Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-09-14
SAN XAVIER
Marked Progress by the Papagos un- dor Indian Farmer Berger dur ing the Past year. Am Inter-
 estiug Report.
PIMA AGENCY, ARIZONA,
 SAN XAVIER R RESERVATION.

| San Xavier Reservation under my I charge.
 This Reservation, located nine miles
 south of the city of Tucson, in the fertile
 Santa Cruz valley, contains about 69, ,O0C
 acres Of which in 1890, fl 600 acres have
 been allotted to the Papago Indians
 then residents thereon. A general opin- ion prevails that the Reservation is of
 good land and it is therefore believed
 that there is still unallotted good land
 enough to settle large number of h.
 dians thereon, but this belief is entirely
 erroneous, as all of the remaining land
 is mesa land, totally unfit for settle
 ment
 The last census taken shows popu-
 lation ot-males, 259; females, 25S; total,
 5l7. Thereof are school children from
 6 to Is years of age-males, 75; females,
 70; total, 154.
 The increase of the population, 25 in
 number, over last year census has en-
 tirely resulted from immigration.
 Farming has been, as formerly, the chief occupation during the past year. The area planted exceeds that of any previous year, but must say, that, not
 withstsnding the fact that the Indians nave done their best, they have not been prosperous in their farming pursuits. I f,l 1g ho pared their lesd for early planting, and more planting, and better planting and in better time WAS done than in any previous year; the crops staried well, and for sometime were very promising, but later, for want of rain, our expecta- tions were reduced to nsught. This has been m excessively dry year, and we have had no rain at all in this section since the middle of last December, and therefore our harvest, which at first pro missed to be one of the best and which, under ordinary circumstances, would certainly have been good one, failed to reach even half the average harvest. This, together with the low prices of farm products, is very discouragiDg to the Indian farmer. The prospect for this years second crop, consisting of beans, corn, pumpkins, etc., is far better than it has been for many years, and will compensate, to some extent, the limited crop of the fist planting. The grssshoppers which for several previous years had almost destroyed the second crop have. thus far, not made their ap- pearapce this season. The water in the ditches used for irrigating, resulting from the springs, is very low, in fact lower than ever before, and there would hardly be enough to irrigate ten acre field, but, fortunately We had two large floods resulting from heavy rains south of the reservation, ard this enabled the Indians to irrigsts considerable area of land for planting corn, beans, etc, Beans can be plant ted here as late as August 18th and do we'll. With the customary summer rains, which we prob ably will Rot fail to get. we may reason ably expect very good crop from this second planting. The only enemies of such late crops are the locust pest and early frost.
 The issue of 5000 pounds of seed wheat has benefited the Indians greatly. The grain harvested from this seed is very good and many Of the Indians, who h d not received any of the seed last yeas ion account of the limited supply), have now procured the necessary seed for next ting, in one way or another, from their neighbors.
 More barley WAS cut for hay this year. end balec, than during any previous year, but for want of sulky bay-rake, and hay press, which implements have 8pp,i ',i for s,vcrgl times, the profit therefIom has been considerably reduc- ed. Two dollars per ton, the price charged for baiing hay. cuts large fgure in the hay making business.
 The great drawback to the farmer in ihis nectlon of the country, where wheat is mostly raised, is that ho has always to pay more than three times hs much for 6 pound of flour than he gets for a pound Of wheat, and flour is very i'm portant item in the household of an h. dian family. Just now all that wheat can be sold for is one cent per pound, and first class -four costs S3,S5 and second class S3.50 per hundred. On ac- count of the high freight rates, cannot be exported and there is only one flour mill in this (Pima) county, and the fAr hna hnk hn plesses. Generally all that the farmer has to buy is higher in price and his farm products sell very cheap.
 Notwithstanding these unfavorable circumstances the Indian farmer IS not as much discouraged as his white neigh bor, for which credit Is certainly due him, but if the government had been more liberal in providing these Papago Aliottees with the necessary farming tools they would be still in far better co ndition than they are now.
 Whenever possible, assist the In disns in selling their grain and hay, so that they may get the full market price and principally to protect them from being swindled in the matter of weigh lng their products. Only two months l ago l brought charges against Chinese | merchant for using false weights and he | was fined ten dollars.
 More new lands have been fenced iD | during the past year and partly cleared | and cultivated, and that too by Indians, ! who in 1890, when the allotment was made, though, and in my presence said, | that their land was not worth fencing | and clearing. There is no doubt that | most of the Allottees are proud to be l the exclusive owners of piece of land | V hioh he positively knows belongs to | him and his family, and that any work | he performs thereon Is for his own bene- | Iit.
 Several new dI:ches and roads have been laid out, aUd so far as possible, l are running in conformity with the llnes | Of the adjoining parcels of land. Most l of the corner posts, set when the reser- l vatiOn was surveyed for allotment are | zone, and therefore, whenever I have