USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 43
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 43
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397
COLORADO RIVER MISSIONS.
justified their fears. In July 1781, the two missions of San Pedro y San Pablo and Concepcion were de- stroyed and about fifty Spaniards were killed, includ- ing Padre Garcés with three other friars, and Captain Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada, on his way to California with reinforcements and supplies. The missions were on the California side of the river, and all needful details of this disaster, with its causes and results, have been presented in another part of my work.88
After the military expeditions sent from Sonora to avenge this massacre, expeditions which practically accomplished nothing, there were no further definite efforts to found Spanish establishments on the Gila and Colorado; the whole region was left to the ab- origines; indeed, the viceroy's instructions of 1786 required that the Yumas should be let alone until the Apaches were conquered, no attempt to be made meanwhile to open communication with California by
· land. A project for such communication with the peninsula, to be protected by one or more presidios near the head of the gulf, was indeed discussed in 1796-7, but nothing more.39 Lieutenant-colonel José Zúñiga is said to have explored in 1794 a route from Sonora to New Mexico by way of Tucson and Zuñi, but of particulars nothing is known.40 The meagre record of developments at the Moqui towns after the visit of Garcés has already been presented. In 1779- 80, Anza, now governor of New Mexico, learning that the Moquis were in great trouble, made an earnest effort to effect their submission. Visiting the pueblos he learned that by drought, resulting in famine and pestilence, supplemented by raids of Navajos and Yutas, this brave people had been almost annihilated, only 800 surviving of the 7,500 counted in 1775. The
38 See Hist. Cal., i., chap. xvii., for 'pueblo missions on the Colorado,' Arricivita, 491-514, being the chief authority, with many additions from divers original sources on several phases of the subject.
39 See Hist. North Mex. States, i., chap. xxvi., this series.
" Zúñiga (Ignacio), Rapida Ojeada, 16.
398
PIMERÍA ALTA, OR ARIZONA.
proud chief at Oraibe still declined to submit to the Spanish king or a foreign god, or to accept aid for his afflicted subjects; but he permitted such as might desire it to depart, and thirty families were brought out to be settled in New Mexico. Nothing more is known of the Moquis in Spanish or Mexican times."
Another matter demanding brief mention here, as pertaining to Arizona annals of the century, is the Peralta grant of Gila lands. It is claimed that by cédula of December 20, 1748, the king, Fernando VI., in reward for services to the crown conferred on Don Miguel Peralta de Córdoba the title Baron de los Colorados, and ordered the viceroy to grant him 300 leagues of land in the northern regions. On October 10, 1757, officials of the inquisition recommended the grant, and certified on the testimony of Padre Paver of Bac, of Padre García, and of Bishop Tamaron, that to the lands selected in Pimería Alta, the missions had no conflicting claims. On Junuary 3, 1758, Vice- roy Amarillas accordingly granted the tract north of San Javier mission, including the Gila River, and ex- tending ten leagues north and south by thirty leagues east and west. In a document dated ' El Caudal de Hidalgo, Pimería Alta,' May 13, 1758, Peralta, Ca- ballero de los Colorados certifies that he has surveyed the grant and formed the required map. The docu- ments were recorded in the audiencia office at Gua- dalajara, as shown by a certificate of June 23, 1768. On August 1st of the same year, Peralta applied to Carlos III. for a confirmation granted by indorsement December 2, 1772, and by a formal approval of Janu- ary 22, 1776. By his will of 1788, Peralta bequeathed the estate to his son Miguel Peralta, who in 1853, re- siding at San Diego, California, obtained from Presi- dent Santa Anna a certified title, that is, copies of all records in the case from the Mexican archives, with the president's assurance of its validity and sufficiency. From the younger Peralta, the title passed in 1864 to
41 See chap. xii. of this volume.
399
PERALTA GRANT-MINES.
George M. Willing, Jr, and from the latter in 1867 to James Addison Reavis, the present owner.42 This immense grant of over 2,000 square miles extends from the region of the Pima villages eastward, for some seventy-five miles up the Gila valley, including valu- able portions of three counties. Respecting its va- lidity, depending on the genuineness of the documents and on various legal technicalities, I have of course no opinion to express. In a sense the title is plausible enough on its face; but it is somewhat remarkable that the annals of the province, as recorded, contain no allusion to Peralta, to the caballero de los Colorados, or to the Caudal de Hidalgo.
