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 BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 

 'SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HOE CHARLES D. POSTCffl, 
 
 OP 
 
 ARIZONA, 
 
 N 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 THURSDAY, MAECH 2, 1865. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 EDMUND JONKS & CO., PRINTERS, 
 
 No 26 JOHN STREET. 
 
 I860. 
 
- 
 
Bancroft ISSS& 
 
 IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE CONSIDERING THE 
 MISCELLANEOUS APPROPKIATION BILL : 
 
 Mr. POSTON". I move to amend by inserting the following clause : 
 
 For colonizing friendly Indians in Arizona on a reservation on the Colorado river and 
 supplying them with implements of husbandry and seeds to enable them to become self- 
 sustaining, the sum of $150,000, to be expended under the direction of the Commissioner 
 of Indian Affairs. 
 
 I desire to say that in the very short time that the Territory of Arizona 
 has had the honor of representation on this floor it has been impossible to 
 - mature and pass through the proper committees measures providing for the 
 settlement and regulation of Indian affairs in that Territory. I am therefore 
 obliged to rely upon the generosity of the House to adopt the amendment 
 which is now presented. It is essentially necessary that the friendly Indians 
 of Arizona should be colonized upon a reservation before the white settlers 
 can enter upon an exploration of the rich mineral resources of that Territory 
 without danger of collision, and as a great benefit to both Indians and whites 
 the measure will commend itself to every sense of justice, policy, and 
 economy. 
 
 Mr. "WIKDOM. I simply desire to say that this proposition was before 
 the Committee on Indian Affairs, and was carefully examined by them. 
 Maps and reports on the subject, and a communication from the Secretary of 
 the Interior and the committee were unanimously in favor of the proposi 
 tion ; but there not being time to get a bill through the House, the gentleman 
 from Arizona was advised to take this course and test the sense of the House 
 on the question. 
 
 Mr. POSTON". Mr. Chairman, Arizona, more than any other Territory of 
 the United States, rises to the dignity of historic fame ; it is even pro-historic, 
 reaching far back into the dim traditions of the Aztecs. As everywhere else 
 on earth, the history of man is here distinctly marked by the struggle between 
 civilization and barbarism. The Aztecs lived in continual warfare with the. 
 barbarous tribes of the mountains, and their descendants to this day maintain 
 the warfare bequeathed to them by their ancestors. The Aztecs were 
 peaceable, industrious Indians, living by the pursuits of agriculture, dwelling 
 
in communities, and exercising a system of government with eminent prin 
 ciples of justice. The barbarians of the mountains were their natural foes, 
 and finally drove them into Southern Mexico, leaving only a few degenerate 
 descendants in the north. 
 
 The Spanish explorers found a very interesting race of Indians in that part 
 of the continent now belonging to the United States and designated as the 
 Territory of Arizona. A knowledge of these remote people was first given 
 to the European world by the romantic expedition of Oabeza de Vacca, 
 who crossed the continent from the savannas of Florida to the mountains of 
 New Mexico in 1538. In these remote regions he found a people bearing 
 evidences of European origin and practicing many of the arts of civilization. 
 They were supposed to be the descendants of the colony of the Welsh Prince 
 Madoc, who sailed from Wales for the New World in the eleventh century 
 celebrated in song by Southey. They are now called Moquis, and I beg 
 leave to call your attention to their present condition as described in an 
 official report of Colonel Christopher Carson, first cavalry New Mexican 
 
 volunteers. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS NAVAJO EXPEDITION, December G, 1863. 
 
 CAPTAIN : I have the honor to report, for the information of the department com 
 mander, that on the 15th ultimo I left this post with companies C, D, G, H, and L, first 
 cavalry New Mexican volunteers, dismounted, for the purpose of exploring the country 
 west of the Oribi villages, and if possible to chastise the Navajoes inhabiting that region. 
 On the 16th I detached thirty men with Sergeant Andreas Herrera, of company C first 
 cavalry New Mexic.au volunteers, on a fresh trail which intersected our route. The 
 sergeant followed the trail for twenty miles, when he overtook a small party of Nava- 
 joes, two of whom he killed, wounded two, and captured fifty head of sheep and one 
 horse. En route the party came on a village lately deserted, which they destroyed. 
 The energy and zeal displayed by the sergeant and his party on this occasion merit my 
 warmest approbation. 
 
