USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. III > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
" 'The foregoing considerations have convinced me that the lands between Halfway Bend and Corner Rock are not only suitable for a reserva- tion, but, in my humble opinion, are in every re- gard the best that could be selected in this sec- tion of Arizona.
" 'The difference of level between Halfway Bend and La Paz is twenty-eight feet for a dis- tance of nine miles by land, so that the canal could easily be continued from Halfway Bend to the foot of the valley, changing La Paz, from 'the city of the desert,' to the city of a territorial Eden, of laughing gardens and waving grain fields.
" 'I have the honor to remain, very respect- fully, your obedient servant,
". ADOLPHUS F. WALDEMAR, " 'Chief Engineer.
" 'Colonel Charles D. Poston,
"'Superintendent Indian Affairs, "'La Paz, Arizona Territory.'
"Irrigating canals are essential to the pros- perity of these Indians. Without water there
173
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
can be no production, no life; and all they ask of you is to give them a few agricultural imple- ments to enable them to dig an irrigating canal by which their lands may be watered and their fields irrigated, so that they may enjoy the means of existence. You must provide these Indians with the means of subsistence or they will take by robbery from those who have. During the last year I have seen a number of these Indians starved to death for want of food. They were eating the bark and leaves of trees, and also the lizards, frogs and snakes, so that it was impos- sible for me to procure any of the great natural curiosities of that country for the Smithsonian Institution.
"It was a matter of profound regret that the natural history of Arizona could not be illus- trated in that depository of natural science ; but the starving condition of the Indians forced them to consume the wonderful reptile productions of the country, which, had a better fate been re- served for them, would have delighted my friend, Professor Baird and the many visitors at that fountain of science.
"I was especially charged to examine and re- port upon the customs and habits of the grass- hoppers or locusts of the western plains, to de- termine if they were the locusts of Asia, their mode of procreation, subsequent length of life, and many other interesting details; but alas for the lights of science and opportunity of grasshop- per fame! these interesting insects had all dis- appeared down the widespread gullets of my red children. The Indian policy that I have the honor to present to you is simple and plain- easily understood by the Indians, and not to be
174
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
mistaken by the whites. We must have peace or war with the Indians, and I propose to give them their choice. The Indians that choose to be friendly with the Americans and one another will move westward to the reservation selected for them on the Colorado River and betake them- selves to habits of industry and thrift. The In- dians that reject the proffered friendship must go eastward and mingle with the barbarous Apaches and share their fate. It will then be easy to draw the distinction between friendly and unfriendly Indians. No American and no friend of civilization will disturb or be allowed to disturb the friendly Indians engaged in the active pur- suits of productive industry on the Colorado res- ervation. Here they will have a resting place and a home on the banks of the river they have bathed in since childhood, and with the generous aid of the great government, whose hapless wards they are, will soon become a self-sustain- ing people. They will learn the first great les- son that by the sweat of their brows they shall earn their bread, and in due time reap the reward that sweetens toil.
"With an irrigating canal, the soil of the Colorado will become wonderfully productive. In that latitude the sun is over-genial; and the valley, not having an altitude of more than three hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, possesses an immunity from snows and frosts, so destructive to crops in more northern lati- tudes. There is no reason why the valley of the Colorado may not be made as productive as the valley of the Nile. In that temperature it only needs the vivifying influence of water to
175
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
make the productions of nature spring up like magic.
"The system of irrigation is no new experi- ment; it existed in Egypt before the Pyramids were born; it was practiced in Asia before Con- fucius wrote; it was brought to great perfection by the Aztecs of America, when our ancestors were dressed in skins and furs, and lived by the booty of the chase; it is scientific agriculture, and the only insurance against the uncertain- ties of a crop. With a proper system of irri- gation, you shall surely reap where you sow; yea, even twice or thrice per annum. The sedi- ment of the Colorado will plaster the walls of a canal and make them impermeable to water; such is the beautiful arcana of nature. On this river a lively commerce is already springing up, and some half dozen steamboats plow its turbid waters. It is navigable five hundred miles from its mouth, and its sources drain the great Amer- ican Basin. The Indians will have a ready market for the surplus productions at their very doors, and the friendly current of the Colorado will bear it, untaxed, to market.
