USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. II > Part 12
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About three thousand peach trees were de- stroyed in the canyon; and one hundred and ten Navajos came in with Carey's command. On January 23rd, Colonel Carson reported the re- sults of the expedition as follows: "Killed 23; captured 34; voluntarily surrendered 200; cap- tured 200 head of sheep."
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In his report of January 23rd, 1864, of this expedition Carson says : "But it is to the ulterior effects of the expedition that I look for the great- est results. We have shown the Indians that in no place, however formidable or inaccessible in their opinion, are they safe from the pursuit of the troops of this command, and have con- vinced a large portion of them that the struggle on their part is a hopeless one. We have also demonstrated that the intentions of the govern- ment towards them are eminently humane, and dictated by an earnest desire to promote their welfare; that the principle is not to destroy but to save them, if they are disposed to be saved. When all this is understood by the Navajos, gen- erally, as it soon will be, and when they become convinced that destruction will follow on resist- ance, they will gladly avail themselves of the opportunities afforded them of peace and plenty under the fostering care of the government, as do all those now with whom I have had any means of communicating. They are arriving almost hourly, and will, I believe, continue to arrive until the last Indian in this section of the country is en route to the Bosque Redondo."
Carson's prediction was verified by subsequent events. The Navajos surrendered so fast that General Carleton's resources were taxed to the utmost to support them. By February 20th, seven hundred and fifty had surrendered at Los Pinos, and been forwarded to the Bosque. On February 24th, sixteen hundred and fifty sur- rendered at Fort Canby, and on the same date thirteen hundred more were reported from Los Pinos. By March 11th fifteen hundred more
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had come in at Fort Canby, and General Carle- ton notified Carson that he could not take care of more than one additional thousand. By July 8th there were six thousand three hundred and twenty-one at the Bosque, and a thousand more at Fort Canby. The war was evidently ended; Fort Canby was ordered abandoned in August and the troops were sent into Arizona.
The number of Navajos had been under-esti- mated by General Carleton. Carson maintained that there were at least twelve thousand, and, according to subsequent statistics, he was right, but Carleton insisted that there were not more than eight thousand. The greatest number ever at the Bosque Redondo was between nine and ten thousand. The remainder of the nation lurked in their old haunts or fell back to the desert regions of Arizona and Utah to avoid the
troops. New Mexico offered to relieve the Gov- ernment of a portion of the heavy expense of caring for the exiled Navajos by a system of binding out, but the offer was declined and the Navajos were all sent to the Bosque where, at that time, were also gathered a number of Mes- calero Apaches. These two tribes had been enemies; their customs differed; the Mescaleros were bolder warriors, but were far inferior in numbers. Tribal jealousies were aggravated by petty aggressions and hectoring. The Apaches accused the Navajos of trampling down their crops, and otherwise annoying them. The reser- vation authorities made the matter worse by re- moving the Mescaleros from the land they had been cultivating, and giving it to the Navajos. The Mescaleros then claimed the fulfillment of
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the promise to them of a reservation in their own country, and when this was refused, they went without permission, and began hostilities. The fitness of the Bosque Redondo for these Indians has been a subject of great controversy.
"Agriculture at the Bosque did not result suc- cessfully; the crops usually promised well enough, but something always spoiled them. One time it was drought, another cut worms, an- other bad irrigation or overflows, or hail storms. The Indians were, of necessity, a great expense to the government. The cost of feeding them for seven months, March to September, inclusive, in 1865, was $452,356.98. The cost for the year previous to this time averaged higher than this, but the exact figures cannot be given, on account of the large amount of stores transferred from other departments and not reported as to value. All this time it was well known that they could support themselves in their own country. The principal cause of their helplessness in their new home was that they were a pastoral, not an agri- cultural people. In their own country their chief food is goats' milk and the roots of certain herbs of wild growth. Their flocks had been largely destroyed during the war. Tradi- tion puts the number of sheep killed by soldiers at fifty thousand, but the Navajos say that the Utes and Mexicans stole the greater part of them. The Bosque did not afford grazing facili- ties for the sheep and goats they still had, and these gradually decreased in number. It has been proven since then that they can and will take care of themselves, very easily, if they can get ample pasturage; and unless stock raising is
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to be considered a less civilized pursuit than agriculture, there is no reason why any forcible attempt should be made to change the natural bent of their industrial instincts.
