The Redwood gazette., 1896-03-26

for water, for we prefer to earn our own liv-
| ing If we can. 1 am no thief, and will not
beg, but my wife and children were hungry.
I must either steal or they would starve, so
1 took the horses and traded them for corn,
and the hunger OF my family was satisfied.
You can do with me what you will. 1 have
spoken
| To the reader who is familiar with the sys-
| TENS OF irrigation in the desert regions lit
| tie more need be told as to the facts in the
| case OF these Indians. To those who do not
understand these matters it may be said that
| for time out of mind, and more, too, the In
| dians have taken water from the streams OF
| the region by means of small bitches, and,
running it over their little patches of ground,
have been able to raise all the grain they
needed. But when the whites began to ir-
rigate the land they went to the streams
above the heads of the Indian ditches and
digging huge canals, they drained the
streams of almost the last drop OF water
that could reach the Indian bitches. There
are clearly worded laws that forbid an irri-
cation company to rob a stream to the detri-
ment of small bitches, provided that the
owners of small bitches have complied with
| the requirements of the law in such matters.
troll the Indians they could not so comply
But under the peculiar conditions which con-
with the law.
| The Indian had no right to the water which
the white men were bound legally to respect
and the enterprising citizens of the booming
West who recognize any moral obligation to
| do exact Justice to an Indian are so scarce
| as to be unrecognizable in the crowd. The
people of the east have heard from time to
time very loud complaints of the cattlemen
of this Territory regarding depredations by
Indians who leave their reservations. That
the Indians leaye their reservations and
kill cattle is no doubt true. Gov Hughes in
his last report gave a number of instances.
Thus. it was asserted that three stockmen
| having cattle on the range in Pima county
had lost cattle worth over S68 5000 during four
years, all of which were said to have been
slaughtered by the Papago Indians. The losses
increased SO rapidly at the last that the STOCK
men abandoned the range, although they mad
| invested over $4,000, in developing water
privileges. Then the stockmen of Conconino,
| Apache and Navajo counties had no end OF
| trouble with Navajo Indians The stockmen
| were occupying Government land as range.
| The Indians who owned cattle drove them
down on the same range, and there was not
| enough grass for both herds. The white
stockmen complained that the Indians not
only came on this range but killed the cattle
| of the white men.
These statements are true but they do not
contain by any means the whole truth. The
Indians did Craze their cattle outside OF
| their reservation. They argued that their
cattle had as good a right on Uncle Sans
| land as had the white mans. The white
| cowboys undertook driving the red mems
cattle off the range by the old method ia
miliar to the range. They tried to shoot
them off. Then the Indians retaliated, and
| at this the cowmen raised howl about
rowdy Indians leaving the reservation and
! robbing peaceful white COW owners. The
complaints of the white cowmen found voice
| in the East through kilograms to the press
| and then curiously enough, the Arizona
| boomers found their complaints reactlng on
| them. c. H. Fanchier, general land agent OF
the Atlantic and Pacific railroad, said in an
| interview about a proposed irrigation
scheme
"In talk I had with Gen. G. H. Howard OF
Chicago short time ago in regard to the
development of the irrigation scheme, near
Winslow, he stated that one of the greatest
objections that would have to be overcome
in the settlement of that section of the
country was the prejudice and fear that
Eastern people had of the Indians, and that
their fears were grounded on the reports
which they had read in regard to the trouble
between the Indians and the stockmen
The matter came up before the legislative
Assembly of Arizona, and a petition was
adopted asking the Department OF the Inter-
ior to compel the Indians to remain on tnelr
reservations" and to forbid the NavaJoes TO
pasture cattle outside of their reservation.
The fact that to compel the Indians 10 re-
main on their reservation would mean star
walton was not considered by the Leglsla-
ture apparently, but Governor Hughes recog-
nizes this fact very clearly in report re-
Gently sent to Washington. He says:
1.-THE Indians are not only willing but
anxious to secure farm lands from which
they can supply themselves. They would
rather work than steal The conditions
that drive them from their reservations are
not of choice but of necessity, to allay hun
GER
! Here, then, is the whole matter. Being un-
able to rob the Indians of the reservations
the whites have cut off their water, as the
Mormon leaders used to cut off the water o1
the recreant saints, and then an appeal Is
made to the department to compel the In
dians to remain on their reservations ano
starve. Finally, when three Indians were
captured after having taken ponies tt
trade for grain and feed starving wives
and children, the Indians-those VINO
had really been robbed were SEM
to prison, and nothing is done te
punish the white robbers. 1t is a well-knowI
fact, that the reservations comprise plenty
of land to support many more people thar
the Indians now living there, in case water
for irrigating it were provided. This water
had been provided by the Indians them
selves before the whitemen took it, but nov
it is impossible for the Indians to provide
new supply. That the United States govern
ment is morally bound to do this is not ques'
toned. but no one here really bel1ves
that this will be done, although
scheme is on foot that looks to the
irrigation of the lands of the Pima, Mar
icopa aud Papago Indians. 1t is proposed
that a dam be built at the Buttes on the G1la