will double within a few years. Ho-Chunk is diversified, owning and operating:

-Four hotels in Nebraska and Iowa;
-Heritage Mall in Winnebago, including a Laundromat, deli, and grocery store; Several retail store's; its own gas distribution system to provide ethanol-blended fuel to the Heritage Express gas stations it owns;
-Its own tobacco distribution system;
-allnative.com, a retail store featuring American Indian products that sold more that $3 million last year , both through in-store sales in Winnebago, but mostly through catalog and Web site sales;
-indianz.com, a Web site devoted to American Indian news, which recorded more than 1 million hits in November.
-The recently purchased Dynamic Homes, Inc., the largest housing manufacturer in Minnesota.

Through Ho-Chunk businesses and the casino, more than 1,000 Winnebago tribe members are working.

One of them is Diane Oban, who returned to the reservation after attending college in South Dakota to become a court reporter. She injured her hand and decided to return home, becoming a floor associate at the casino.

Oban is now the casino's marketing director, seen as another success story in the tribe's efforts to reverse brain drain and bring younger people back to the reservation by its economic vitality.

"I don't know what I'd do if the casino wasn't here," she said.

"There's more reason to go back home," said Judi Morgan, executive director of the state Commission on Indian Affairs. "It's a better place to be. They're empowered through gaming dollars."

Other tribes fare less well than Winnebago

Those living on Nebraska's other two American Indian reservations are not faring as well financially from their casinos as the Winnebago Tribe.

The Omaha Indians pump proceeds from CasinOmaha in Onowa, Iowa, into such social service programs as education and welfare on the reservation, based in Macy, Neb.

Tribal Treasurer Arnie Harland said he noticed an increase in the tribe's population of 5,194 over the past five years, attributing it to the number of jobs available at the casino. Of CasinOmaha's 400 employees, he said about 70 percent are tribal members.

Officers of both the Omaha and the Santee tribes say welfare laws, more stringent for people living off the reservation, also caused a spike in the number of people returning to the reservation.

Under the recent welfare reforms, a person or family only receives financial assistance for two years, but are allowed more time if they are living on a reservation.

Karen Red Owl, a Santee tribal officer, credits that for an increase in the reservations population-listed at 878-in the last six years.

She says that has to be the reason since they employ only about 20 people at their casino in Niobrara, Neb.

Earlier this month, tribal officials replaced slot machines at Ohiya Casino with different video games in an effort to end a five-year dispute with the state and U.S. attorney.

In place of the video slots, which the state considers illegal, are new machines that dispense tabs that can be redeemed for cash.

Whatever proceeds the tribe gets from the casino are put back into social service programs for the elderly and youth living on the reservation, with a large share going to buy groceries for cash-strapped elderly, Red Owl said