Arizona republican., 1900-10-30
BASKET WEAVING
Magnitude of This Industry Among
 the Pima Indians.

With barren fields. made SD by the absence of water for irrigation. with empty larders. with want and abso- lure poverty staring them in the face. the Pima Indians hay this winter taken up an industry that has Ian- guished among them for years and has well nigh been forgotten. says the Native American. The industry ls that Of weaving bask-ts.
 There is en commercial demand for Indian baskets. Tn average tour ist from the east is anxious to return with a memento Of his trip. He in vests to a limited extent in pottery but says his money to buy baskets These he carries in triumph to his , eastern hom= and sometimes turns th m into articles of utili,y as well as ornament His demands have -gn so importunate that he has made d great scarcity of baskets in the open mark l.
 Just at this time. therefore. tn Pima people find d ready market for all the baskets they can weave. Wn5 n a has ket is finished. it repra =ents cash to th5m. The local dealer pays them cash and he in turn receives cash. To Use colioquialism. Indian baskets arc as good as wheat"
 Mr. William Bell. post trad r at Sac aton, has never bought baskets in times past. He has been at Sacaton fer a matter Of twenty years. Now he bs buying baskets at tn rate of S10o pr month There are two or three other trading stores located in other parts of the Sacaton reservation. It is safe 10 say that they ar Going nearly as much in th- matter of buying baskets as Mir. Bell. From this the reader may judge concerning the commercial value of the basket industry to the Pima peo- plt during the ensuing year. But. placing the total output at the liberal figure of 5000 this would give each member cf the Pima tribe the insig- nificant sum of $1. That would not buy v5ry much flour or many beans.
 The Pimas manufacture baskets for sale largely. Many of the snap ara made with this object in view and are plainly copies of baskets the Indians have seen in the white mans stor=. This fact does not q tract from the val ue of tn work. however. It has rather the contrary eff ct. inasmuch as it gives fieXibility to the prices in sym pathy with the size of the piec $.
 Baskets Of this character seem K pensive, but when one remembers that a large SD cimen bringing eight or len dollars in the Op,n market has cost the woman weaving il five or six weeks of continuous labor. il will be seen that the dollar has been earned twic- over. In times past the Pimas have had more profitable work to turn to- IT is only their desperate plight that has driven them to it now.
 Basket w=a.ing was introduced among the Pimas probably 1GO years ago when the Maricopas sought shel- Ter among them from the onsaughts or the Yumas. At that time the Pimas made pottery only. bU, perceiving that the bask Is were an advance they learned the art from the refugees. On the other hand the Marcopas allowed basket weaving to fall into disuse. and now IT Tanufacture pottery only. Tn Maricopa woman carries her pottery for sale in a basket. but while anxious to dispose of th- earthenware she will not part with the other The curious fact in relation L. the exchange of in- dustries was ascertained last summer by Prof. ssOr A. J. McClatchie of Phoe- nix. who is making a study of ,he Pimas on behalf of the Smithsonian institute of Washington. D. C. This is also the verbal testimony of Chief Antonio of the Pimas. who is well nigh eighty-five years old.
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