The Flagstaff sun-democrat., 1897-02-11
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY II. 1897.
NAVAJO ENCROACHM ENTs.


 Sion of the Secretary of the Interior published in this column last week:
 The Honorable the Secretary of the Inte- YioY, Washington. D. C.-SIk: Your valued eomn,unication of the 18th inst. to Mir. c. NJ. Funston and others. with enclosure from the honorable Commissioner of Indian Affairs. respecting a petition sent to you by citizens of this couL ty requesting that steps be taken to conRne the Navajo Indians to their reser- vxtion. has been referred 10 me for reply.
 Ihave carefully considered the remarks of tho Commissioner. and note particularly his asser' ion that the whole subject of alleged interference by the NavajOs with the cattle and wool growers of that section Of country is familiar 10 this office. and has been for some years past" 1 cannot think that he Commissioner has been appIised of the real situation h, re. If so. the lndiaL Bureau Is deserving of the severest censure. To have known for years of the abuses and outrages to which the settlers of Northern Arizona have been subjected by tho NavaJos. without taking action. seems to me incredible. aud desire 10 relieve the Indian Bureau of this charge by assuming that the facts are un- known to 1t. Certainly if the truth has been and Is known to the Commissioner. and he persists in the views expressed in his com munication. then It wou d seem useless to longer hope for relief from that source.
 It may of course. be true that. as the Com missioner says. many of the Navajos have lived of the Reservation from time immemo- rial. This does not seem extremely proba" "le however. from the fact that the present x.lt hot trih and the ti ,.r which they acquired the reservation they now occupy. was concluded SD recently as July 8. lsos. which date is certainly withn the memory of man. Prior to lnav tims no Navajo had set foot in Northern Arizona The Territory was organized in 1853 and Dy the time the Navajo reservation MAS ursan- ized. the ranges and waters of Northern Ari- soma had been largely appropr,aled by "hito men, and ever since that time. until forced from them by tho Navajos, has been used and occupied Dy ,hrm. Not Navajo hau ever grazcd his focks in Cocon,no county until about eight years ago. At that time the country was fully occupied by American citizens who built up the country. estab- lshed scho Is and churches. Cultivated the lands. founded homes. and organz'd law abiding communities. The lands in Nor,h- ern Arizona were then. Us they are now largely a part of the public domain. and freely used for ranSe purposes. The Maya Jos were not here. and the Moqui re,erva- tion. larger than many of the rastern States, intervencd etween the eastern line Oi ,his county and the Navajo reservation. In discussing this question. therefore. il should always be borne in u.ind that if priority of possession avails any hing. and 1t usually does in the West. the white men were here first. They had built cor ais. developed water at great expense. built subsiantiai houses. constructed extensive reservoirs and tanks for wafer storage. and acquired vested rights before the Navajo Indians had crossed the Little Colorado river. and, as l have stated, it was only about eight years ago chat they commenced 10 move in this direc- tiOn. hut they came. notwithstanding the fact that when here they are about one hun dred and fifty miles from the nearest point on their reservation. lt Is admitie ed that until about six years ago it was possible to get along pcxceably with them. intruders though they were. Nut AS their nu mbers in- creased. they became more bold and sggres- give, and their depreciation, became very noticeable. Not content with usurping the
 
 stole their cattle, sheep and horses.
 The commissioners statement that many of the Navajos have settled in the vicinity of springs OF other water sources. and graxed their nocKs upon tKe lands of the adj 'ent country; In some Inst ances they have taken homes eads under the public land laws of the United States" etc has no application tO this section. No Navajos have ever settled upon public land in this county under the homes cad or any other law. None of them have ever settled here in any manner save in the usurpa,ion of the rights of some white man. No sign of Improvements has been made by any of them. with the exception Of two or three attempts at farming on small ecale in the vicinity of Tuba City. about 100 miles north from here.
 Again the Commissioner says: "The whites have pushed themselves into this country and endeavored to disrossess the Indians of lands which rightfully, in many instances, belong to them." This is abso- lutely false and shows that the Commits sioner is not advised as to the truth of thi. matter. The whites Sere here before the Indians came, as have before stated. It Is Che whites who have been and are being dis- possessed; not the Indians. The Indians havc never been wronged in this county, un- less perchance by some irresponsible tran sient. for whose acts the citizens here, who have never countenanced or tolerated such conduct, ought not to be held accountable On the other hand, to relate the unlawful acts and outrages committed against the whites by the Navajos would burden this communication with monotony. None havo lnterfered with the Indians in that to which he had color of right. No citizen now wishes to .oust any Ind an from the use of -h,t . ..-...l.... m. ,,o o,,is ask ..a. l.l.