USA > Arizona > The resources of Arizona; a description of its mineral, farming, grazing and timber lands; its rivers, mountains, valleys and plains; its cities, towns and mining camps; its climate and productions; with brief sketches of its early history etc > Part 25
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It is said, and with truth, that the western pioneer first builds a school-house and afterwards a church. This will hold good in Arizona, and long before churches were considered at all necessary, schools were established in different parts of the Ter- ritory, supported by private contributions. To the mission fathers must be given the credit of introducing schools in what is now Arizona Territory. While being taught the truths of Christianity the neophytes were also instructed in the rudiment- ary branches of secular knowledge. But the sacred and profane
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
branches were so mingled that it was difficult to say where the one began and the other ended. As may be imagined, the in- struction was mainly of a religious nature, but its effects were good, and the fruit it borc, lasting. After the abandonment of the missions, and up to the time of the Gadsden purchase, there was not a school or educational establishment of any kind within the Territory. During these long years a mental and material darkness brooded over the land, and ignorance and savagery held joint sway.
The first regular educational establishment was opened by the Sisters of St. Joseph, in Tucson. For years this was the only school in the Territory, and from many isolated towns and set- tlements parents sent their children to the Academy of St. Joseph. Although the institution was under the control of the Catholic Church, and the instruction given partook somewhat of a religious character, yet no discrimination was shown by the good sisters. The children of poor people of all denominations, who were unable to pay for tuition, were received and taught gratis. So apparent were the benefits conferred on the people by this school-which is yet in a flourishing condition-that the Legislature at the session of 1877 voted it $300 out of the Ter- ritorial treasury.
It was not until the year 1868 that public schools were estab- lished. At that time the population was less than 10,000, and was scattered over a vast extent of territory. Owing to these causes, and the lack of funds, their growth at first was slow, but as population increased, new school districts were established and revenues augmented. Fine brick structures were erected in Prescott and Phœnix, competent teachers were employed, and the attendance steadily increased. Congress by an Act, dated February 18, 1881, has set apart seventy-two sections of the public domain in Arizona for university purposes. This land has been located in the San Francisco mountain country, is heavily timbered, and should yet be a considerable source of revenue to the schools of the Territory. The public schools of Arizona are maintained by a direct tax, levied on all property.
According to the new school law framed by the Legislature of 1883, a Territorial tax of fifteen cents upon each one hundred dollars of taxable property is collected annually, for school purposes. A county tax of not more than eighty cents on each one hundred dollars of valuation, is also imposed for the same purpose. The schools are under the control of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, at a salary of two thous- and dollars a year, and the Governor and Territorial Treasurer, who form a Board of Education. The Superintendent is required to visit the schools of each county at least once a year. He also apportions the school moneys among the several counties, accord- ing to the number of children of school age in each, and is the executive head of the public school system of the Territory.
223
SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETY.
The Probate Judge of each county is ex-officio Superintendent, and exercises a general supervision over the schools in his county, making his reports to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Each school district is under the control of a Board of Trus- tees, consisting of three members, elected by the qualified elect- ors of the district, including women, who have the right to vote for these officers. The Trustees provide school-houses, employ teachers, prescribe rules, and do all other things required for successfully conducting the schools under their charge. A Cen- sus Marshal is appointed for each district, who makes a proper enumeration each year of the number of children between the ages of six and twenty-one, in his district, and on which census the apportionment of the public moneys to each county, is based. The school year begins on the first day of September and ends on the last day of August, and is open for all children between the ages of six and twenty-one years. The course of study embraces the following branches : Reading, writing, orthography, arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, physi- ology, drawing, chemistry, elements of book-keeping and such other studies as the Territorial Board of Education may pre- scribe. No books, tracts or papers of a sectarian character, are allowed to be used or introduced in any public school of the Territory, and any school under the control of any religious denomination or teaching any sectarian doctrine, is not entitled to receive any portion of the moneys set apart for public instruction.