"It will be necessary for the Government to furnish the Indians with some intelligent super- intendence in opening their irrigating canal, and the necessary implements of husbandry and seeds to enable them to raise a crop. Then let them work or starve; but do not force them to starve or steal without first giving them a chance to labor. It is a cruel thing to force men into a new civilization without preparing them for its duties. As the Americans come into the country the wants of the Indians increase; but without aid the means of satisfying these arti-
176
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
ficial wants are not commensurate. Without tools a man is helpless indeed. What would a man do without a knife, an ax, a hoe, a spade, or a shovel ? He could make very little progress in agriculture; but tenfold is his power of pro- duction increased with these simple implements, of husbandry. Among these Indians as well as all primitive people the women are the 'hewers of wood and drawers of water,' the very slaves of the lords of creation. It is only where the light of Christianity and the spread of civiliza- tion illuminate the pathway of a people that woman assumes a position 'a little lower than the angels.' The Indian women have to work out their salvation in sweat and blood or, lack- ing food and clothing, flock around a military post like moths around a candle. The dusky maidens of the Colorado are fast disappearing under the influences of these debasing establish- ments of military power, and soon their grace- ful forms and melodious voices will be only remembered in tradition and song. The dis- appearance of a people is a melancholy spectacle and bodes no good to us. The tide of civilization is bearing them to eternity with the same cer- tainty that their native Colorado bears its sands to the sea. On what distant shore they will be stranded or saved is a mystery which they do not attempt to penetrate. The smoke of in- cineration floats away on the breeze and a few charred bones and smoldering ashes are all that remain of the 'human form divine.'
"Iretaba, the great chief of these Indians, was in Washington a year ago, on a visit to the President and the Army. He returned to his own country much pleased with his visit to the
177
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
Americans. He told his tribe that it would be of no use to go to war against the Americans; that they were a great people, against whom the Indians could never war successfully. He made an effective speech to them; and he and they agreed that if the Americans would deal with them fairly and justly, and provide them with the means of existence, they would bury the scalps that they had taken from one another; they would bury the tomahawk, and would never strike an American again. The responsibility now rests upon you. The Great Spirit, which deals alike with the destinies of the red man and the white man, will judge between you. In the long muster-roll of nations, which will be called after the echoes of Gabriel's trumpet shall have died away, if it shall be found that you have dealt fairly with your red brethren on this con- tinent, you will stand before the Dispenser of universal justice acquitted of crime. If, on the other hand, it shall be decided that your track across the continent has been a succession of wrong, without an honorable effort at repara- tion, what terrible judgments may be meted out to you! We have always time to do justice, and to delay it is a crime. It is especially a duty to render justice to the weak and the helpless. Be merciful to the degenerate, for in the cycle of time our own doom may come.
"It is not alone for the Indians that I ask your generosity, however, much may be their due; but looking far beyond the present moment, it must be apparent to every man who lifts his mind from the struggle of the hour and indulges in a contemplation of the grand future of our country, that the settlement of the aborigines 12
178
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
of the mineral Territories in reservations must precede the active and full development of the great treasures of the nation. It is to these great mineral fields that the financiers of the Government and the world are now looking for relief from the financial embarrassments conse- quent upon a civil war unprecedented in the his- tory of nations. The idea of discounting or repudiating the national debt can never be in- dulged in for a moment while the mountains west of the Sierra Madre are teeming with min- eral wealth. In order to allow scope and verge enough for our hardy and enterprising frontiers- men to prospect the mines of Arizona, it becomes necessary to have the Indians colonized in a res- ervation, so that a miner may know when he meets an Indian in a lonely gorge in the moun- tains whether he is a friend or a foe.
"It scarcely becomes me to allude to the sub- ject; but justice to the brave and hardy pioneers who have risked their lives a thousand times to carry the institutions of the American people into Arizona deserve a tribute at the hands of their first Representative. No people have ever endured the hardships, dangers, and privations of those brave and adventurous men who left the homes of their ancestors a thousand miles behind and penetrated the wilderness sending its golden sands into the Gulf of California.
