The Florence tribune., 1900-08-04
ORIGINAL iRRIGAToRs.
But Their Industry Has Now Departed Crowded Out by the White Man AShameful Neglect of the
 Nations Wards.

Four hundred years ago, according to the narrative of that intrepid Spanish adventurer, Cabeza de Vaca, the portion of Southern Arizona now occupied by the Gila Indian reservation, grew luxuriant crops of fruit and maize for the friendly Pima Indians. This explorer describes them very much as they are to-day. They oc- eupied the same lands as at present and were industrious farmers and irri- gators, as they continued to be for many years after the acquisition of Arizona by the United States. They have raised corn, wheat, pumpkins, beans, sorghum and vegetables in pro fusion; they have lived in small villages and held their lands in severalty and they are expert weayers of fine blank cts and cotton fabrics. All this has been accomplished through irrigation, practiced by them since before the dis covery of the new world.
 What is the situation in this reserva- ton today? Those philanthropists who bewail the passing of the Ameri- can Indian may well turn their at tention to the destitute condition of the Pima Indians, brought about by the push of the white settler and the criminal neglect of the Government, whose wards the Indians are.
 The Pimas have always been friends of the whites and enemies of the Apaches. They gave aid and suceor to the early white pioneers, and their tepees were always open to peaceable whites or Indians when hard pressed by the savage foe. It is to-day their boast that their hands have never been stained by the white mans blood. It was under these conditions that they were joined about q century ago by the Maricopas, who came us fugitives from the more powerful Yuma tribe. When the belligerent Apaches broke out upon the warpath, the troops of the United States often obtained sub- stantial aid and subsistence from the gentle Pimas. Their agriculture has been carried on entirely by irrigation with water diverted from the Gila river. The tribes have always sup ported not only themselves, but have 
 shared their worlds goods with the poorer Indians to the south of them not favored by irrigation. They have learned readily at the Government In- dian School, and their progress to- wards modern civilization has been regarded as one of the encouraging features of the Indian problem. Dur ing the last ten years their irrigating water-their life blood-has been taken away from them and they are, perforce, lapsing into indoleuee, misery and vice.
 The waters of the Gila, above them, have been diverted by white settlers, and instead of waving fields of green, they now, during the summer, look out upon the dry parched earth. Year after year they plowed, and sowed and irrigated their crops, only to see them wither and die before maturity, owing to lack of sufficient irrigation water in the dryer months. A few who are favorably located at points where water appears in the dry bed of the Gila can still mature their crops others can eke ont bare existence by hauling wood or other precarious em- ployments, while the larger number have become more or less dependent upon charity or have degenerated into thieves and vagabonds.
 About 6,00O of these Indians are de- pendent for their subsistence upon the lands of the reservation which con. tains $50. 900 acres, while the water sup ply in the Gila last year, owing to use for lands above, has not been sufficient to irrigate ,0O0 acres belonging to the Indians. Fully half the crops planted have not produced enough for seed ] notwithstanding the great fertility o1 the soil. Two acres per Indian O irrigated land has been shown by competent authority as ample lanC . for their use and comfort.
 Government engineers have pointed out the solution of the problem through the building of storage reser voir on the Gila which will suppl, . water not only for the Pimas, but fo
 thousands of other Indians whom tn ' government could then move to thi reservation and commence the proces of education and agricultural eiviliza
 tion. Statesmen have urged upon tn
 government the necessity for sue
 action, from standpoints of justice
 humanity and even economy, but thu D far Congress has turned careless ca
 to such entreaties. Had the Indian a been private American citizens, the
 could have claimed their rights a n
 enforced them, but being wards of th