The law of compulsory attendance is in force in Arizona, but owing to the condition of the country and the long distances between settlements, its provisions are a dead letter. According to the report of the Superintendent of Instruction, the total re- ceipts from all sources for school purposes in Arizona for the year 1882, amounted to $101,967.35, and the expenditures for the same period $98,267.93, showing a balance on hand of $3,699.42. The same report gives the total number of children of school age in the Territory at 10,283; and the whole number of teachers employed at 126. The number of school districts in the several counties is as follows :
Yavapai county
29
Pima
IO
Cochise
II
Apache "
15
Maricopa
IO
Graham
6
Pinal
7
Gila
3
Yuma
3
Mohave
3
Total
97
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
The total valuation of school property in the Territory for the same year was $116,750.50. As population increases, new dis- tricts are being constantly organized, and there is scarcely a camp or settlement in any portion of the country without a school for at least three months in the year. In the large towns fine school-houses have been erected, and those of Prescott and Phoenix, already alluded to, would be a credit to any city in the land. The immigrant with a family to educate, who thinks of settling in Arizona, will find here as perfect school facilities as exist in any of the Territories. In every town, village, farming settlement and mining camp, the people are keenly alive to the blessings of the public school system, and are liberal in its sup- port. It has taken a firm root in the soil, and will grow and prosper as the country advances in wealth and population. Although but yet in its infancy, it has done much good and gives promise of incalculable benefits in the future. A country that maintains and fosters it is on the high road where culture and progress walk hand in hand with prosperity.
Although Arizonans have not been considered a church-going people, yet the number of churches in the Territory, and the liberal manner in which they are supported would go to dis- approve this idea. The cheap wit which has been indulged in on the wickedness and depravity of the old residents is hardly borne out by the sight of handsome houses of worship in all the principal towns. If churches and schools are the criterion of a people's intellectual condition, then surely does Arizona compare favorably with older and more pretentious communities. The tasteful edifices, which are springing up in every town show that the people have brought with them to this remote region an attachment for that Christian civilization in which they were born and nurtured. Arizonans are a liberal people, and care very little what a man's religious opinions may be, provid- ing he does not intrude them upon his neighbors.
All possible religious beliefs can be found in the Territory. Christian and heathen, Jew and infidel, Mormon and idolator live side by side in peace and harmony. A man may worship the sun, or believe the moon is made of green cheese if he so lists. There is perfect freedom, and a man's religious principles arc only circumscribed by the bounds of his imagination. Before the American occupation the Catholic faith was the prevailing belief in the Territory. It was the religion first established in the country by the Jesuit Fathers, and all the Mexican portion of the population, together with the Papagos, yet worship at the same shrine. It is only within the last ten years that the sects of the reformed faith have established churches in Arizona, now they are found in all the leading towns in the Territory. Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists and Mormons have erected places of worship, many of them large and imposing structures, with considerable
weich
SEE PAGE 54
SCHOOL HOUSE, PHOENIX.
BANCROFT - LITH - S.F
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SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETY.
pretensions to architectural beauty. The number of churches owned by the different sects is as follows :
Catholics 8
Methodists 6
Presbyterians 4
Baptists 4
Congregationalists
2
Episcopalians 2
The Mormons have places of worship at their settlements on the Little Colorado, on the Salt, and on the Gila rivers. The Catholics have the largest and finest churches-including that of San Xavier del Bac, already described. Arizona forms a diocese under the charge of an Archbishop, resident at Tucson. The Methodists have a strong organization and are under the jurisdiction of a Bishop who lives at Santa Fé, New Mexico.
Most of the churches have flourishing Sunday-schools and charitable societies which do much good in a quiet unos- tentatious manner. They all have a humanizing effect in the community, and even those whose religious convictions are of the most vague and undefinable sort, must acknowledge the benefits which they confer. A country where churches and schools flourish, always attracts the best and most desirable class of immigration. Men with families will naturally seek a home where those civilizing influences exist. They know that such a country offers the best safeguards against lawlessness and the best security for a peaceful and a happy life.