"In the year 1824, Sylvester Pattie and his son James, from Bardstown, Kentucky, with a party of about one hundred hardy and adven- turous frontiersmen, set out upon a trapping expedition to the head waters of the Arkansas River. After many romantic adventures in New Mexico, the party dispersed, and a few of
179
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
the boldest spirits undertook to reach the Pacific Ocean. They spent one winter at the celebrated mines of Santa Rita del Cobre, on the head waters of the Gila River, and the next spring trapped down that river to its confluence with the Colorado. Here they embarked their canoes on the turbid waters of the Colorado, and drifted down to the Gulf of California, whence they crossed the peninsula to the Pacific Ocean. Here they were imprisoned by the Spanish com- mandant at San Diego, and after a long and cruel confinement the elder Pattie died in a prison.
"The oldest living trapper in Arizona at this day is old Pauline Weaver, from White County, Tennessee. His name is carved in the Casa Grande, near the Pima villages, on the Gila River, under date of 1832. This old man has been a peacemaker among the Indians for many years, and is now spending the evening of his life in cultivating a little patch of land on the public domain in the northern part of the Terri- tory of Arizona, on a beautiful little stream called the Hasiamp.
"In the early settlement of our western coun- try the pioneers formed the advancing wave of civilization, and were generously sustained by the friends and relatives they had left behind; but the pioneers of Arizona leaped beyond the reach of succor and led the forlorn hope of civil- ization. Self-reliant and full of manhood, they went forth to battle alone. And manfully they bore themselves in the struggle, until overborne by the misfortunes which have nearly enveloped the nation in ruin. Many of them had seen the glorious banner of our country carried to the
180
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
tides of the Pacific Ocean, where nature said to man, 'Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.' We had to turn our course southward, and sought the unpeopled lands of northern Mexico.
"The Government followed in the train of the people, and in a period of great prosperity, when the Treasury was overflowing with gold, gave $10,000,000 for what was called the Gadsden Purchase. The people rushed into the new pur- chase and soon the indomitable industry and en- ergy of the coming race was apparent in the dis- covery of mineral wealth and the establishment of relations with the nearest commercial centers. The industry of our people soon spread a bene- ficial influence in all northern Mexico ; the Indians were softening under the influences of civiliza- tion, and I wish the sequel could be omitted. Would that Lethean waters could produce ob- livion. In less than sixty days after the demon of civil war had commenced his ravages on this side of the continent, the infant settlements of Arizona were abandoned and the track of re- ceding civilization was, for the first time in the history of this country, turned eastward, marked in its retreat by new-made graves. For two years the Territory remained a prey to anarchy.
"At the end of that time, by the indefatigable efforts of a few fast friends, a provisional gov- ernment for the Territory was organized, and a staff of Federal officers of more than ordinary ability and character were sent across the plains to establish civil government in that remote region. In the overwhelming events of the great civil war impending, it was a grand moral spectacle to see the Republic sending its agents to a remote and distant Territory to plant the
181
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
banner of freedom on the ruins of a former civilization. We are but repeating history in following the footsteps of the Aztecs from their northern homes to central Mexico. The civil officers sent out by the President have dis- charged this duty, and discharged it well.
"At a greater distance from this capital than any proconsul ever planted the eagles of Rome from the imperial city, they established the stars and stripes of the Republic. In a beautiful lap of the mountains where never white man trod before, they located the capital of the Ter- ritory, and named it in honor of the Aztec his- torian, Prescott. On this very spot there is an Indian mound with the remains of an ancient fortification of the Montezumas, reminding us forcibly of the mutations of time and the rise and decline of nations; but nowhere yet in ruins do we find a temple dedicated to the living God. Let us take warning and lay deep the founda- tions of the Christian faith, not only in the monuments of Christianity, but in the hearts of the people.
"In that peaceful mountain home no sectional political differences rankle in the heart. It was my good fortune on the last anniversary of our Independence to assist in its celebration in that primitive capital. The people who had borne the banner of freedom from Bunker Hill to those distant mountains and the men who had escaped the horrors of war in the Old Dominion joined in fraternal celebration of Independence day, and consecrated themselves to the future prosperity of the Territory. And there in those everlasting mountains the genius of the Amer- ican people will build a capital which will rear
182
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
its domes and spires to the heavens when 'Time shall doubt of Rome.'
