Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-29

given over to the use of a couple of hundred
Indians, SaDoha was iarge-sHed fly in the
ointment of those hardy settlers of the
town that boi med. -
Neglected Opportunities.
The Indian lands were five or six miles in
extent, and embraced not only great areas
of pasturage, but farms and gardens, ca
pable of yielding, with suitable culture all
the fruits. grains and vegetables for which
southern California is famous. The springs
that fed the great acequia had their rise in
the hills of the reservation, and thus these
idle Indians could control the flowage that,
under intelligent supervision, would make
the arid soil of San Jacinto blossom like a
rose, "or any other old thing" Thus the
white settlers reasoned, and not without
reason, either: for, aside from the fact that
the Indians were there first and so have a
right of priority, the other fact is notori-
ous-that they are not getting out of their
monopoly of Gods greatest gift to man
what they ought to. They are not working
it for all it is worth by long shot, and
yet they are veritabie dogs -in-t manager
preventing by their occupancy the utilizing
of that element without which all the vast
region between Los Angeles and San Diego
would be barren waste Still, there they
are, and they are there with the sanction
and by the authority of Uncle Sam
Many years ago Mrs. Jackson, who was
az III 81 -tppolnleu, anu later an OIL
cially authorized avenger of Indian wrongs,
real and imaginary, predicted that it would
not be long before the Indians would be
ousted, on account of the inestimable value
of the irrigation rights in the springs. But
while, doubtless, it might have been a ben
eft to civilization if they had been looking
at it from the utiltarian's standpoint, yet
today they are more strongly fntrenched
man ever And unless the latest seismic
disturbance causes a panic and runs them
out of their reservation it is not likely that
they will ever leave
A LOns-Lived People.
And why should they? The most ad-
vanced and the wealthiest man there with
Indian blood in his veins is a grandson of
old Victorlano, who, generation or ago,
was notorious fighter and won with his
sword and arrows the sovereignty of that
region. Nictorianos was a name to conjure
with once upon a time, and many are the
tales the settlers tell of his prowess. He
died a few years ago, at the advanced age
of 1876, and until within a short time his
squaw was living, at 119. No one wonders
at the numerous cases of longevity found
in and around Saboba, where the sweet
waters combine with the dry atmosphere to
preserve life to its utmost limit. Anthem
tic instances are known of several CEN
tenarians, and there lives there today an
old eX-chief who, though stone blind, sur
wives at the ripe old age of 113.
Every Saboban family has its house and
adjoining plot of land, besides common
interest in the pasturage and the acequia.
Their dwellings, vary from the tumble-down
straw shacks to the adobe-walled, sfingle-
roof structures possessed blythe richer few
To the latter class belongs the grandson of
old Victoriano, who owns the finest orchard,
the best-Worked farm and most picturesque
site on the reservation 1t lies near the
source of the acequia, 9p deep ravine,
where the foothills are welded to the val
beneath the shade of great green-bu1ked
live oaks.
4 Real Aristocrat.
Some ascribe his enterprise and prosper
ity to the inherited traits of the great
fighter diverted into the channels of peace
full pursuits; others to an indiscretion Of
one of Victoriano's daughters, by which her
family became allied by ties of blood to
that of a naughty Spaniard, resident near
the reservation. Be that as it may be, the
young man is now considered one of the
greatest Catches of the tribe, and might
have every Indian girl of Saboba at his
feet, We're not his ambitions fixed upon a
more distinguished alliance.
Educational Advantagex.
There is an excellent school on the reser-
walton, which has an average attendance
of about forty girls and boys, all clean and
bright-faced, Intelligent and alert. After
leaving this school many are sent outside,
to institutions more advanced, such, for In
stance, as Carlisle. The problem whether