From what we have written about churches and schools the reader will readily infer that Arizona is not that land of lawlessness the sensational head-lines in Eastern newspapers would lead him to believe it is. The truth is, life and property are more secure than in the great centers of civilization. While the nightly wayfarer in the large cities is in constant danger of being waylaid, garroted, robbed and perhaps murdered, a man can travel through the streets of an Arizona town without fear of danger, any hour of the day or night. In the newest mining camp as in the older towns law and order prevail, and the rough elements which flock to every new mining region, are compelled to observe a decorous and mild-mannered attitude. With the exception of the late Indian raid, which was confined to one cor- ner of the Territory, Arizona has enjoyed perfect peace and the best of order for the past eight years. The strong arm of the la w has asserted itself everywhere; bad men from whatever quar- ter they came, were made to understand that their lawless deeds would not be tolerated here. In the "live" mining camps, where "toughs" most do congregate and where affrays are looked for as a matter of course, the best of order has been maintained. Even the doings of the "Cowboy" have been tame and trifling; and despite the efforts of correspondents to cast a halo of
15
226
THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
romance about his commonplace pilfering, and hold him up as a daring mosstrooper of the Sonora border, hè remains but a com- mon cattle-thief, whose exploits have been greatly exaggerated.
The settlers of Arizona are of a class that will not tolerate outrages on law, order or decency. They believe in equal and exact justice to all men, and they most always get it. Sur- rounded by churches, schools and newspapers, the people are among the most intelligent, progressive and liberal-minded of any like number in the Union. In the leading towns will be found a society whose culture and refinement will be an agreeable surprise to the stranger who comes to Arizona to make a home. All the comforts and luxures of our modern civilization will be found here as in older and more populous communities ; and law, order and enlightened public opinion control the Territory from the Utah line to the Sonora border.
CIVIL AND MILITARY.
Executive Officers of Territory-Powers and Privileges of a Delegate in Congress- The Legislature and Judiciary-Land Offices-List of Territorial Officers-Military Department of Arizona-Posts in the Territory-Number of Troops, etc., etc.
RIZONA, as one of the Territories of the Federal Union, has her Governor and leading executive and judicial officers, appointed by the President, and confirmed by the Senate. These officers hold their places during the pleasure of the Chief Executive of the nation, and until their successors are appointed and qualified. The Territory is entitled to one delegate in Congress, who is elected every two years. This rep- resentative has no vote in the national councils, and has not even the privilege of speaking, unless some member of Con- gress should extend that courtesy by allowing him a portion of his own time. In fact, under the present system, a delegate from a Territory is little more than a figure-head in the halls of Congress. Being deprived of both voice and vote, he has few opportunities to make known the wants and requirements of his distant constituents, and is compelled to beg for those favors which in right and justice he should demand. The present delegate system works serious hardship to the people of the Territories, depriving them of their only legitimate means of making known their wants, and setting forth their grievances to the Federal Government.
A Territorial legislature and all county officers are elected every two years. The session of the legislature is limited by congressional enactment to sixty days. They receive a per diem of $4, which is paid out of the federal treasury. They are clothed with power to frame all needful laws, subject, however, to ap- proval or rejection by Congress. The Territory is divided into three judicial districts, each of which is presided over by one of the three judges, who compose the federal judiciary of the Ter- ritory. Terms of court are held at the county seats of the dif- ferent counties, at least once a year, and in the more thickly populated counties two terms are held, one in the spring, and the
228
THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
other in the fall. Owing to the immense area over which popula- tion is scattered, and the rapid increase of legal business during the past three years, the present number of judges is inadequate to the task of meeting it, and litigants are subjected to heavy costs and vexatious delays. There is a universal demand for another judge, and Congress, by appointing him, will only have performed an act of simple justice to the people.