 On the 21st arrived at Moqui village. I found on my arrival that the inhabitants of 
 all the villages, except the Oribis, had a misunderstanding with the Navajoes, owing to 
 some injustice perpetrated by the latter. I took advantage of this feeling, and succeeded 
 in obtaining representatives from all the villages, Oribi excepted, to accompany me on 
 the war path. My object in insisting upon parties of these people accompanying me 
 was simply to involve them so far that they could, not retract ; to bind them to us and 
 place them in antagonism to the Navajoes. They were of some service, and manifested 
 a great desire to aid in every respect. While on this subject I would respectfully repre 
 sent that these people, numbering some four thousand souls, are in a most deplorable 
 condition, from the fact that the country for several miles around their village is quite 
 barren, and is entirely destitute of vegetation. 
 
 They have no water for purposes of irrigation, and their only dependence for subsist 
 ence is on the little corn they raise when the weather is propitious, which is not always 
 
5 
 
 tlie case in this latitude. They are a peaceable people, have never robbed or murdered 
 the people of New Mexico, and are in every way worthy of the fostering care of the Gov 
 ernment. Of the bounty so unsparingly bestowed by it on other Pueblo Indians, ay, 
 even on the marauding bands, they have never tasted, and I earnestly recommend that 
 the attention of the Indian Bureau be called to this matter. I understand that a couple 
 of years' annuities for the Navajoes, not distributed, are m the possession of the super 
 intendent of Indian affairs at Santa Fe, and I consider that, if such an arrangement would 
 be legal, these goods would be well bestowed on these people. 
 
 C. CARSON, 
 
 Colonel First Cavalry New Mexican Volunteers. 
 Captain BENJAMIN C. CUTLER, A. A. G. 
 
 In antagonism to these interesting people we have the barbarous Apaches, 
 the Bedouins of the desert and the robbers of the mountains. 
 
 Time immemorial their hand has been against every man and every man's 
 hand against them; they disdain to labor, and live by robbery and plunder. 
 For three centuries they have stayed Ihe progress of civilization in that part 
 of the continent, and now hold its richest mineral treasures from the grasp 
 of the white man. They have successfully defended their mountain homes 
 against the Spaniards, the Mexicans, and the Americans. A few hardy and 
 enterprising Americans have been endeavoring to penetrate that El Dorado 
 for several years, but for want of military support, and on account of the 
 desolating war which has spread its ravages to the confines of Arizona, they 
 are yet prevented from exploring that inviting field of mineral wealth. The 
 subjugation or extermination of this merciless tribe is a measure of stern jus 
 tice which ought not to be delayed. Their subjugation would open to our 
 hardy miners an unexplored gold field north of the Gila, which the Spaniards 
 considered the true El Dorado. A sickly sympathy for a few beastly savages 
 should not stand in the way of the development of our rich gold fields, or the 
 protection of our enterprising frontiersmen. The settlers around the capital 
 (Prescott) have kept one hundred men in the field for more than a year at 
 their own expense ; their leader, Colonel King Woolsey, had been ruined by 
 the Apaches, and adopted this method of retaliation. They have waited in 
 vain for the protection of the .military branch of the Government, and were 
 forced in self-defense to take the matter in their own hands. 
 
 The Pimas and Maricopas are a confederated tribe, living on the Gila river 
 one hundred and eighty miles from its confluence with the Colorado. They 
 are an agricultural people, living entirely by the cultivation of the soil, 
 and number some seven thousand five hundred souls. They have always 
 been friendly to the Americans, and boast that up to this day they do not 
 
6 
 
 know the color of the white man's blood. They hold one of the strongest 
 positions on the continent, accessible only after crossing deserts in every 
 direction, and have here defended their homes and fields against the barbarous 
 Apaches from time immemorial. The early Spanish explorers found 
 them here in 1540, and ruined houses of grand proportions attest their occu 
 pation for thousands of years before the Spaniards came. To the north, for 
 several hundred miles, ruined cities, fortifications, and the remain s of irrigat 
 ing canals, indicate the places formerly occupied by a race now passed away, 
 without having left any history. The researches of the antiquarian are in 
 vain, and the degenerate Indian of the present day answers all questions 
 about past grandeur with the mystic name of Montezuma. The Pimas 
 know no more of their origin than if they had come out of the ground, as 
 their tradition intimates. They have no religion, and worship no deity, un 
 less a habit of hailing the rising sun with an orison may be the remains of 
 some sun-worshiping tribe. They are exceedingly jealous of their females ; 
 and their chastity, as far as outside barbarians are concerned, remains, with 
 a few exceptions, unimpeachable. They have a very good tract of land, set 
 apart by metes and bounds plainly marked, have their irrigating canals in 
 good condition, and present every evidence of a thrifty population, producing 
 more than they consume. 
 
