Bisbee daily review., 1911-08-19
SAYS COLLIERS HAS WRONG CUE
Mesa Citizen Points Out Ab- surdity of the Recent Ar ticle About Pima h.
 dianS' Land
INDIANS NOT CONCERNED

INDIANS NOT CONCERNED
 The following articles appears as special correspondence, in the Los Angeles Times. the writer taking oc- casion to criticise an article recently published in Golfers Weekly, where in the author expresses ideas which do not in any way conform to those of Mesa people:
 MESA, Ariz.. Aug 13.-Dependence heretofore placed by A.rizonans in Golfers Weekly as a qualified nor alist, has just received a setback. Possibly because of it's ant2gonism to all things which have the govern ment stamp of approval. the weekly has accepted as authentic and has published a mass of transformation which should not stand uncorrected.
 The story is header Another Pima Indian Steal" It tells that the South ern Pacific railroad is asking she interior department for a right of way On the floor" of the Gila rivel box canyon. though engineers agree that the rails should be laid forty feet above. in order to secure the best grade" This eastern assump- ton that railroads in Arizona are laid down the beds of torrential riv. CTS is refreshing. In the article it is assumed that the railroad company wishes also to seize the canyon as a dam site for the irrigation of land controlled by 1t. If the Gila dam site controversy be decided against tine Florence irrigation interests, it is hardly possible that the railroad, or any other concern, would be granted permission for a similar dam in the same canyon.
 Almost ldiotlc.
 The article recites Practically all the good irrigable land under this dam site is within the reservation of the Pima and Maricopa Indians Nat uraIly, the railroad wants this land !" This statement is little less than id iotic The lands under the project are on the plain between Florence and Casas Grande and it is for the benefit of lands owned by whites. not Indians, that the fight for possession of the canyon against the railroad is being made by an association Of Florence and Casas Grande land owners. If the Indians are included within the incorporation. the fact is known only to Golfers.
 Reference is made to the stealing" of the Indians irrigation water by the whites. on the Gila. above them This is true, insofar as it refers 10 the minimum supply, which is small indeed, in summer. The Florence canal first took the summer water of the Indians; then the Mormon set tiers around Safford took the summer water away from Florence. That is the situation up to date
 "Spctted With Alkali."
 As compensation, according to Golfers the government proposes tC supply from wells as much water as had been "stoien." The article is at it's widest in treating of this well irrigation. Seven years ago the first we'll was completed-today the land that has been watered from that well is spotted with rank aikan Well irrigation is not successful Never theless. it is now proposed to dig more wells and to spend half a mil lion dollars in building pumping plants and a transmission line for electric power from the Roosevelt dam IL is proposed to move all the scattered groups that are getting from the Gila river at different points water enough to irrigate some 5000 acres to the corner of the reservation, where the wells are slowly ruining the land. To meet the cost of this change, it is proposed to sell 1S0,000 acres of the Indian land For the protection of 10000 Indians who have already suffered shamefully, the gov ernment should investigate this mat ter thoroughly"
 This is the way a typical muck raker reviews one of the best and most philanthropic plans ever de signed and put into operation within the interior department.
 Here's theTruth.
 Here is the truth. Upon plans that were made largely by ". II. Code of Los Angeles, chief irrigation engineer of the Indian Service. an elaborate and costly scheme of development for the Pima and Maricopa Indian l reservation now is nearing comple ton. By the surrender of a power dam site located for the Indians in ' the canyon of Salt river and by the payment of a pro rata of the cost ' of the Roosevelt project, the Indians in addition to an absolutely free sup ! ply of 500 miners inches for theii Salt river reservation. were allotted l 1 1.0O0-horse power in perpetuity fol pumping purposes near Sacaton egen cy, in the center of the reservation It should be noted that this powel is not generated along the Gila, bu on another stream, upon which thu Sacaton Indians never had ans claim. The power line referred to al ready is complete and has been use' for nearly a year, branching iron the main Phoenix lower line. shor distance above Mesa.
 It has been a matter of only { few months. not seven years, sine pumping began on the first Indial