Two land offices have been established in the Territory, one being located at Tucson, and the other at Prescott. Persons de- sirous of entering the lands of the public domain, can do so at either of these points, where all information regarding their lo- cation and the mode of procedure may be obtained.
The federal officers of the Territory at the present time are as follows:
Governor . . F. A. Tritle
Territorial Secretary H. M. Van Arman
Chief-Justice . . C. G. W. French Associate Justices ..... Daniel Pinney, A. W. Sheldon
United States Marshall Z. L. Tidball
Surveyor-General. J. W. Robbins 1
Tucson Land Office :
Register . B. M. Thomas
Receiver .C. E. Daily
Prescott Land Office :
Register .. W. N. Kelly
Receiver . . George Soatell.
The present delegate in Congress is Granville H. Oury, of Florence, who is now in his second term.
The following Territorial officers are appointed by the Gov- ernor, with the consent of the Legislature :
Territorial Auditor . E. P. Clark, Prescott.
Treasurer T. J. Butler,
Attorney-General . ... Clark Churchill "
W. B. Horton is Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, his office being at Tucson. This officer is elected at each general election, and holds his place for two years. As has been before stated he has entire supervision of the public schools of the Territory.
With the present rapid growth in population and material wealth, it is not too much to expect that within two years Arizona will be applying for admission to the honors and privileges of Statehood. In a territorial condition the country is compelled to suffer that neglect which seems to be the fate of all the political wards of the government. But with representatives on the floors of both houses of Congress she will be in a position to command the ear of the general govern-
229
CIVIL AND MILITARY.
ment, and compel recognition where now she is obliged to sue for favors.
One of the most pressing wants of the Territory is a branch mint and assay office. Arizona is already second on the list of silver-producing States and Territories, and with the present rapid increase the day is not far distant when she will occupy the first place. If the product of her mines could be coined at home it would give a grand impetus to the mining industry, and also be a source of large revenue to the government. An appropriation for the finding of artesian water in the dry, grassy valleys of the Territory is also a matter deserving the attention of the Federal law-makers; and no wiser act could be passed by that body than the making of such an appropriation, and the effort to reclaim the millions of acres of fine grazing and agri- cultural lands now valueless and unoccupied. These, and other matters of vital importance to the country, demand the prompt and favorable consideration of the national government, but so long as Arizona wears her territorial swaddling-clothes, Con- gress is not apt to give a very attentive ear to the wants of her people.
The Territory of Arizona constitutes a separate military de- partment, with headquarters at Fort Whipple, near Prescott. Brigadier-General George Crook is the present commander. Ever since the country was acquired from Mexico, the govern- ment have maintained garrisons at several points within its borders. It can be truthfully said that to the military arm of the government the Territory is indebted for much of its present prosperity. It conquered a permanent peace and brought to terms the hitherto unsubdued Apache. The many posts which have been established throughout the country have been the nucleus around which have gathered thriving settlements. With- out the aid and protection of the military, Arizona would have made slow progress on the road to prosperity. The officers and men who for years battled against the savages, and at last brought them to terms, who opened to settlement and civiliza- tion this region of the southwest, will always be held in grateful remembrance by the people of Arizona, and their long struggle with the savage foe will make one of the brightest pages in her history.
The first military posts established in the country were known as Forts Buchanan and Breckenridge, and were situated cast of Tucson, in the southern part of the Territory. From the time these posts were first garrisoned down to the year 1874-a period of nearly twenty years-the troops stationed here were nearly always engaged in active hostilities with the Apache. Many an officer who afterwards rose to high command during the Civil War, gained his first experience of campaigning in the wilds of Arizona. The famous rebel, General Ewell, was for a long time in command at Fort Buchanan, and had many an encoun-
230
THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
ter with the savages, and Heintzelman gave the Yumas so thorough a chastisement that they have never since shown any disposition to go on the warpath.