Of mining operations in Arizona, during any portion of the Spanish or Mexican period, nothing is practi- cally or definitely known. The records are barely sufficient to show that a few mines were worked, and that the country was believed to be rich in silver and gold. In several districts have been found traces of these early workings; and these, with traditions aris- ing from the Planchas de Plata find at Arizona proper just south of the line, are for the most part the only foundation for the many 'lost mines' of which much has been vaguely written, and more said. I have al- ready remarked that modern writers have greatly exaggerated the country's former prosperity in mining and other industries, and it may be added that they have as a rule given the wrong date to such prosperity
42 Reavis, 'El Caudal de Hidalgo' (Peralta Grant), Before U. S. Surveyor- general of Arizona, etc. Brief and argument of petitioner. S. F., 1884. Mr Reavis has also shown me his MS. documents in the case, including photo- graphic copies of the original papers, diseño, etc., from the Mex. archives, furnished by authority of the governor of Jalisco and a Guadalajara court in 1881 and 1883; also photographs of doc. from the archives of S. Javier del Bac. According to the original survey of 1758, the initial point or centre of the west- ern boundary line was fixed in the current of the Gila, the line extending thence south by the hase of the Maricopa mountain on the east of the Sierra Estrella, bearing to the west of the Sta Cruz valley, a distance of 5 leagues to a point in the south boundary line; and from the same initial point north, across the Gila and Salt rivers, 5 1. north to a point in the north boundary line. I understand Mr R. to say that artificial corner marks have also been found.
400
PIMERÍA ALTA, OR ARIZONA.
as did exist, by assigning it to the earlier years of the Jesuit period. Contrary to what has been a some- what prevalent impression, there are no clear indica- tions of prehistoric mining, that is, by the Pueblo In- dians, when their towns extended over a large part of the territory; and there is no proof either that the Jesuits ever worked any mines, or that in their time there were carried on any mining operations except on a very limited scale near the Tubac presidio, though in occasional prospecting tours it is probable that some discoveries were made. In Franciscan times for over two decades the same state of things continued. But from 1790 for twenty or thirty years, the period of comparative peace with the Apaches, the veritable era of Arizona's early prosperity, there can be no doubt that many mines were opened from time to time, and that some were profitably worked, though we have no definite record of particulars, and though there is no reason to believe that there were any very extensive or wonderfully rich developments. It is to this period almost exclusively that we must trace the old work- ings discovered in later years, and also all the tradi- tions of lost mines that have any other than a purely imaginary foundation. I append a few items of in- terest in this connection, without attempting to repro- duce or analyze the many newspaper reports on the ancient mines. 43
43 From the report of 1777 on the Tubac region, Yuma Sentinel, April 13, 1878, I quote as follows: 'There are many mines of very rich metals to the west, in the vicinity of Aribac, at a distance of seven leagues; there are three particularly in the aforesaid vicinity, one of which yields a silver mark from one arroba of ore, the other 6 marks from a load, and the 3d a little less. Three leagues beyond, in the valley of Babocomori, there are fine gold placers examined by D. José de Toro and this whole population. After three visits, which these people made with D. José at great risks, and by remaining over 3 days at each trip, it was verified by their having brought away and spent with two traders, who at this time have it, as much as $200 in gold. In Sta Rita mountain and its environs, which is distant from Tubac 4 1., there have been examined 5 silver mines-two have been tried with fire, and 3 with quicksilver, and with tolerable yield. All this is notorious among this entire population, and they do not work them because there are Apaches in all these places.' Anza, Descubrimiento de 1774, MS., also says that in the Aribac valley there were gold and silver mines worked till 1767. Nuggets of considerable size had been found. In the Ures Estrella de Occidente, Nov. 9, 1860, it is stated that the Arizpe archives show an investigation at Tucson
401
A PERIOD OF PROSPERITY.
