Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1913-02-23

wandering as nomads and beggars
through the towns and cities of the
southwest
Pimas sest indian Tribe
When white men discovered this
continent the Pimas were probably
the most highly civilized of all the
Indian tribes. They lived on a tract
of several thousand acres Of level
valley land through which ran the
ella river. When the Spaniard Ba.
beza de Vaca discovered them in 1885
they had been irrigating this land
from the ella for centuries. They
were the only American indian tribe
economically Independent. Being
farmers pure and simple. they never
went hungry. The other Indians
hunters. were subject continually 20
the bitter famine described in Long
fellows Hiawatha.
When the Spanish missionaries Wis.
tied the Pimas they became devout
Christians. They also added sheen
raising to their farming And they
continued 10 thrive for three cen
turtles mOre-until 1890 when the first
white afrmers came into the country
smelling out fertile lands and stop.
ping where they saw the garden OF
the Pimas made possible in that dry
country By the precious water of the
ella.
Then began the destruction of Sl.
eaton, the Pima reservation. The
whites went into the. narrow valley
the mountains. Ten wells were com
pleted by last year. with water
enough TO supply 10000 acres with
above the Indians and tapped the
river wherever they settled-first the
Mormons at SoIomonsville, then
"Gentiles" at Florence and at other
I points. BY 1906 Indian agents began
warning the government what was
going to happen. as colony after col
I ony Of whites constructed their flimsy
| wing dams and extended their n
/ rigation canals
Then Came Trouble
The blow fell a year or so later
/ the first Of seven years OF drought.
The river failed the Pimas almost en-
tirely; what water there was in the
ella was diverted to the farms Of
the whites farther up stream. For
seven years the. Indians planted theif
crops each spring after the freshet
only 70 see them burn up by summer
A bitter poverty fell upon them and
they were driven out to beg for work
many OF them to become drunkards
and vagabonds.
Il is the boast OF the Pimas that
their hands have never been stained
by the blood of white men. They are
probably lie only tribe which never
fought against the whites On the
lcontrary. they gave shelter and pro
: lection to white refugees during th'
Apache and Navajo troubles ons
furnished scouts toethe American sol
diers.
, IL was the fate OF this gentle pee
pile to receive the most scurvy an
. contemplate treatment given to an
Indians by white men. They protest
; ed to Washington and the govern
ment sent them rations instead Of tn
; water they asked for That was b
) fore the reclamation act was passed
There was no law to protect then
!. and so their protests fell on dea
e fears. Their valley, which had bee
j, green with wheat, corn. sorghum an
c beans became a parched desolatio
except for a narrow strip along IN
/, river where the nucleus of the trib
e eked out living.
Aid From Reclamation Service
;. In 1906 the new reclamation seryic
d came TO their relief. A food waite
; canal was built to convey to the Ian
/ the overflow OF water from the annus
4 freshets. But additional water wa
J. needed. So the service began III
construction OF a system OF wells, ID
+ water to be pumped into the ditehe
!. by power from the great RoOsevel
dam in the Salt river, IS miles acros