Probably there never was a band of Indians in the United States, of equal numbers, that gave the government more trouble to put down than the Chiricahua Apaches. No tribe on the continent have been guilty of more fiendish and atrocious murders-none have shown more daring and ingenuity. Their leader, Cochise, possessed all the savage characteristics of his race. An adept in all the strategems of Indian warfare ; brave, cunning and sagacious, he proved no mean adversary, and in his many encounters with the troops, he showed skill and audacity, and often proved more than a match for his white foes. The history of the Apache wars yet remains to be writ- ten, but he who shall undertake the task will be called upon to record many a gallant fight, and many a daring exploit per- formed by the officers and men who took part in that long and bloody struggle.
At the present time there are ten military posts in the Ter- ritory garrisoned by troops. They are situated as follows :
Fort Whipple, the headquarters of the department and the residence of the commanding general, is on Granite creek, one mile east of Prescott.
Fort Mohave is built on a bluff overlooking the Colorado river, and in the county of the same name.
Fort Verde is forty miles east of Prescott, and has a pleasant situation on a mesa overlooking the Verde valley.
Fort Apache is in the foot-hills of the Sierra Blanca ; has a delightful location, and a fine climate.
Fort Grant is fifty miles north of Tucson, on a bench of the Graham mountain. It is one of the most important posts in the Territory, and is usually garrisoned by four or five companies.
Fort Thomas is near the Gila river, at the lower end of the Pueblo Viejo valley. It is the nearest post to the San Carlos reservation, and consequently an important military point.
Fort Bowie is situated in Apache Pass, the former stronghold of Cochise. It is about eight miles south of the railroad at Bowie station.
Fort Huachuca is situated in a delightful valley on the north- ern slope of the Huachuca range. It is one of the largest posts in the Territory, and its site, near the Sonora border, makes it a point of much strategical importance. Quarters to accommo- date ten companies are now being erected at this place.
Fort McDowell is near the junction of the Salt and the Verde rivers, and about twenty-five miles east of Phœnix.
Fort Lowell is situated about seven miles from Tucson, in the midst of pleasant surroundings, at the base of the Santa Catalina mountains. It was formerly the headquarters of the Department before they were removed to Whipple.
231
CIVIL AND MILITARY.
The total number of troops in the Department is about 1,200, distributed among the posts we have mentioned. Considering the importance of the trust confided to their keeping and the multifarious duties to be performed, the number is entirely inadequate. To securely keep the long line on the Mexican border and watch that nest of marauding thugs on the San Carlos reservation, is no easy task; but in justice to the General in command and his able lieutenants, it must be said they have done all that was possible with the limited number of men at their disposal.
Once the Apaches are removed from the Territory-which is a consummation most earnestly desired by every friend of Ari- zona-there will be little necessity for maintaining troops in the Territory, except, perhaps, at some few points along the Sonora border. As population increases, as railroads are built and the hills and valleys become dotted with mining camps and farming settlements, the soldier will find his occupation gone in Arizona. It has been so in all the Territories and States of the West, and so it will be here. The frontier posts which twenty years ago marked the line of civilization are now flourishing towns and cities, and the country around them filled with thrifty and pros- perous people.
And so, no doubt, in a few years will disappear those land- marks around which has grown up the towns, settlements and prosperous communities now scattered throughout the length and breadth of Arizona. But though they disappear, the work they have accomplished will stand as a monument commanding the homage of future ages; and the memory of the gallant sol- diers who wrested this Territory from the grasp of savage do- minion will be treasured by its people, and their bravery and devotion find a fitting place in the pages of its history.
THE INDIAN TRIBES.
The Bloody Work of the Savages-The Slaughtered Pioneers-Our First Glimpse of the Apache-Their Numbers and History-San Carlos Reservation-The System of Tribal Government-Habits, Customs and Religious Beliefs- The Chiricahua Tribe-The Pima and Maricopa Tribes-Their His- tory, Mode of Life, Religious Ceremonies, Tribal Relations, Cus- toms, Etc .- The Papagos-The Colorado River Reservation. -The Yumas-The Hualapais-The Ava Supies-The
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