 They deserve the highest consideration of this Congress. It would have been 
 impossible for the Government troops in that Territory to have subsisted 
 there but for the supplies furnished by these Indians. They are, in fact, the 
 laboring population of that Territory. They produce supplies both for the 
 army and for the miners. They were colonized by the Spanish Jesuits a hun 
 dred and fifty years ago, and they are monuments of the civilization and pros 
 perity of that country at that time. They have cultivated the land there 
 from time immemorial. When the Spaniards entered that country three hun 
 dred and forty years ago, they found these Indians in a high state of civiliza 
 tion. It is a good country for agricultural purposes, and during my adminis 
 tration of Indian affairs in that Territory the last year I had the pleasure of 
 contributing something to the improvement of those Indians by giving them 
 cotton seed, hoes, spades, shovels, &c. 
 
 The Papagos are a branch of the great Piina tribe, speaking the same 
 language and having the same manners and customs, modified by civilization ; 
 the only difference is, that upon being baptized they were originally called 
 Vapconia, in their language Christians, which has been corrupted into 
 Papagos ; they also cut their hair short and wear a hat, and such clothing as 
 
 
they can get. The Papagos all live south of the Gila river, in that arid 
 triangle known as the western part of the Gadsden purchase. Their lot is 
 cast in an ungrateful soil ; but the softness of the climate reconciles them to 
 their location, and contentment is their happiness. The fruit of the cereus 
 giganteus furnishes them with bread and molasses ; they plant in the rainy 
 season, raise cattle, hunt, and labor in the harvest fields. Their principal 
 settlement is around the old mission church of San Xavier del Bac, nine miles 
 south of Tucson. This mission was founded by the Jesuits in 1670, and is the 
 grandest architectural monument in northern Mexico. Upon the expulsion 
 of the Jesuits from Mexico they gave the Indians a solemn injunction to 
 preserve the church, promising to return at a future day. It was a strange 
 .coincidence that two Jesuit fathers from the Santa Clara College, in Cali 
 fornia, accompanied us to their long-neglected neophytes. They were 
 received by the Indians with great demonstrations of joy ; and, amid the 
 ringing of bells and explosion of fireworks entered into possession of the long- 
 neglected mission of San Xavier. These pious fathers immediately commenced 
 laboring with the zeal and fidelity of their order, and in a few days had the 
 mass chanted regularly by the Papagos maidens, with the peculiar soft 
 ness of their language. Every facility was rendered the holy fathers in 
 holding intercourse with the Indians, and a great improvement was soon 
 perceptible in their deportment and habits. They seemed entering upon a 
 new era of moral and material prosperity refreshing to witness. The captain, 
 Jose Victoriana Solorse, is a highly intelligent Indian, and is exercising a 
 beneficent influence on the tribe. The family relations of the Papagos are 
 conducted with morality, and their women are examples of chastity and 
 industry. These deserving people should have additional aid to enable them 
 to colonize the straggling members of the tribe ; their principal wants are 
 agricultural implements, carts, wheel-barrows, axes, and hoes. With the 
 necessary aids in agricultural implements they can soon produce a surplus to 
 exchange for clothing and the comforts of life, so that they will be an 
 advantage to the community instead of a tax on the Government. They 
 number about five thousand souls living within our boundaries. 
 
