The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-03-10
The Changed Indian Relations

The San Carlos irrigation project dam dedicated by
former President Coolidge, March 4, on the site OF the
former Indian town of that name in Arizona. emphasizes
the changed relations between the whites and the red
men as few events could.
The dam was constructed primarily to assist the Pima
| tribe on the ella river reservation to carry on their asri-
| culture. The dam is capable of storing sufficient water
for three years use on the 100000 acres of the project.
1t is SO miles from the famous Roosevelt dam.
AS early as the middle of the sixteenth century. explor-
ing Jesuits from New Spain found the friendly and pros
porous Pimas ~irrigating large areas Of land in the same
field they are beginning to recultivate today. In the
more recent years of the American occupation they at
forded protection against the Apaches and furnished
abundant supplies from their irrigated lands. The Pimas
were poorly repaid however, since settlers soon began
moving in on the river above them, and finally deprived
them of virtually all of the normal flow of the river
The white ~neighbors of the Indians in the Florence-Casa
Grande valley also found themselves in the same predic-
ament.
Governmental Investigations were made, lawsuits filed,
and other relief attempts instituted, but without much
avail. Finally on June z, 1924. congress approved the
San Carlos act providing for the construction of the
Coolidge dam. Now after a half century of waiting,
relief is at hand in the form of stored water flowing
through newly constructed bitches.
The altered relations OF the races were the subject of
Indian comment at the celebration marking the dedica-
ton. Hugh Patton, a full-blooded Pima and chief of
the Pima Indian council. spoke for his people. What
he said left no doubt that the war hatchets have been
buried permanently by red men and whites and Indians
now will march forward in peace and progress in step
together.
Chief Patton emphasized the patience with which the
red man has supplanted his former inpetuosity in deal
ing with the whites, while the white man has begun to
assist the red brethren rather than despol them. He
expressed it in noble diction, when he said:
To-day is the brightest page in the long and varied
history of the Pima people. It is a day to which our
race has looked forward to for many long and weary
years. Difficult as it may be for many of you to under
stand, you are witnessing today the realization of a
dream of centuries"
Reviewing the prehistoric irrigation of the valley and
the ancient collapse of it's savage civilization in the
mysterious long ago, he came down to the present, say
ing:
"Fifty-two years ago the Great Father and his council
promised relief to the Pimas-we were to get justice. BE
patient we were told, and all will be WE'LL
The Pima has been patient. Year after year passed.
but the goal seemed just as far away. My people Gid not
complain. They asked and waited, and hoped and asked
again. Always they were patient. Some day. they said,
the Great White Father will make good his promise
To-day that promise has been more than fulfilled. A
top this mighty structure of steel and concrete-the Cool
idge dam-greater than the widest dream Of the man
with the stone hoe-the Pima views with sparkling eye
and happy heart the miracle OF the white man and
realizes in his heart that his home has been made more
beautiful and enhancing because his white brother has
kept faith with him.
His lands have been restored, and with them a heri-
tage equally as valuable-the assurance of life-giving
water. Redman and white, side by side, in love and
friendship, arc working toward a common goal. Together
they are making of the Florence-Casa Grande valley a
beauty spot of the earth.
TO the Great White Father who gave us this. again
let me speak for the Pima people. We arc grateful to
YOU
The cat family can see in the dark. That explains
how they discover the things they gossip about.
They call it the bloom of youth, but there isn't any
thing especially youthful about terra Gotta.
The quickest thing some people can do is sit down.