What has been said in this chapter, though relating mainly to the eighteenth century, also includes nearly all that can be known of the country's annals down to 1845 There are no data on which to found anything like a chronologic record of events from 1800, and the few items of local interest that are accessible have already been presented. The prosperity that began in 1790 may be regarded as having continued to about 1820, but as having disappeared entirely with the end of Spanish rule in 1822. During these three decades the Apaches were for the most part at peace under treaties which by gifts and rations it was made their interest to observe. Many of them came to live in rancherías near the presidios. At the same time the presidial garrisons were vigilant, and with the aid of friendly Pimas and Pápagos had little difficulty in protecting the country from the occasional raids of the distant and hostile bands, It was the golden era of
in the time of Viceroy Galvez in the case of a man accused of having bought a gold nugget of 15 marks 2 oz. for a presidio horse. 'Las arenas del Rio Colorado son un placer perenne de arenas de oro de buenos quilates, sea que por sí mismo las cria ó que desciendan con las corrientes que nacen de la sierra en donde tiene su origen.' Frejes, Hist. Breve, 7. The existence of quicksilver deposits in the Moqui region, as reported in ancient times, was verified by expeditions of the comandantes of Tucson and Tubac about 1840-5. Retes, Portentosas Riquezas; Hall's Sonora, MS., 251-2. Enormous masses of virgin iron in the Madera Mt., between Tucson and Tubac. Velasco, Not. Son., 221. Of the 'Arizona' mine, of especial interest on account of the name, Anza says in 1774, Descub., MS .: 'De esta mision (Saric) á la Arizona hay 8 leguas al Norte. No se ha descubierto la veta madre.' And Zúñiga, Rupida Ojeada, 32, writing in 1835, says that about 1833 he obtained from Arizona, or the Planchas de Plata, a silver brick of 6 marks 5} oz., almost pure, which he presented to the museum. He recommends moving the Altar presidio to the Arroyo de Arizona, so that new discoveries and settlements might follow. In Hinton's Hand-book, 72-4, 192, 195-7, and Arizona History, 191-4, 202, 207, are some remarks on early mining discoveries. These writers show a tendency to subdivide the Planchas de Plata discovery into several lost mines. The former mentions an expedition of Dionisio Robles in 1817, into the Sta Rita Mts, in search of the old mines. Much pure silver was found in old prospect holes. 'Quaint old chronicles ' and ' musty records ' are cited, but not named. The other work notes the evidences of former placer workings near the Quijotoas. In many Cal. and Ariz. newspapers of 1872 or thereabouts were published articles about mines in Northern Ariz., in the region west of the Mojaves, whose traditions of Spaniards and Jesuits from Upper California, who used to cross the Colorado into the mountains and return with loads of silver, are corroborated-so we are gravely told-by records of S. Juan Capistrano mission, and also by records at S. Javier del Bac of annnal expeditions in the olden time to a wonderfully productive mine some 200 1. north of the Gila !
HIST, ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 26
402
PIMERIA ALTA, OR ARIZONA.
Pimería history, though only so in comparison with past and future misfortunes. Naturally under these circumstances, not only were the missions somewhat prosperous, as shown particularly by the magnificent church structure at Bac, but mines were worked as before explained, and stock-raising ranchos and hacien- das were built up in the region extending from Tucson to the south-east and south-west. The ruins of these establishments are yet to be seen at many points."
Then during the last years of the war for indepen- dence-which, however, in itself produced no direct developments in connection with the history of this far north-and especially in the early years of Mexi- can rule, all this was changed and all prosperity van- ished; the Apaches resumed their depredations, the garrisons became demoralized, and all other establish- ments were practically abandoned. The causes of this radical change must apparently be sought, not in any modification of policy in treating the savages nor in any new feeling of hostility on the part of the Apaches, but simply in the neglect of the presidios by the government. Hitherto strict discipline had been enforced, soldiers and officers had been promptly paid, experience had taught the best methods of man- agement, and the military organization was in every way effective. But from 1811 money and food began to be inadequately and irregularly supplied; credits, discounts, and paper money began to do their work of demoralization ; official peculations and speculations became rife; and discipline and vigilance began to be relaxed. The Apaches, hostile as ever at heart, as soon as their rations ceased to be furnished liberally and regularly went on the war-path as the second best way of making a living; the friars, from feelings of loyalty to Spain and disgust at independence, gradu-
" Especially in and near the S. Pedro valley, not occupied in earlier Spanish nor in later Mexican times. Indian outbreaks in 1802 and 1827 are mentioned in the Ariz. Hist., 27, with no details or sources. See Hist. North Mex. States, ii., for Apache wars in general, 1813-19, with references to the meagre sources.
403
RENEWED MISFORTUNES.
ally lost interest in the presidios that had protected the existence of their missions; and the settlers, harassed by the savages, deprived of protection, and burdened by taxes, failed to give a hearty support to the soldiers, and gradually abandoned their ranchos. Finally all was desolation and disaster. This fatal neglect of the presidial organizations has been more fully set forth, so far as details are concerned, in the annals of California, where, however, in the absence of formidable foes, the results were much less disastrous.
