The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-01-30
Tl1e Uoeuni,su Sun.
OARISO MOUNTAINS.
It is Said tho Navajo Indians VII
 Now Allow Miners to go There.

xt IL Sul0 tnO N"NuJO AuuIuuU '" HI
 Now Allow Miners to go Thero.
 The following is taken from recent issue of the San Francisco "Call" and if true, it will open up these noun tains to the miners and the question as to whether they are rich or not will soon be settled:
 Mrs. S. c. Bowman. for many years past matron of the schools of the Navajo Indian nation, in Arizona, whose husband was long agent of the Navajos, arrived here yesterday and is at the Lick. Mrs. Bowman says very important treaty has just been consumated with the Navajo nation, whereby the rich mines of the Cariso Mountains may be worked. For many years daring white men have endeav- ored to work the gold veins of these mountains. The lodges were known to be extremely rich. The yellow metal brought out from the mines at different times by the Navajos showed this. The Indians, however, have always refused the white men access to tho mines. They have been killed by the way or in the mines, if they happened by chance to get that far. Many and many murder has been committed because of these mines. "There have been so many losses of life because of the instance of daring white men to get into the Cariso mountains" said Mrs. Bowman. "that just how many were killed no one knows, but certainly vast number. The lodges were so rich that the white prospectors would risk almost anything to get in. Few of them ever survived. They were met at the mountain passes and abruptly shot down by the Indians. During all these years that I have lived among the Navajos. and back to the earliest times, the tribes have held possession of these lodges and guarded them with the greatest strictness from all intruders. Repeated efforts have been made from time to time to gain access to them but till now every effort has failed, Major Constant Williams. the agent of the Navajos, has, however, finally gained their consent for the miners to go in. It is signal tri- umph. and could not have been ac- complished but for Agent Williams long experience with the Indians and the confidence they place in him. Just before left for San Francisco, twelve or fifteen of the head men of the nation, including Chief Black Horse, Chee and Manuelito, met United States Agent Williams at Fort Defiance and made an agreement with him in writing permitting the whites to go in. They stipulated that the agreement should be good for one year, and that the miners should work a rich portion of the Carlso one mile square. As soon as the snow is of, therefore, there will be a rush there. The gold IS found in lodges. There is believed to be an enormous amount of it, judging by the Jumps and bars brought out from time to time by the Navajos and exchanged for tobacco, ammunition, sugar and other things. The Cariso lodges are l7o miles north- west of Fort Defiance. The agreement being solemnly made, as it was, is a matter of great consequence, as for the first time. strange as it may ap- pear, after all the murders, men may now safely go to these fabulous mines, which through so many generations have been so carefully guarded from the world. It is the most important concession, probably, that has ever occurred in the southwest.