 Now I come to the Indians of Colorado. They never reaped the benefit of 
 the Spanish colonization, because the Spaniards never extended their con 
 quests north of the Gila. They are of the same family, and are affiliated 
 with the Pimas, and desire to live in the same manner. But they have no 
 means of exercising their industry. As far as that portion of our Indian 
 country is concerned, they never have had an officer of the Government 
 
8 
 
 among them until the last year. As superintendent of Indian affairs, I called 
 the confederated tribes of the Colorado in council together. The council was 
 attended by the principal chiefs and head men of the Yumas, Mojaves, 
 Yapapias, Hualapais, and Ohemihuevis. These tribes have an aggregate of 
 ten thousand souls living near the banks of the Colorado, from Fort Yuma to 
 Fort Mojave. They cultivate the bottom lands of the Colorado river, where 
 an overflow affords sufficient moisture; the failure of an overflow, which 
 sometimes happens, is considered a great calamity, and breeds a famine. 
 Their resources from game, fish, and wild fruits have been very much cur 
 tailed by the influx of Americans, and it would be dangerous for them to 
 visit their former hunting grounds. The fruit of the mesquite tree, an acacia 
 flourishing in this latitude, has been the staff of life to the Indians of the 
 Colorado. A prolific mesquite will yield ten bushels of beans in the hull ; 
 the beans are pounded in a mortar and made into cakes of bread for the win 
 ter season, and a kind of whisky is also made of the bean before it becomes 
 dry and hard. This resource for the Indians has been very much reduced 
 since the irruption of the Americans and Mexicans, as the mesquite bean is 
 more nutritious and less dangerous for animals in that climate than corn. The 
 beans command, at the different towns and stands where they are sold from 
 five to ten cents a pound as they fall from the tree. The improvidence of 
 the Indians leads them to sell all the beans in the autumn, saving none for 
 the winter consumption. During the past winter they were in such a fam 
 ished condition that they killed a great many horses and cattle on the river, 
 mostly belonging to American settlers, for which claims are now made. 
 
 But as the representative of the Government of the United States at that 
 time, I did not undertake to make a written treaty with these Indians, be 
 cause I considered that the Government was able and willing to treat them 
 fairly and honestly without entering into the form of a written treaty, which 
 has been heretofore so severely criticised in both Houses of Congress, and with 
 some reason. These Indians there assembled were willing, for a small amount 
 of beef and flour, to have signed any treaty which it had been my pleasure to 
 write. I simply proposed to them that for'all the one hundred and twenty 
 thousand square miles, full of mines and rich enough to pay the public debt 
 of the United States, they should abandon that territory and confine them 
 selves to the elbow in the Colorado river, not more than seventy-five thousand 
 acres. But I did not enter into any obligation on account of the United 
 States to furnish them with seeds and agricultural implements. I simply 
 old them that if 1 was elected to represent that Territory in this Congress I 
 
9 
 
 would endeavor to lay their claims before the Government, which they under 
 stood to be magnanimous, and that I hoped that this Congress would have 
 the generosity and the justice to provide for these Indians, who have been 
 robbed of their lands and their means of subsistence, and that they may be 
 allowed to live there where they have always made their homes. They desire 
 to live as do the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona. Those Pueblo 
 Indians live in settlements, in towns, in reservations, according to the wise 
 policy of the Spanish Government, which colonized the Indians in reserva 
 tions and made their labor valuable in building improvements for their own 
 sustenance, for churches, and public improvements, and in that manner made 
 them peaceable Indians, instead of having everlasting and eternal war with 
 the people whom they had robbed of their land. 
 
 These people having been citizens of the Mexican Government, are not, 
 according to our theory, entitled to any right in the soil ; and therefore no 
 treaty with these Indians for the extinction of their title to the soil would be 
 recognized by this Government. It is a fiction of law which these Indians, 
 in their ignorance, are not able to understand. They cannot see why the 
 Indians of the Northeast have been paid annuities since the foundation of this 
 Government for the extinction of their title, while the Indians who were 
 formerly subject to the Spanish and Mexican Governments are driven from 
 their lands without a dollar. It is impossible for these simple-minded people 
 to understand this sophistry. They consider themselves just as much entitled 
 to the land which their ancestors inhabited before ours landed on Plymouth 
 Rock as the Indians of the Northeast. They have never signed any treaty 
 relinquishing their right to the public domain. 
 