"Such is the genius of American civilization. It may be impeded now by the horrors of civil war, but the day is not far distant when it will overleap the boundary of nations like an ava- lanche, and spread itself over northern Mexico. It is destiny, and it may be a duty to carry our institutions into that country ; and God send the day, when as a united people, we may heal the discords of civil war by joining armies now en- gaged in fratricidal strife to drive from this continent the fungus of European monarchy. I am willing to join in paeans to universal eman- cipation for the sake of national unity. 'The nationality of the American people' is the motto upon which I was sent into this House, and when it ceases I shall leave it without regret.
"It is a source of extreme mortification that I am unable to present this amendment with the approbation of the Committee of Ways and Means, but it has not been possible to bring them to an estimate of the justice and importance of
the measure. If the same economy pervades every branch of the administration of the Gov- ernment, the taxpayers will have no cause of complaint. We have neither military protec- tion, mail facilities, nor any of the fostering cares of Government; but we prefer rather to indulge in pleasant hopes of the future than un- worthy complaint. The Pacific States and Ter- ritories are rich in wealth, filling up rapidly with an indomitable population and 'by and by will grow a little stronger.' Confident in strength and hopeful of the future, we are will- ing to 'bide our time.' With five hundred thou-
183
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
sand square miles of mineral lands, we do not despair. With a climate surpassing any other part of the continent, and perhaps of the world, we shall 'Multiply and replenish the earth.'
"No Alpine top nor Appennine valley is waked to industry by a brighter sunlight than bathes the mountains and valleys of Arizona. It is the land of the olive and the vine. The pearls of the Orient were not richer in purity and value than those of the sea of Cortez. The gold of Ophir was not so abundant as that which awaits the hand of industry in our pregnant mountains. The 'Planchas de Plata' are the richest silver mines known to history. We are the children of your loins; give us sympathy. We are brethren of the same family; give us help. Nurture us, strengthen us, raise us up to dignity, and in a few short years we shall come to add another block to this grand mosaic temple of freedom which we hope will endure to the re- motest ages.
"The uniform courtesy and kindness with which the Delegates from the remote Territories are received in this capital inspires the most grateful emotions.
"As this is the first occasion on which I have presumed to occupy the valuable time of the House, accept my sincere thanks for your kind attention."
It is barely possible that the reason most of Arizona's demands were not granted was the de- sire of Congress for economy, but there seems to have been a determined opposition, most of it, perhaps, underground, against the granting of the demands. This is evidenced by the following, which is quoted from the Report of the Joint
184
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
Special Committee on the Condition of the In- dian tribes, appointed under Joint Resolution of March 3, 1865, and printed by the Government Printing Office at Washington :
"Indorsement on communication from Hon. Charles D. Poston, delegate from Arizona, to the War Department, Washington, D. C., January 12, 1865. Recommends the establishment of a military post at Amboy ; also an Indian reserva- tion in that vicinity, which requires protection, &c., &c. (Referred by General Halleck to head- quarters department of New Mexico, January 17th, 1865.)
"February 18, 1865. '
"Respectfully returned. I do not think there is any military necessity for the establishment of a post at the mouth of Bill Williams' Fork on the Colorado of the West; nor do I agree with the Hon. Mr. Poston about having an Indian reservation on the Colorado.
"There are very grave objections to going to the expense of such an establishment in such an inaccessible country, surrounded as it is by deserts; besides, the Mojave Indians are at peace, and could not with propriety or profit be moved from their part of the valley of that river to another part further down.
"The other Indians, living upon the various slopes of the elevated country from which rise the San Francisco mountains, are not a warlike race, and can easily be managed, if treated with moderation, judgment, and firmness, until the country is filled with white settlers; then, as in California, they can be gathered together at some point, to be chosen with care, where they can be fed and protected until the destiny, which has un-
185
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT.
relentingly followed their race, blots them in turn from the face of the earth. The Apaches of Ari- zona, living upon the affluents to the Gila, should, in my judgment, be placed upon a reservation upon the Gila ; say, somewhere upon the mouth of the Rio de Sauz, where there is an extensive val- ley, once densely populated, it is supposed, by Aztecs as they journeyed southward in the elev- enth century.