"The head of the opposition to the Bosque was Dr. Matthew Steck, a well known settler in New Mexico, at that time Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He favored giving the Mescaleros a reservation in their own country, as had been promised them, and opposed the removal of the Navajos to the Bosque. He advocated his views in New Mexico, and when he found he could do nothing there, he went to Washington to secure the same ends. Carleton complained bitterly of this attempted interference with his plans, and insisted upon the enforcement of the ultra- human policy ; that is, on compelling the Indians to do what the white man in authority-in this case himself-may think to be best for them. He said: 'Dr. Steck wants to hold councils with the Navajos! It is mockery to hold councils with a people who are in our hands, and have only to await our decision. It will be bad policy to hold any councils. We should give them what they need, what is just, and take care of them as children until they can take care of them- selves. The Navajos should never leave the Bosque, and never shall if I can prevent it. I told them that that should be their home. They have gone there with that understanding. There is land enough there for themselves and the Apaches. The Navajos themselves are Apaches, and talk the same language, and in a few years will be homogeneous with them.' He was proven to be mistaken as to the two tribes
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becoming homogeneous; whether he was wrong in other respects is a question about which people will differ; in brief, it is simply the question whether the concentration policy is the right one -whether it is better to place Indians where they do not wish to be, oblige them to do things which they do not wish to do, and force them to abandon the pursuits by which they had form- erly supported themselves. General Carleton also accused Mr. Steck of acting from interested motives, but he did not specify in what regard.
"In the winter of 1864-65, the Navajos at the Bosque were reduced to terrible straits through the destruction of their crops by cut worms. There was want all through that portion of the country from various causes. Neither the War nor the Indian Department was able to relieve them adequately. There was no relief from natural sources, for the acorns, cedar berries, wild potatoes, palmillas and other roots, mescal and mesquite, on which they could rely in their old home in times of famine, were not found in the Bosque. Cattle and sheep were issued to them for food, 'head and pluck' and the blood of the slaughtered animals was ordered to be saved to make 'haggis and blood puddings' for the orphan children. To add to their distress, these people, who make the most serviceable blankets in the world and usually have plenty of them, were destitute, by the ravages of their enemies, of both blankets and clothing. They had no houses, and, as substitutes, holes were ordered to be dug, in which they might be shel- tered from the wind. In spite of all his efforts and ingenuity, General Carleton knew that they
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must suffer, and, on October 31, 1864, he directed the commandant at Fort Sumner to explain his good intentions to the Indians. 'Tell them,' he said, 'to be too proud to murmur at what cannot be helped. We could not foresee the total de- struction of their corn crop, nor could we foresee that the frost and hail would come and destroy the crop in the country; but not to be dis- couraged; to work hard, every man and woman, to put in large fields next year, when, if God smiles upon our efforts, they will, at one bound, be forever placed beyond want, and be indepen- dent. Tell them not to believe ever that we are not their best friends; that their enemies have told them that we would destroy them; that we had sent big guns there to attack them ; that those guns were only to be used against their enemies if they continue to behave as they have done.'
"With all his good intentions, General Carle- ton was inexcusable, under analogy of the laws that are daily administered in every state and territory of the Union. There is no excuse known for the failure under such circumstances. When a man is restrained of his liberty, or deprived of any right, for the purpose of benefiting him, there is no extenuation except he be in fact bene- fited, or, at least, not injured. Good intentions never excuse a wrong; and though, as a war measure, placing the Navajos at the Bosque may be justified, keeping them there against their will, in time of peace, is clearly an infringement of natural right. Our Government must actu- ally benefit the Indians by the reservation sys- tem in order to justify itself. Still, General
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Carleton stuck to his theory, and said that if the Navajos were moved from the Bosque at all, they ought to be sent to Kansas or the Indian Territory. In 1865 the worms destroyed the crops again, and, on July 18, after giving direc- tions for husbanding all food, Carleton in- structed the officer in command: 'You should tell the Indians what a dreadful year it is, and how they must save everything to eat which lies in their power, or starvation will come upon them.' The Indians had been slipping away from the place in small parties since midwinter of 1864-65, and in July a large party, under Ganado Blanco (White Cattle) broke away forcibly, but they were pursued and driven back. In August Carleton concluded to let the few Coyotero Apaches on the reservation return to their own country, as they desired. In the sum- mer of this year a commission, consisting of Senator Doolittle, Vice-President Foster and Representative Ross, visited New Mexico, and made a full investigation of the Indian affairs there, but nothing resulted from it.