Don Ignacio Zúñiga, who had served for years as commander of northern presidios, writing in 1835 on the condition of Sonoran affairs, gives an excellent idea of the Pimería disasters and their causes, though it is probable that he somewhat overrates the pre- ceding prosperity. He declares that since 1820 no less than 5,000 lives had been lost; that at least 100 ranchos, haciendas, mining camps, and other settle- ments had been destroyed; that from 3,000 to 4,000 settlers had been obliged to quit the northern frontier; and that in the extreme north absolutely nothing was left but the demoralized garrisons of worthless sol- diers, though in the most recent years, for lack of anything worth plundering and on account of the hos- tility of the Pimas and Pápagos, Apache raids had been somewhat less frequent than before. This writer's plan was to restore everything as nearly as possible to the old condition. The presidial companies must, he thought, be discharged and new ones organ- ized, to be paid and disciplined as in Spanish times; control of the temporalities must be given again to
45 Zúñiga, Rápida Ojeada al estado de Sonora, dirigida y dedicada al Su- premo gobierno de la nacion, por el C. Ignacio Zúñiga, natural del mismo estado. Mexico, 1835, 8vo, 66 p. Says Hamilton, Resources of Ariz., 20: 'During the régime of the mission fathers many prospecting and exploring parties pene- trated southern Arizona, and a number of settlements were established. Be- sides the presidios of Tucson and Tubac there were flourishing haciendas at S. Bernardino, Barbacomari, S. Pedro, Arivaca, and Calabazas. These settle- ments possessed large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. Mining was also prosecuted vigorously, especially at Arivaca and Cababi. After the breaking- up of the missions (1828) these prosperous colonies were despoiled by the sav- ages and abandoned by those who escaped the tomahawk and the torch.'
404
PIMERÍA ALTA, OR ARIZONA.
the friars; colonists of good character must be sent to occupy the deserted northern ranchos; some of the presidios should be moved to better positions; and finally the Colorado and Gila establishments should be founded as proposed in the past century.46 As a matter of course, no such reforms were carried out.
The Sonora record shows a period of general war- fare against the Apaches in 1832-6, ending in some kind of a patched-up peace; also troubles with the Pápagos in 1840-1; and a little later serious revolts of the Yaquis and Mayos. 47 Unfortunately political and revolutionary controversies introduced new com- plications into Indian affairs, Gándara and other par- tisan leaders being accused of trying to advance their own interests by inciting the Yaquis and Pápagos to revolt. Moreover this political warfare was most disastrous in its effects on the frontier presidios, the commandants being often called from their proper duties to aid in sustaining the state government. For the period of 1842-5 I have a large number of de- tached fragmentary records, which, while not sufficing for a complete chronologic narrative, give a very sat- isfactory idea of the general condition of affairs on the frontier. There is no indication that in Arizona any Mexican settlement existed, except at Tucson and Tu- bac, where under protection of soldiers a few settlers still managed to live. From the two presidios com- plaints of inadequate force, arms, horses, and other sup- plies are frequent. In 1842-3 the Pápagos and Gila tribes were concerned in hostilities at the instigation of
46 In 1795, 1801, and 1823-6, there had been some slight agitation of the project of establishing communication between Cal. and N. Mex guarded by a presidio on the Colorado. Hast. Cal., i. 573; ii. 3-4, 507-8; Borica, Informe sobre comunicacion con N. Mexico, 1796; Borbon, Parecor sobre el proyecto de abrir via .... y establecer un presidio a la entrada de Rio Colorado, 1801: Nava, Informe, 1801: Romero, Doc. relativas á la expedicion del capilan R. para abrir camino, 1823-6. All these being MSS. in the Arch. Cal. Capt. José Romero actually made the trip from Tucson to Cal. and back; and in connection with his trip Gen. Figueroa also visited the Colorado. The corresp. is bulky, but we have no diaries. The result was that all schemes of land communication were abandoned. In later years, however, small well-armed parties not in- frequently made the trip to and from Cal. by the Gila and Colorado route.
al See Hist. North Mex. States, ii.
405
APACHE WARFARE.
