The Florence tribune., 1897-09-04
HOUSE MEMORIAL No. 4.
To the Senate and House of Represents lives of the United States in Con
 eress Assembled:

teenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully rep resent that the National Irrigation Congress, held in Phoenix, Arizona, on tn 18th of December, A. D. 1896, UT lanimously adopted the following:
 Whereas, The Pima and Maricopa Indians tr ibes numbering in the aggregate ten tn ousand souls, have been deprived of the W aters used by them in irrigation before tbe aa lyent of the white race in America, through u e appropriation of such waters by settlers O the headwaters of theGila river; and
 Whereas, Through the loss of such waters t he lands once cultivated by these tribes have | ecome barren and worthless, and the mem | CTS of such tribes have become charge on he Government and forced by the loss of f heir fields into lives of degradation and l ,enury and
 Whereas, Such tribes have from the ear Hest days been the friends and allies of the white race; and
 Whereas, The people of the United States have pledged themselves by solemn treaty to protect such tribes in their property and property rights; and
 i Whereas, The Government of the United States has and now is engaged in the expendi | ture of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of works of irrigation for
 the reclamation of lands belonging to other i Indian tribes; therefore be it | Resolved, That this Congress do approve
 the proposed. construction, under the plans ! of the U. s. Geological Survey. of the Buttes | reservoir, in Pinal county, Arizona, recently 1 reported. to again reclaim the lands of tkeso l tribes, believing that by so doing can the ! Government alone honorably redeem the
 broken pledges made by it to these people,
 and thus preserve from further want and degradation two of the surviving Indian
 tribes of the American continent that have always been the constant friends ofthe white race.
 Resolved. That we approve the proposed
 construction of such reservoir not only as
 just and philanthropic, but as oconomica
 and good policy, as in a comparatively short
 time the expense of maintaining such In-
 dians as Government charges will far exceed
 the cost of the irrigation works required to
 make them self-supporting and self-re-
 specting community.
 Now, therefore, your Memorialists,
 the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly
 of the Territory of Arizona, desire to go
 on record as. earnestly endorsing the
 above recommendations of the Sixth 1 National Irrigation Congress for the
 following reasons:
 |. The reservoir site referred to
 having been withdrawn from entry by
 Government authorities, cannot now
 be utilized by any private corporation,
 and the Government therefore occupies
 the indetensible position of doing noth- l ing itself or allowing any one else to improve this great natural reservoir site.
 1 2. We firmly believe that the inter- ests of humanity dictate that the h. dians should be gathered on the reser- 1 vations, have lands allotted to them in severalty, and that they be furnished with farming implements and an inex-
 haustible supply of water for irriga-
 tion of their lands, to the ] end that they may become self ! supporting. By this means will home life be furnished for the Indian and he will more rapidly advance in ] civilization as a consequence. He will abandon his nomadic life his children will be kept at home and educated in neighborhood schools, instead of being sent to large Indian schools at dis tance where they are kept Gas it would seem) for mere pursoses of show. After being instructed in the arts of civilizationfor time they areretnrned to savagery, to become more unhappy and diseontented than if they had never received the questionable advan- tages. We feel that the present policy of the Indian department is all wrong in this regard.
 8. The Pima and Maricopa Indian reservation contains 350, ,0O0 acres of as fertile land as lies within the bound arses of Arizona, and is admirably | adapted for homes for these people, as we'll as. the wandering Papagoes, who ] are now compelled to prey upon the herds of our farmers and ranchmen for subsistence.
 4. The construction of g storage res ervoir at the Buttes by the Govern ment offers plain business proposi- tion for the correction of these evils.
 Resolved, That the Secretary of the