"In 1865 Felipe Delgado succeeded Mr. Steck as Superintendent ; he was in harmony with Gen- eral Carleton, and reported that, 'It is fair to presume that next year their (the Navajos') facilities will be greater,' etc. He had the good sense to recommend the purchase of sheep for them. In 1866 the crops failed again-this time, as Superintendent A. B. Norton, and their agent reported, from bad seed, improper management, and overflows of the Pecos. There were re- ported to be 7000 Indians on the reservation, and the cost of keeping them was estimated at
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$1,500,000 annually. In 1867 the crops failed, from bad management and hail storms, as re- ported; the Comanches attacked and robbed the Navajos several times; and many of their horses died from eating poisonous weeds. There were 7300 Indians reported as on the reservation, and their property had become reduced to 550 horses, 20 mules, 940 sheep, and 1025 goats. In 1868 Superintendent Davis reported: 'The Navajos were located several years ago upon a reserva- tion at the Bosque Redondo by the military, and after expending vast sums of money, and after making every effort for more than four years to make it a success, it has proved a total failure. It was certainly a very unfortunate selection for a reserve; no wood, unproductive soil, and very unhealthy water, and the Indians were so much dissatisfied they planted no grain last spring, and I verily believe they were making preparations to leave as the Apaches did.'
"Fortunately for all concerned, General Sher- man and Colonel Tappan, Peace Commissioners, reached New Mexico in May, 1868. They satis- fied themselves that the Navajos would never become self-supporting or contented at the Bosque Redondo, and, on June 1, entered into an agreement with the tribe by which they were to be removed to their former country. The res- ervation then given them was included between parallel 37° of north latitude, and a parallel drawn through Fort Defiance, for north and south line, and parallel of longitude 109° 30', and a parallel drawn through Ojo del Oso, as east and west lines. The Indians were to receive five dol- lars annually, in clothing, for each member of
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the tribe, and ten dollars for each one engaged in farming or mechanical pursuits. Each head of a family was entitled to select one hundred and sixty acres of land, if he desired to hold in severalty, and in such case he was to receive one hundred dollars in seeds and implements the first year, and twenty-five dollars for each the second and third years. Buildings of the value of $11,500 were to be erected, and the Navajos pledged themselves to compel all their children between the ages of six and sixteen to attend school. A separate schoolhouse and teacher was to be provided for every thirty pupils ; $150,000 was to be appropriated at once to the Indians, part of which was to be expended in the purchase of 15,000 sheep and goats and 500 cattle, and the remainder to be used for the expenses of their removal, and in such other ways as should appear most beneficial.
"Under this liberal treaty the tribe was re- moved in 1868, and since then there has been a continuous improvement in their condition. They had very bad luck with their crops for sev- eral years, but their herds increased steadily. By 1873, they were reported to have 10,000 horses and 200,000 sheep and goats. In 1872 an Indian police force was organized at the agency, on recommendation of Captain Bennett, and placed under control of Manuelito, their war chief, providing, for the first time in their his- tory, for a control of offenders by tribal au- thority. It was discontinued in 1873 for a short time, but was soon put in force again, with bene- ficial results. A few years later the Indians abandoned it on account of the small pay given
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to the policemen. About fifteen men are now employed, and they appear to be all that are needed. In 1876 the Navajos were reported as self-supporting, notwithstanding they had lost 40,000 sheep by freezing during the past winter. In 1878 their agent said: 'Within the ten years during which the present treaty with the Nava- jos had been in force, they have grown from a band of paupers to a nation of prosperous, in- dustrious, shrewd and (for barbarians) intelli- gent people.' They were reported at that time as numbering 11,800, and owning 20,000 horses, 1500 cattle, and 500,000 sheep; they were tilling 9192 acres of land, and obtained ninety-five per cent of their subsistence from civilized pursuits. "In fact they were increasing so rapidly that there was an urgent call for more room, and, as there was desert land to spare in all direc- tions, it was given to them. By executive order of October 29, 1878, there was added to their reservation the land between the northern line of Arizona parallel 110° of west longitude, parallel 36° of north latitude, and the western line of the reservation. Still there was a call for more land, and on January 6, 1880, they were given a strip fifteen miles wide along the eastern side of the reservation, and one six miles wide along the southern line. In the latter year, three windmill pumps and fifty-two stock pumps were put in at different points on the reserva- tion, which have stopped much of their wander- ing in search of water, and added greatly to the value of their grazing lands. Their march of improvement has not stopped, and in 1884 the nation, estimated at 17,000, cultivated 15,000
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acres of land, and raised 220,000 bushels of corn and 21,000 bushels of wheat; they had 35,000 horses and 1,000,000 sheep. In 1884 the reser- vation was extended west to 111° 30', and the northern boundary was made the Colorado and San Juan Rivers. By this addition, the reser- vation enclosed the Moqui Pueblo Reservation on two sides, and the agencies for the two have been consolidated. This order, increasing the reservation by 1,769,600 acres in Arizona and Utah, was supplemented by one taking away 46,000 acres in New Mexico; the reservation as now established includes 8,159,360 acres, mostly desert land."