"The remains of ancient acequias and of vil- lages indicate that this land once sustained a great many people. It can do so again.
"All of which is respectfully submitted.
"JAMES H. CARLETON,
"Official :
"Brigadier-General Commanding. BEN C. CUTLER, "Assistant Adjutant General."
The results of the memorials of the Legislative Assembly and the labors of Delegate Poston were not very great, but the 38th Congress did take enough notice of the newly formed Territory to give her post roads from Agua Caliente to La Paz; from Tucson, via Tubac, to Patagonia Mines; from Tubac, via Cerro Colorado, Fres- nal, and Cabibi, to Tucson; from Casa Blanca, via Weaver, Walnut Grove, and Upper Hassa- yampa, to Prescott; from La Paz, via Williams- port, Castle Dome City, Laguna, Arizona City, to Fort Yuma; from Prescott to Mojave City ; from Mojave City to Los Angeles, via San Bernardino; from Mojave City via Aubry, to La Paz; from Mojave City via Santa Clara, to Fill- more City, in the Territory of Utah.
For the Indian Service in the Territory, Con- gress made the following provision :
186
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
"For the general incidental expenses of the Indian Service in the Territory of Arizona, presents of goods, agricultural implements, and other useful articles, and to assist them to locate in permanent abodes, and sustain themselves by the pursuits of civilized life, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the In- terior, twenty thousand dollars."
In passing it may be well to note that the ap- propriation for New Mexico, then also a Terri- tory, for the same purposes, was the sum of fifty thousand dollars.
Congress also set aside a reservation for the Indians of Arizona as follows :
"All that part of the public domain in the Ter- ritory of Arizona, lying west of a direct line from Half-Way Bend to Corner Rock on the Colorado River, containing about seventy-five thousand acres of land, shall be set apart for an Indian reservation for the Indians of said river, and its tributaries."
And, further, in the goodness of its heart, Con- gress made the following additional appropria- tion :
"To supply deficiencies in the Indian service in Arizona Territory, twelve thousand nine hun- dred dollars for the present fiscal year."
The above was all that the 38th Congress did for the Territory of Arizona, and had it not been for the untiring efforts of Delegate Poston, it is doubtful whether she would have received any consideration whatever from Congress. The establishment of the Indian Reservation on the Colorado River, and the meagre appropriations for the Indian Service were secured by Poston in the face of an adverse report from the Con- gressional Committee on Indian Affairs.
JOHN N. GOODWIN.
187
EARLY DAYS OF PRESCOTT.
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY DAYS OF PRESCOTT.
GOVERNOR GOODWIN-HIS BROAD AND LIBERAL
POLICIES-PRESCOTT SELECTED AS CAPITAL- SELECTION OF TOWNSITE AND SALE OF LOTS- FIRST HOUSE-BEAR PEN-FIRST HOTEL AND RESTAURANT-FIRST STORE-FIRST SALOON
- FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL - FIRST DAY SCHOOL-FIRST COURT-FIRST LEGISLATURE -FIRST ELECTION-FIRST PUBLIC BUILDING : "GUBERNATORIAL MANSION"-DESCRIPTION OF ARIZONA BY J. ROSS BROWNE-JOSEPH EHLE, PIONEER - LOUNT PARTY - EARLY SETTLERS - FIRST BOARDING-HOUSE - DE- SCRIPTION OF PRESCOTT BY GENERAL RUSLING.
John N. Goodwin, Arizona's first Governor, was born in South Berwick, Maine, fitted for col- lege at the Berwick Academy, entered Dart- mouth College in 1840, and was graduated in 1844. He studied law in the office of John Hub- bard, and commenced the practice of his profes- sion in his native town in 1849, in which he was successful. In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate of Maine, and in 1855 was appointed Special Commissioner to revise the laws of Maine, and in 1860 was elected to Congress. In March following the passing of the Act creating the Territory of Arizona, Mr. Goodwin was created Chief Justice for this Territory, but, following the death of Governor Gurley, Presi- dent Lincoln, on the 20th of August, 1863, ap- pointed Mr. Goodwin to the place made vacant by the death of Mr. Gurley. Mr. Goodwin served in this capacity until 1865, when he was elected
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.