Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1891-12-16
Interesting Rsmin,seenee..


 ---hss, under the title of "0n the
 Borders with Crook" eiven to the
 world, through the Scribners, a most
 interesting sketch of that distin-
 guished officers services in eonnee- ton with the settlement of the many
 yexed Indian questions committed to his caie on the then "borders," which
 are to-day the very centers of pros
 perity and high order of civiliza-
 ton. Capt. Bourke gracefully intro duces himself to his readers from the parade ground of old Fort Grant, Arizona, to which post he went for duty soon after his graduating from West Point, he having entered the Academy (after four years service as a soldier in the war of the rebeliion,l
 in the spring of 1870 as a second lieutenant of "F" troop of the Third
 cavalry. His pen-pictures of south ern Arizona and New Mexico are no less interesting than instructive. His
 accounts of routine life of young officer l,5O0 miles from Gods country" demonstrated his fitness Tor 1 the higher duties to which he was
 called by his illustrious chief. His
 careful inventory of the country's
 products; his mastery of all its l wonderful history, and that of the many wild tribes inhabiting tt, with their religious rights and traditions,
 shows rare diligence and research. A careful statement of the flora and graphic pictures of the wonderful
 aarchitecture of tho Gila," its can
 yons and kindred mountains, makes
 amighty interestinS reading, not
 only to the student but to general
 readers of ali ages and classes. Sei- dom have we read book oi recent print more so. The life of the Amer ican officer on frontier service is here
 given from notes taken daily, and set forth in straightforward way; the
 many demands upon their courage, judgment, endurance and patriotism are timely reminders of how faithful
 to every duty this class of public ser
 wants have ever been-a fact of
 which our people, so directly the
 beneticiaries, are apt to be too Tor | getful. He introduces Gen. Crook | from the old town of Tucson, at
 which point the general arrived in
 the summer of 1871, to assume com mand of the department of Arizona. The notable personages met there will call to mind list of names that
 have, in their way, made the south.
 west famous for its original charact l CTS; characters given no less to dar- | ing and enterprise than to hunor.
 Many will recognize stories often
 heard by word of mouth and now
 read for the first time in print. The atrocious wickedness of the Apaches
 he paints in plain words; but the
 many wrongs heaped upon them by
 the professional philanthropist and
 Indian agents and their pals, the contractors, makes the blood of hon.
 est folk curdle with shame. The
 "loyal Apaches" were true and faith
 ful to Crook to a man, and it must
 be clear to the student of his work
 among them that, had his wise meth ods been followed by the Indian bureau, the Apaches of to-day would
 be at least as wealthy as their more
 advanced brothers, the Navajoes,
 who are anchored to a condition of
 permanent peace by their immense
 herds of sheep and horses. The
 cattle he induced the government to
 give them, with which to start herds
 and to help them help themselves,
 were long since killed to avert star
 vation of their women and children.
 The Apache, with his kindness to his
 own young, his love of nature, bis
 powers of endurance, his aptness in tracking either man or beast across deserts and mountains, his dexterity in hiding his own tracks, his cunning fiendishness when in pursuit or pos session of an enemy, his signals. his strategy, his sacred rites and .'medi- cine men," his brutality to captives, are all pages of rare interest. Equally 1 so are those telling of the thought | fulness, endurance, patience and far | sighted wisdom of the gallant, faith l ful and modest Crook, and those who had the rare good fortune to be of his command. In all of his marches across sandy, sunburnt deserts, over snow-cove ed mountains, in his many battles with the fiery and deter mined Apache, and later with the Sioux, the reader is led in lively interest, covering in all period of nearly twenty years of ac- tive service. In July. 1875, when peace had been restored in the south west and all the Arizona and New Mexico tribes were on their reserva- tions, Gen. Crook left Prescott for his new station at Omaha (via Los The reader is struck with the difference of travel in that not It all distant day, and this-now more than a nights ride; shen, "eleven days under the most circumstances" From out ,f Death Valley" they came 'upon ,ur own San Bernardino, fairyland. 1, filed with grapes, figs and oranges, merry with the music of birds, bright with the bloom of flowers. Lowing lerds and buzzing bees attested that his was indeed the land of milk and loney, beautiful to the eye and glad ome to every sense."
 Readers interested in the Moquis. !, he painted desert, the petrifed for I sts, the Grand and Cataract can !. ons, will find herein valuable refer ' nee. Gen. Crooks campaign in the :, orthwest were in number and i achievements very great. It is !. learly shown by Capt. Bourke that !. he general advanced the settlement : f the new states of that section q lany, many years. n All the way through the writer . ,aves the imprint of his rare ability. ' lis wit is as quick and brilliant as :, nat of Bret Harte himself. and his IT escriptive powers second only to = lose of Lew Wallace. That one so ~ ole, and of such generous, long and ~ 2, services as Capt. Bourke ~ lould be allowed to remain in the v of captains commission ,n ', ,ly is difficult to understand. We W redict that the readers of his charm III g book will, with one accord, join
 e Times (which speaks from per-
 nal information and with per tt al nta xr l.. .x. |