The foregoing is taken from Dunn's "Massa- cres of the Mountains," published in 1886.
The Navajos, from the time they were re- stored to their old camping grounds, were never afterwards hostile to the whites, but were self- supporting in every particular.
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EARLY PIONEERS AND SETTLERS.
CHAPTER IX.
EARLY PIONEERS AND SETTLERS.
PAULINE WEAVER-FRIENDLY WITH INDIANS-
DISCOVERS GILA PLACERS, ALSO WEAVER DIGGINGS-DEATH OF-CHARLES O. BROWN -MEMBER OF GLANTON BAND -- AT TUCSON AT TIME OF CONFEDERATE INVASION-HAD MONOPOLY OF SELLING LIQUORS AND GAM- BLING-BROUGHT FIRST SEWING MACHINE INTO TERRITORY, ALSO FIRST BABY CARRIAGE -BUILT CONGRESS HALL IN TUCSON-WROTE "HISTORY OF ARIZONA"-L. J. F. JAEGER- RAN FERRY AT YUMA-ESTABLISHED TOWN OF SONOITA-FIRST AMERICAN STORE IN TUC- SON-CHARLES D. POSTON PROSPECTS AND OPENS MINES-APPOINTED SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS-PROMOTES IRRIGATION -HERMAN EHRENBERG-MINING ENGINEER -TOWN OF EHRENBERG NAMED AFTER HIM-EARLY SETTLER AT LA PAZ-KILLED BY INDIANS-PETER KITCHEN-A SUCCESS- FUL RANCHER-FORTIFIED HOUSES FIGHTS WITH INDIANS-DESCRIPTION OF HIS RANCH -HIRAM S. STEVENS-BECOMES RICH IN ARIZONA-ELECTED DELEGATE TO CONGRESS -STORY OF HIS ELECTION - JAMES PEN- NINGTON AND PENNINGTON FAMILY-HAR-
ASSED BY INDIANS-STORY OF CAPTURE OF MRS. PAIGE BY INDIANS-JAMES PENNING- TON AND SON KILLED BY INDIANS-W. H. KIRKLAND-RAISED FIRST AMERICAN FLAG
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
AT TUCSON-HE AND WIFE FIRST WHITE COUPLE MARRIED IN ARIZONA-MINER AND RANCHER.
Probably, the first white settler, if, indeed, a trapper at that time could be called a settler, was Pauline Weaver, a native of White County, Tennessee. Of his early history there is little known. His name is inscribed upon the walls of the Casa Grande with the date, 1833. He is credited with having explored the Verde, and also the Colorado River numerous times. There was hardly a foot of the Territory of Arizona he was not conversant with. Differing entirely from the majority of the trappers of that day, he had no difficulties with the Indians, but was always free to enter their camps. He had the confidence of the Pimas, the Maricopas, the Yumas, the Wallapais, the Mohaves and the dif- ferent tribes along the Colorado, speaking their languages fluently. He was never known to en- gage in any hostile expedition against them, but was frequently a peace messenger, arranging, as far as possible, any difficulties between the whites and the Indians, without resorting to arms.
