Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-07-19
FORT THOMAS.
A SAFEGUARD FOR THE SETTLERS
 IN GRAHAM COUNTY.
Good and Substantial Reasons Why it Should not be Abandoned---The People need the Prediction
 of the Military.
Corr. solomonville Bulletin.

citizen of Fort Thomas, and contains strong reasoning for the main tenance of that post;
 EDITOR BULLETIN--In your excellent and timely article on the removal of Fort Thomas it seems to me that two points made could be enlarged upon, the idea being solely to get the truth known. The authorities doubtless wish to do the right thing, il they can only be sure what 1t is
 The fact that the Gila valley above Fort Thomas has such large population as it has is very little known to those having control in the matter. They may have heard of it, but that does not make an impression like seeing, or having 1t given prominence in discussion, while 1t is one of the greatest reasons for keeping troops here.
 | had been in this country some time; had often heard of the settlements up the valley. but was astounded when l passed through the country on the stage over year ago. After getting few miles from it appeared like passing through a part of one of the older states. Post office after postoffice, village after village, with houses, farms, ranches, orchards, IT. rigating ditches, fields of corn, barley, wheat and alfalfa, continually In sight; fine rows of trees, good fences, all the evi- dences of thrift, industry and hard work.
 Besides this, the road is the only high way for what must be an immense traffic between the railroad and San Carlos.
 We passed team after team, single and in trains; six, ten. sixteen horse or mule teams, heavily loaded with coke or from the railroad, and cop per ingots and grain to the railroad; and this is going on day and night the year round. It seemed to me that there was enough freight to keep a railroad busy; certainly it will be but short time before a railroad must be built in this valley, and then soldiers will not be needed.
 Now. as some smart Aleck has humor- ously said in another case, there must be enough people to stand off the In dians.r Of course there are enough to stand off the Indians, or to lick whole tribe. If it could be so arranged that day could be fixed, the people quit work, arm themselves, and have 1t out once for all But this is not the way Indians make war. Of course they ought to do fight ing as we we want them to do it, but they are the most accommodating set of fellows you ever saw.
 These people have their business to at  freighters; they arelat their, fields, off look ing after their cattle, or driving their teams on the road, and this takes all their time; while they are so engaged their families are at their outlying houses and ranches unprotected, and they themselves cannot be lon guard" all the time. They are likely to be murdered at any mo- ment of their lives by renegade Indians, who are '-on a strike" In the case of Herbert, a young married man, a good young fellow, toiling for his family, shot from ambush one bright Sunday morn ing, on this very road 1 have described. His killing created panic at once among the freighters, carrying terror and dismay among the hundreds of men following this business.
 This kind of life was all very well A. D. 1880, as we see it pictured in the school books as that of New England in those days; the hardy settler" with rifle in one hand, driving a team and blowing with the other, his wife washing dishes with blunderbuss under her arm, In, dians peeking out of the bushes with glaring eyes. But the impression now prevails that it Is the soldiers business tc look after the Indians while the "hardy settler attends to his work. He is not supposed, Ill these days, to hoe corn, ol harness up bronco mules with a win chester in one hand.
 There is little doubt but that if the ex act situation was understood thoroughly by the authorities, the decree for remova of troops would be suspended until tho proper time does come. It Is the duty O the merchants. lawyers, doctors anC officials, men familiar with office worl and correspondence, and the manage ment of such affairs, to take this matte up and attend to 1t on behalf of tht others.
 Look at the matter as it stands; here il | a river valley, with mountainous borders l is, at one place, a camp of thousands o l ages-Apaches- few miles LII l the river, a settlement of hundreds O families, isolated and exposed as frontie ] homes are, while between the two is tn faithful sentinel and guard-Ft Thomas small but sufficient. At the same tim
 an important highway and thoroughfare strings along this valley to another popu
 lous and important city and country be yond the Indian camp; being the onl, channel of supply for all.
 To keep this road open and safe i enough reason in itself for the establish
 ment of Fort Thomas. whose place O functions cannot be supplied or perform
 ed by any other post now established.
 Is there any man of ordinary sens
 who will undertake to say what the In
 dians at San Carlos will do, or will no
 do, at any hour of the day or night? Ina
 they will not 'break out''-not all c
 them m-but say ten, five, three or evel
 one, will not, perhaps, in consequence c
 drink, or a quarrel, or some wholly LII
 anticipated piece of trouble, affectin
 their savage minds in way we cannc
 understand; or become possessed of tha
 frenzy which is liable to seize all savap
 men who are forced to abandon the way
 of their ancestors and slave at the shove
 and blow when they will do the Apach
 way and run amuck' among the se
 tiers and off to the mountains and t
 Mexico
 It must be remembered that an India
 IS a wild man, and not swayed and II
 tluenced by what influences ordinary mel
 An ordinary man will consider the COT sequences of an act and be influenced b , them. Will any one undertake to Sd that an Indian is influenced by tt thought of consequences when his saYae nature and superstitiOns are aroused No! When the spirit moves them the } quickly get a move on and results folio
 speedily. Then comes the funerals all
 the careful locking of the stable door.
 These things should be thought
 now. Now is the time to think of then
 not after the mischief is done.
 have already written a great deal
 say little. If I could say a great de with 8 little writing, would be drawir ! a big salary near the sea shore this h q weather, but will touch on one other su ject as briefly as possible.
 When post Is to be abandoned a gre :, howl usually goes up. This is often mo from the contractors, merchants, saloo
 ists, etc, for revenue only, than from u f people. This fact is so well read and n | only the community I have attempted h describe, but another large and importa h section of settled country-Globe Ci , and its domain contiguous, mining al f agricultural-not to speak of the San Ca s los agency, in an industrial aspect. 5 The fact is that the pecuniary bene V derived from the few soldiers at Fc s Thomas is so small as not to be wor f consideration, and most of it goes in ,- the pockets and helps to foster a cla
 that the community would be better
 without A few tons Of hay, q few sac
 of grain, and a few pounds of beef at fo d cents per pound Gall of which would y- 1 taken at some other pOSt) is the reyen