The Arizona sentinel., 1895-03-02
A Land of PrOmise.--Part HI
THE YUMA INDIANS.

For many years Yuma was one
 of the principal military posts on
 our southwestern frontier. Old
 Fort Yuma is now an Indian school, in charge of the Sisters oi
 St. Joseph, and noble work they
 are accomplishing in the reclama.
 ton of these Indian children
 Speaking of Indians, these Yumas
 are the finest specimens of poor
 To that you will find anywhere.
 physically at least. They are big
 fellows, straight and muscular, o1
 whose athletic achievements much
 can be said. A hundred miles in
 twenty-four hours, across deserts
 and mountains, is not an unusual feat for some of them. Moreover,
 they are very quiet and docile, and, I suppose, come as nearly be- ing good Indians as they can we'll be this side of the happy hunting grounds.
 But, as I said before, the topic of greatest interest, not only to this immediate section, but to all the western half of the United States, is irrigation. Not even free silver coinage and the increased gold production of the west now com- mand so much attention from thoughtful people west of the Mis- souri as does irrigation. Up in Colorado, for example, state, as you know, which not long since was almost threatening to secede if silver should be "demonetized," as they put it; and which is now bid ding fair to be the chief gold pro- ducing state of the Union; there, I was told, not many weeks ago, that her agricultural products amounted in value to three times the combined values of her gold and silver output. The agricult- ural portions of the state are net work of irrigating canals. Indeed, according to Mexican ideas, Colo rado and New Mexico are doing altogether too much irrigating. Between the two the waters of the Rio Grande river have been almost totally absorbed, and the result is that when the farmers dwelling along the lower part of the river most need water for their crops the Rio Grande is little more than a memory. Mexico it is said, is some strong represent ations to our government on the subject.
 A RIVER OF VALUE.
 There will be no difficulty of that nature in this section. The Colo rado river, as it hurries along at the rate of four miles an hour, just beneath my windows, is as wide as the Ohio at the suspension bridge, and is at present eighteen feet deep. It drains, wholly or partial ly, five states and territories, and has the happy faculty of carrying it's greatest depth of water at the season of the year when water is most needed for irrigation purposes. Thatis to say, owing to the melt ing of the mountain snows, it is highest in early summer. But that is not the only merit, from an irri- gation standpoint, which this great river possesses. Standing on the bridge of the Southern Pacific rail road, which spans the Colorado at this point, and watching the tur- bulent flood eddy around the piers, one is impressed with the idea that there is more earth than water go- ing by. The muddy Missouri in it's palmiest days was never as a river as the Colorado. Think of 5 per cent of sediment in a body of water! The Nile, the great irrigating agent of the an cients, whereon the Egyptians cast their bread, which, after the lapse of some days, came back buttered, no such fertilizing quail ties as the Colorado! According to the report of the agricultural station of the territory, located here, this water, turned upon land, has a fertilizing value per foot of from $3 42 to $8 58 an acre, the value varying with the stages of the river.
 And what kind of land is avail able for such fertilization? It is of twn kinds-tha hnttnnn londs