He discovered the placers along the Gila, and also the placers at Weaver Diggings near Ante- lope Creek in the southern part of Yavapai County, a full account of which is given in one of the succeeding chapters of this volume.
Weaver located a ranch in Yavapai County, where he lived for many years, and died at Camp Verde in the late 60's and is buried in the Gov- ernment burial ground.
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Charles O. Brown, who has been mentioned in these pages already, was born in New York, and when but a young man came west. He is said to have been a member of the Glanton band which was engaged in gathering scalps of the Indians in Chihuahua, for which they received $150 each. Reference to this band has been previously made. Brown had gone to California when Glanton and his associates were murdered by the Indians at Yuma. It is not certain when he returned to Ari- zona, probably about the year 1858. He was a saloon man and a gambler, a dead shot, and it is said that he had several notches on his gun. He was in Tucson at the time of the Confederate in- vasion, and remained there after the Confeder- ates left. When the California Column arrived he was, as before stated, given a monopoly for the selling of liquor and gambling in Tucson by Colonel West. From there Brown went to the Mesilla Valley, where he married a Mexican woman of good family, and settled permanently in Tucson about the year 1864 or 1865. He was very prosperous in his saloon business, his saloon becoming the popular resort of all classes when the prospectors, miners and adventurers began to flow into the southern part of Arizona. He brought into the Territory the first sewing- machine, which was a great curiosity to the Mexican inhabitants of Arizona and Sonora. Many came from as far as Magdalena in Sonora to see a machine which sewed rapidly by the application of a little foot-power. Upon the birth of his first son, he sent to St. Louis and brought in a baby cariage, an unheard of thing
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at that time in Arizona. In 1867 or 68 he built Congress Hall in Tucson, in which the first legis- lature held at Tucson was convened. The saloon had floors of wood, the lumber for which was hauled from Santa Fe, and cost $500 a thousand. The locks on the doors cost $12 each, and all other material in like proportion. For a long time it stood as the best building in Southern Arizona. When the writer came to Arizona in July, 1879, one of the first acquaintances he made was Charles O. Brown, who gave him the follow- ing piece of poetry which he had written a few years before, embodying his idea of what Ari- zona was, and how it came to be made:
"THE HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
How it was made, And who made it.
The Devil was given permission one day,
To select him a land for his own special sway; So he hunted around for a month or more
And fussed and fumed and terribly swore, But at last was delighted a country to view Where the prickly pear and the mesquite grew. With a survey brief, without further excuse
He took his stand on the banks of the Santa Cruz.
He saw there were some improvements to make, For he felt his own reputation at stake ; An idea struck him and he swore by his horns To make a complete vegetation of thorns; He studded the land with the prickly pear And scattered the cactus everywhere, The Spanish dagger, sharp pointed and tall And last-the choya-the worst of all.
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He imported the Apaches direct from hell, And the ranks of his sweet-scented train to swell,
A legion of skunks, whose loud, loud smell Perfumed the country he loved so well.
And then for his life, he could not see why The river should carry more water supply, And he swore if he gave it another drop
You might take his head and horns for a mop.
He filled the river with sand till it was almost dry,
And poisoned the land with alkali,
And promised himself on its slimy brink
The control of all who from it should drink. He saw there was one more improvement to make,
He imported the scorpion, tarantula and rattlesnake,
That all who might come to this country to dwell, Would be sure to think it was almost hell.
He fixed the heat at one hundred and seven
And banished forever the moisture from heaven,
But remembered as he heard his furnace roar, That the heat might reach five hundred or more,
And after he fixed things so thorny and well,
He said, 'I'll be d-d if this don't beat hell';
Then he flopped his wings and away he flew And vanished from earth in a blaze of blue.
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And now, no doubt, in some corner of hell
He gloats over the work he has done so well, And vows that Arizona cannot be beat,
For scorpions, tarantulas, snakes and heat. For with his own realm it compares so well
He feels assured it surpasses hell."
In his gambling hall and liquor saloon, Brown had a mint, but it went almost as fast as made. He was very generous to his friends, and he managed in this way to squander a fortune. He was, also, always staking men for prospecting, which seldom proves a lucrative venture. He died a few years ago, leaving no property what- ever.
The following biographical sketch of L. J. F. Jaeger, was furnished me by his son, now living at Tucson :
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