Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-08-25
,GENT WILCOX.
His First Official Document ,,,. Carlos Agency-He Briefly i'e''e" Late Troubles.

PIP. Wilcox, Indian Agent Ht 'ne 0' Carlos Agency. has made his hrst report to the Indian Commissioner A'lei speaking of the condition in which ne found the Indians and the reforms ne inaugurated, he says;
 Complying with the wishes or Uen- eral Crook, consented to an arfans raeDt bv which some SIX or seven nun Jred White Mountain Indians were ,,ernaitted to live near Fort Apache, IocaIitv about sixty miles from the ageney. m the northern part Ot the res ervation. to which they had become strouglv attached by long residence anu ;ts s1nsrior advantages of soil, climate,
 --ate- and abundant game. The condl-
 t,oDs of my assent were that such Indl-
 ans as chose to live there should be sell
 srnDortinp. and that General Crook
 sbonld be responsible for thelr good
 conduct. During the fall and winter little trouble was experlenced rom the
 Arrangement. but the clamor for sup nlias has been loud this summer, ana, under the plea that they were planting and needed ratlOns untll the rlPenlng or | their corn, they have drawn heavily on ! | the agency. The original number mas ! been largely increased by relatives anu | friends from the agency, who, seeing tlie | advantages of B pleasant summer resort
 have from time to time abandoned the | hot valleys of the San Carlos and the | Gila and retired to the mountains. lt | will become necessary to put an end to | this unsatisfactory manner of managing | l2l the Indians of this reservation, and l shall at an early day suggest reform N n DTllH III | ownership. I asked for and obtained per | mission to issue agricultural implements | Co the deserving; and the commence | ment of the planting season wltnossed' | a new Apaches at work m | the fields, with working tools of their own sufficient for all the varied opera | tons of preparing the ground, planting and cultlvating theIr crops.
 The methods employed by these un- | trained farmers are painfully slow and laborious. Unaccustomed Co coutinu- l ous effort, they require constant Watch- ing, urging and directing tO insure re- | suits that may be considered satlsiac- | torv. even as a promise of something | better Tn the future. Through the per | severing efforts of Mir. Marshall, agency head farmer, the irrigating dItches were finally repaired, and something like en- thusiasm appeared to inspire the people when they were told that they could draw seed for planting. As the season 1 progressed and the work went steadily | forward, several of the chiefs, who had at first declined to engage m agricultI- ral pursuits, became infected with the 1 general desire to become farmers, and | though they commenced too late tO raise | crops this year have made commenda- | a fN rN 70 hos | preparing land for the next. NOtwlth- | standing the many discOuragements en- l countered during the progress of the ! work. and the meagre results, when counted against the number of able | hodIed men and women engaged, or claiming to be engaged, III it's prosecu- ton. it is gratifying Co record that suih- cient display has been made to impress the Indians that they are engaged m profitable tlil. and that to this feeling | may be ascribed the fact that through out the period of excitement consequent upon the Chiricahua raid and the subse- 0uent campaign of General Crook, not | man of all the Apache bands on the res- ervatiOn was known to have taken part
 except III the capacity of enlisted scouts m the command that went out to cap
 ture the hOstIles.
 | The governments share derived from farm labor IS not shown on statistics
 accompanying this report, but If ac- curately estimated its money value
 wonld be found to exceed that of the
 Indians: but 1t cannot be estimated, as the value of undisturbed peace on an Indidn reservation IS an unknown quan-
 titv.
 ! By a well organized and earnest effort
 on the part of tine Agent, fully supported
 by the Department, the stimulus given
 the Indians by this years success may
 be turned to good account in encourage ing them to more extended effort ln 1884
 Though it has ever been the custom among the Apaches to lay the heavy
 burdens on the backs nf the sluaws. no
 parIcuIar disgrace attaches tO the buck
 who, shaking off the natural indOlence
 of his race, engages in remunerative
 toil
 | Ire services of the men are often
 sought by ranchmen living near the
 reservation, and some of them are said
 to be quite efficient at dltching. wood
 chOpping, adobe making and other un- | skilled labor All the wood required at
 the military post at this place last year, | some POO cords, was put up by the ln- l dIaus, who also supplied about $50 tons
 of hay here and at Camp Apache, for l winch they received, in the aggregate.
 some Sl0,OOO a sum that will be largely | increased this year fer the same articles. Most Of the work of gathering hay Is | performed by women and children, who
 cut it with common butcher knives and
 grass hooks and pack 1t on their backs, | often long distances, in bundles weigh | ing from 90 to 100 pounds each. Eager ' crowds engage in the work, and, if they
 could find a market for all they would | gather, many would be enabled to sup ] port themselves without assistance from | the government. | From this statement 1t must be iu- ferred that only market IS needed enable the Apaches to become inde- l pendent of government aid. This might l | be true of all the tribes on the reserva- | | ton under certain conditions, but, un- | | fortunately, the conditions are lacking | To the extent of the natural products of |
 the sol they would gather the last fagot | l and the last blade of grass for ready | l cash, but the limit of production of | | these, the only articles exchangeable for |
 money, would soon he reached in the l presence of an active demand. But the |
 market Is not at hand for even the |
 limited supply, and If 1t were Poor To" | IS SO susceptible tO the evil influences | that surround all public marts as to
 render almost certain hIs return tO his l home poorer than when he started out | with his rude freight of saleable stuL | No pedple m tine world are more eager
 m pursuit of the nimble shilling than
 they. Show them seed they can sovyi in
 the morning gather the fruit thereof at noon and sell in the early evening, and the busy hum of industry would be as csaseless in the White Mountain Indian reservation as in any civilized cOmmu- nity. They have not learned to labor and to vat; to teach them this valuable lesson is a reform that must be fully es- tablished before their pauperism gives , place to independent self support [
 l have often been urged to favor the I opening of a school on the reservation ! for the education of Indian children. z This I have declined to do, and I am ! still of the opinion that until the Apaches | cease to be nOmads, and acquire some l | knowledge of and pleasure in such per- ' manent habItatIOns as are distinguish ! [ able from the lRirs of wild beasts, have ' been taught tO practice habits of indus try that will insure for themselves and their families such simple articles offood and raiment as will entitle them to the fl distinction of having taken one step iu : the march Of civilization, the mtroduc tIon Of books and teachers among them b will be worse than useless. h
 On the reservation no school can be II