Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-19

far over to the east to be in much danger
from the present outbreak, though he has
a number of Yaquis employed in his mines.
The other Washington man is S. NJ. Bryan
of the Chesapeake and Ohio Telephone
Company. who has recently acquired some
large interests northwest of the Hermo-
try and who has just returned from an
inspection of his new property
Rich Finds in YaGui River.
"There is no question but that there is
a large amount of gold in the Yaqui ter
ritory, and when white men generally be-
gin to realize that it is there, goodbye to
the Indian. There are rich placers down
along the Yaqui river, which are now be
ing worked by several hundred Americans
to say nothing of Mexicans but among the
richest fields are those of the Cienega, in
northwestern Sonora, on the northern eA-
tremty of the Yaqul strip.
The Yaqui." he continued, lis quite an
important factor in the social economy OF
Sonora and Sinaloa, the TWO northwestern
provinces of Mexico. He is one of the least
degenerate types of the North American
Indian well developed physically. Il good
worker when he works ana a nara Nshter
when he fights The Yaquis are important
to the two states referred to because they
are depended on to 90 the most of the man
ual labor in the mines and on the ranctleS-
They are larger and better developed than
the Mexicans, and they are one of the few
tribes in that part Of the country who VIII
work for wages. Their only rivals In num-
Der and working ability are the PapaSos.
no are very good Indians in their line.
They are good farmers on their own ac-
count. unexcalled as hunters and trappers
and skilled in all sorts of desert craft but
they do not like to work for boss, and sell
dom do anything for wages except punch
cattle, at which they adept enough
after the Mexican fasho which is t. bang
a colt or a calf around till it is subdued
enough to brand, Irrespective OF whether
it is MANNED for life in the process.
But the Yaquis are different.
They Work ms Well as Fight.
"They live on the farms and in little set
Elements of their own around the outskirts
OF the towns and will do more work in a
day with less watching than a Mexican
peon and Papago together This at least
has been my experience in number OF
Yaquis that I have had to work for me,
and 1T is generally agreed to by the Next
can employers l have talked to. But there
Is one trouble about the Ya0ui. You never
know when he is going to fit off in the
night and take whirl at shooting W the
government. Trouble will start down on
the river as the Yaqui country is uaua,ly
referred to, and then the peaceful Yaquis
in the mines and on the ranches will start
to fit. Nearly every one of them has gun
of some sort hanging up in his tiobe hut
ocatea shack and the first thing his en-
ployer knows he and the gun have de-
camped. The last news of him will be that
in some Mexican joint of doubtful recu.a-
ton in town, for the Mexicans will sell
ammunition to Yaau just readily as
the patriotic American post trader will sell
cartridges to an Apache to shoot up the
surrounding country. Then the Yauui
drops out of society for while. and if he
don't happen to get killed fighting with the
rest of his clan down on the river, he will
turn up some morning after the trouble is
all over, silent, doci1e and as innocent a +,
a demonstrating kitten and take I'D his
work just where he left off as though he
had not gone away.
IN this way almost the whole Yauui
population of a district will disappear in
little punches of three or six, leaving their
women and children to run their villages,
and throwing the Mexican population into
are gone 1t must be said, however that
the Yaqui when he is stirred up attends
pretty strictly to the one business of fight
ing the Mexican government They do not
go on the war path as the Apaches used to
do in this country, making long. bird-like
swoops across country with trail of blood
and smoke in their wake. The Mexican
sor, stealing the Yaqui country in large
chunks just as this government has done
with our own tribes. and with even less |
treaty formality. On such occasions the !,
Yaquis have usually risen and chased the |
Mexican troops back to the nearest large |
town and then returned to their hunting !
and farming in very decent, orderly |
fashion. |
From Arid Waste to Garden.
1.-THE country down On the Yaqui river |
forms an immense tract south OF Quay
mas and reaching from the Gulf of Cali |
fornia about 200 miles inland at the fur