Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-03-10
Mineral Lands on Res seryations.

A bill has been introduced in the house by Representative Herman, to provide for the sale of mineral lands on Indian res ervations and also allowing the use ot timber on such reservations for mining purposes. While there is not one chance in ten of such measure receiving favor able consideration by the present con- gress, yet it is well to agitate the matter and bring to the attention uf the govern ment the fact that there are mineral lands of great value located upon many of the Indian reservations in the west, and which in great majority of cases are perfectly useless to the Indians, be- ing available for no other purpose than mining,
 The White Noun tain, or San Carlos, reservation, furnishes an example in point, having within it's boundaries gold, silver and copper deposits of known richness, as well as valuable coal vel ms which, If their devel opment was permit ted by the government, would result III untold benefit to Arizona, bringing to us a large increase of population, and capl- tai for the development of our latent re- sources, of which we stand so much Tn | need. Most of tn csc mineral lands, too, ar near the boundaries of the reserva- tion, in mountain regions, of no practical use to the Indians and little frequented by them; and it would be no loss to the Indians were these sections cut off from the reserve and thrown open to settle m.ent by whites.
 The richest silver ledge in this coun- try, for instance, is probably that run ming through what is known as McMil- len, just inside the western line of the reservation, and upon which the Stone wall, the Hannibal and other partially developed claims are located, and which have already-worked under the exist ing disadvantages yielded several hun dred thousand dollars in bullion; and if this small area, few miles square in ex- tent, could be cut off from the reserva- tion, mining operations would be active ly begun there by company with ample capital, and new life would be infused into mining in this section. An effort is now being made, through influential men at Washington, to have this done.
 Then there are the Deer creek coal fields near the southern line of the reser-
 vation, and Coal deposits of perhaps much greater value north, near Apache
 A coal mine that would yield fail amount of coal of good quality, located in the interior of the territory would bt of more benefit than several gold or sil yer mines, as it would insure the immed
 fate construction of railroad traversin!
 the territory from north to south, be tween the Atlantic & Pacific and South
 ern Pacific roads, opening up region o vast richness which, isolated as it is, nov lies undeveloped.
 , As We have already said, it is not likel. that Mir. Hermann's bill will receive
 favorable action from congress, as i
 would not be practical to permit tn , invasion of reservations by whites simpl
 upon the pretext of prospecting an developing mineral lands, but where tn deposits lie at or near the boun dar
 lines, they should be cut off, in justic
 to the white population of the territories
 who laboring under many hardships, ar developing the public domain, whic | without their exertions would be value | less to the government; and especial should this be granted when, as in tn case with the White Mountain reservi ; tion, the land devoted to the use of tn / Indians is of far greater extent tha i necessity requires Silver Belt.