The Florence tribune., 1898-01-29
HOUSE MEMORIAL No. 4.
To the Senate and house of Representa- lives of tho United States in Com
 eress Assembled:

We, your Memorialists, the Nine 1 teents. Lagislatiua Assembly, of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully rep
 resent that the National Irrigation Congress, held in Phoenix, Arizona, on the 18th of December, A. D. 1896,
 unanimously adopted the following: Whereas, The Pima and Maricopa Indians tribes numbering in the aggregate ten
 thousand souls. have been deprived of the
 waters used by them in irrigation before the
 advent of the white race in America, through
 the appropriation of such waters by settlers
 on the headwaters of theGila river; and Whereas. Through the loss of such waters the lands once cultivated by these tribes have
 become barren and worthless. and the mem
 bers of such tribes have become a charge on the Government, and forced by the loss of their fields into lives of degradation and penury; 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
 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 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 reported. to again reclaim the lands of these tribes, believing that by so doing can the Government alone honorably redeem the broken pledges made by 1t to theso 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 economical | 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 a self-supporting and self-re- specting community.
 Now, therefore, your Mernorialists. the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, desire to go on record as earnestly endorsing the above recommendations of tue Sixth Irrigation Congress for theI following reasons:
 l. The reservoir site referred to having been withdrawn from entry by Government authorities, cannot now 'e utilized by any private corporation, md the Government therefore occupies he indefensible position of doing noth- : ng itself or allowing anyone else to I improve this great natural reservoir ite. Is
 2. We firmly believe that the inter- s sts of humanity dictate that the h. ians should be gathered on the reser- ations, have lands allotted to them in f everalty, and that they be furnished 1ith farming implements and an inex- austible supply of water for irriga- lon of their lands, to the nd that they may become self