Arizona weekly enterprise., 1889-12-07

ingenious Indian, he had Q dam con- structed SO as to prevent them ascend ing the river further, and also to en- able the squaws to capture them more easily and in greater number. The plan was very successful so far as se- curing a bountiiui supply of food for his tribe was concerned, but was dis astrous in the end, as the story goes to tell
 Without warning or previous rains tremedous flood came down the Salt river, sweeping away the Indian tepccs for miles and miles on either side of that stream, drowning thous- ands of people as well as the greater portion of the livestock which they possessed, and utterly destroying their irrigating canals. The flood passed away as suddenly as 1t came, and while the people wondered much and mourned deeply their loss they could not account for the mysterious freshet and set about to repair the damage as best they could.
 A few suns after a squaw who had been down the river fishing came run ningto the place where a new village was being constructed, all out of breath and frightened almost to death, and told the Apaches that she had seen the Mountain Lake monster; that 1t had devoured one horse before her eyes and had attacked another one before she was out Of sight. The wo- man was immediately taken in charge for being a witch, and the council de- cided that she was guilty and the cause of all the suffering that had been visited upon their people. She was ordered to be burned that night, and other squaws were sent out to bring in fagots for the sacrifcial fire of tribal purifcation, her story being disbe lieved. The preparations for the eX- ecution extended well into the after noon-even the entire tribe was happy at the opportunity afforded to appesse the wrath of the Great Spirit, when a dusty, thirsty and perspiring runner came panting into camp.
 He was from the camp of Yah-k-ni vel, sub-Chief, in the Pinto noun tains, distant ten or twelve miles from the Natural Bridge, and the nearest point to it at which the Apaohes ven tured to live He told that three suns before the Apaches there felt the earth shake and heard a mighty roaring in the direction of Mountain Lake; that after waiting two days some of the braves were sent to cautiously ap- proach the lako and ascertain the f ( T that e mighty hole had been wrought in the barrier of solid rock; that the water had vanished and the monster had disappeared; he was sent to bring the news. These dispatches caused general consternatiOn, and tho pleas ure of torturing human being to death was postponed for the time. Three squaws, thus emboldencd, told that while searching for wood on the river bank with which to burn the condemned witch, they had seen two of their companions captured and de youred by the great water serpent Through fear of being themselves burned as witches they would have said nothing had not the runner ar rived The council then decided tp send out with the rising sun 2 band cf warriors to determine whether or not these stories were true. But this was unnecessary. That night the stam- pede of horses.and the pitful unearthly cries of those in pain, mingled with | the horrifying, angry shorts oI the great monster left To further doubt, and with the coming sun the Apachcs | fled to the mountains.
 When a place of safety was reached a meeting of the sub-Chiefs was held, and 1t being found that old Quan-i-wah- i le had endangered the endIe Iacc by 1 his gluttonOus desire to capture and eat all the fish in Salt river, depriving | the Great Water Serpent Of his share of these delicacies, and causing him to break forth from his mountain prison l in anger and revenge, it was ordered 1 that he be deposed. Yah-k Hi-yel, being supposed to be in the good graces of the monster, from the proximity he had long occupied to him, was selected i to succeed the fallen Chieftain, and he | immediately ordered that no Apache tribe thereafter reside in the valleys of Arizona under penalty of a war of ex- termination. Obedience to this order is the reason the medicine men aliege, why the Apache Indians never after ward made their home anywhere else than in the mountains, although, as the legend runs, the water serpent lived ip the Salt river but year, when finding 1t too warm and too shallow went down the Colorado tc the Gulf of California. 1t also ac- counts for the fact that under no cir cumstances or conditions can the Apache Indians be induced to catch handle or taste fish in any form what ever, while 1t is highly relished as food by all the other tribes of Arizona,
 Casa Grande Mines.