Gándara as was charged, but they became repentant and were pardoned in May 1843. There were still ran- cherías of friendly Apaches at Tucson and Tubac, who even served as allies of the Mexicans in various cam- paigns; and some of the distant Apache bands were generally well disposed; but others were constantly on the war-path. Not much damage was done in Arizona because there were no ranchos left to be plundered, but farther south disasters to life and property were unceasing. On hearing of one of these raids, Captain Comaduran of Tucson generally started to cut off the retreating foe; several such campaigns are recorded, including one on a larger scale under Colonel Narbona in June 1843; and results at best were a few Apaches killed, a few women and children captured, a few cattle recovered, or perhaps the chief of some band forced to sue for peace, with a never-ending sup- ply of plausible reasons why no more could be accom- plished. The reports are strikingly similar to those we read in the newspapers of 1886 respecting Apache warfare in the same region. In April 1845 Colonel Elias Gonzalez made a full report on the condition and needs of the frontier presidios, showing no im- provement in the general state of affairs; and at the same time he presented a plan for a grand campaign with over 1,000 men in August. In September, when the forces had been united and all was nearly. ready for the start, Colonel Elias was summoned to the south with his troops to support the governor in suppressing a revolution. It was decided in a council of war at Tucson to disobey the summons and go on with the Apache campaign; but we have no record of results, except that Comaduran in December, with a force of 155 men, succeeded in killing six Apaches. 48
48 Pinart, Doc. Hist. Son., MS., iii., passim, including extracts from the Voto de Sonora and other newspapers of the period. Col Elias Gonzalez' re- port and plan of April 30, 1845, is a MS. on p. 231-44. The Tucson Council of Sept. 11th is recorded in the Centinela de Sonora, Oct. 10, 1845. See also Pinart, Col. Doc., MS., and print, no. 11, 45, 57, 62, 147; Velasco, Not. Son., 256-7. In connection with raids of 1845 the Apache chief Mangas Coloradas, famous in late years, is mentioned.
.
406
PIMERIA ALTA, OR ARIZONA.
Of the missions and visitas down to 1827, there is nothing to be added to the few local items already presented, except to note the visit of Bishop Bernardo del Espíritu Santo in 1821;49 and after 1827 there is nothing to show the existence of the Arizona estab- lishments. Hamilton states that they "were finally abandoned by a decree of the government in 1828;"50 and though I have not found the original record, I have no doubt that such was practically the truth. The order of expulsion against Spaniards probably caused the departure of some of the friars in 1827-8, the management of the temporalities was taken away from them, and some of the establishments-including all in Arizona-were abandoned. South of the line, however, the Queretaranos still remained at several of the missions in charge of spiritual interests for many years; and even in the north the Pimas and Pápagos continued to live more or less continuously in commu- nities at Bac, Tumacácori, and perhaps some of the other pueblos.51
The only explorations of Arizona in Mexican times, besides those effected by the military detachments in pursuit of Apache raiders, were those of foreign trap- pers, chiefly Americans from New Mexico. The ad- ventures of some of these parties, as described by James O. Pattie in a published narrative, have already been noticed. The Patties first trapped on the Gila and its branches in the autumn of 1825, again visiting the region in 1826, and in the same year going down to the junction and up the Colorado in the track of Garcés. In the autumn of 1828 they again followed
49 Tubac, Lib. Mis., MS.
50 Hamilton's Resources, 20; also Ariz. Hist. (Elliott & Co.), 52.'
51 In 1828 P. Gonzalez at Caborca asks the ayuntamiento of Altar if it is true the padres must go at once as ordered by the com .- gen., or await orders of civil authorities. Pinart, Doc. Hist. Son., MS., i. 122. In 1844 a padre speaks of the missions having been destroyed, and the temporalities taken by the govt. Id., iii. 181. Zúñiga, as we have seen, in 1835 recommended that the missions be restored to the padres; and there are other such allusions. Still the mission books of most of the establishments of Pimeria Alta show the friars still in charge, perhaps practically as curates. In 1843 there was a decree permitting the Jesuits to establish missions in Sonora.
407
PATTIE AND THE TRAPPERS.
the Gila down to the Colorado, and made their way to California.52 The narrative is devoted mainly to per- sonal adventures and encounters with bears and In- dians, having more fascination than real value. Of the few trapping parties which may have preceded those with which Pattie was connected, and the many that followed them, very little is known; but there were few of the later years in which the Arizona streams were not trapped to some extent. Pauline Weaver was a famous pioneer who traversed the country as early as 1832, as did Kit Carson perhaps still earlier. In 1829-32 the parties of Ewing Young and David Jackson crossed Arizona to California, as did a party of New Mexicans under José Antonio Vaca; and many of the early trapping and trading pioneers mentioned in the annals of California had visited this country sooner or later, though the regular route for trading parties and immigrants from Wolf- skill's trip of 1831 was by a route north of the Colo- rado.53 Down to about 1836 the Apaches are said to have been friendly to the Americans; but about that time the famous chief Juan José was treacherously killed with many of his people by one Johnson, and the Apaches immediately attacked and killed Charles Kemp's party of 22 trappers on the Gila, as well as other parties farther east in New Mexico.54
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