 I beg to lay before you a memorial of the territorial Legislature on the 
 subject : 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the IT/iUed States in Congress assembled : 
 Your memorialists, the Council and House of Representatives of the Legislative 
 Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully represent, That the four tribes of In 
 dians known as the Yapapais, Hualapais, Mojaves, and Yumas, numbering about ten 
 thousand, are now scattered over an extent of country from the Gila river on the south 
 to the northern boundary of the Territory, and from the Colorado river on the .west to 
 the Rio Verde on the east ; that these Indians are now roaming at large over the vast 
 territory above described, gaming a precarious subsistence from the small patches of 
 land along the Colorado river, which they cultivate, and from fishing and hunting ; that 
 when the seasons are unfavorable to their little farming interests, or the Colorado river 
 does not overflow to irrigate and enrich their fields, they are reduced to a starving con 
 dition, and compelled, by necessity, to make raids upon the stock and property of the 
 
10 
 
 whites, and not unfrequently do they ambush the traveler and miner, and waylay and 
 stampede the stock of trains and plunder their packs and wagons ; that the whites are 
 settling up the country, and necessarily diminishing their means of subsistence, and 
 increasing the dangers of a collision with them ; that the late superintendent of Indian 
 affairs of the Territory, Hon. Charles D. Poston, in view of their scattered and destitute 
 condition, selected and caused to be laid off, on the east bank and bottom of the Colo 
 rado river, a reservation ample enough- for the accommodation and support of all the 
 above-named tribes ; that an irrigating canal can be constructed at an expense of a 
 small amount (the Indians performing the labor) that will render highly productive a 
 large tract of land that will yield an abundance for their support, and afford a large sur 
 plus to be disposed of for their education and improvement; that when placed upon 
 said reservation they can, under judicious management, be made not only self-sustain 
 ing, but to produce largely for the market ; that, to enable those who may be placed 
 over them or have charge of them to open said canal, to remove them upon said reser 
 vation, and sustain them until they can, by their own labor, provide enough for their 
 subsistence, your memorialists respectfully ask of your honorable body an appropria 
 tion of $150,000 ; that to secure the attention and favorable consideration of the subject 
 and matters of this memorial by the Congress of the United States 
 
 Be it resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, That our Dele 
 gate in Congress, Hon. Charles D. Poston, be requested to use all honorable means to 
 bring the subject before Congress; 
 
 Andbe it further resolved, That his Excellency the Governor of the Territory of Ari 
 zona be requested to forward this memorial, together with such other information touch 
 ing the subject as he may have in his possession, to Hon. Charles D. Poston, our Delegate 
 in Congress. 
 
 W. CLAUDE JONES, 
 Speaker of the Rouse of Representatives. 
 COLES BASHFORD, 
 
 President of the Council 
 Approved November 7. 1864. 
 
 JOHN M. GOODWIN. 
 
 In order that the proposition may be clearly understood, I will read the 
 report of the engineer who accompanied ine on an examination of the 
 valley of the Colorado to select a reservation for these Indians: 
 
 LA PAZ CITY, ARIZONA, May 30, 1864. 
 
 SIB: At your request I have made an examination of the lands on the eastern bank 
 of the Colorado river, from La Paz to Corner Rock. 
 
 I have been surprised at the great quantity of rich bottom land and alluvial soil, 
 traversed by many sloughs and lagunas, which extend from the banks of the river for 
 several miles into the valley. Most of them are dry now, as the river did not rise high 
 enough last year to fill them . 
 
 I directed my special attention to the lands between Halfway Bend and the Mesa. 
 With the exception of a few stretches of heavy sand land which I estimate at about one 
 
11 
 
 fifth of the entire area, I found the soil excellent, most of it consisting of a light loam, 
 of which many thousand acres are covered with mesquite trees, a sure indication of rich 
 ground, while willows and cotton trees grow luxuriantly in the vicinity of the river, the 
 sloughs, and lagunas. 
 
 At some places I noticed alkaline efflorescences, but they are not extensive. If these 
 places could be regularly overflowed, much of the salts would be carried off. It is well 
 known, moreover, that Indian corn and wheat grow well in alkaline soil. 
 
 If the eastern boundary of the intended reservation runs from the mouth of the prin- 
 "cipal slough at Halfway Bend (the Indians call it Mad-ku-dap) in a direction nearly 
 north, 26 30' east to Corner Rock, it will include an area of about 118 square miles, 
 equal to 75,520 acres. Of this, 6 square miles are Mesa lands, leaving 112 square miles, 
 or 71,680 acres, of valley land. One fifth deducted as sand land leaves 90 square miles, 
 or 57,600 acres, of bottom land or light loamy soil. About one fourth of this, say 22 
 square miles, or 14,080 acres, is covered with mesquite trees. A large mesquite tree 
 yields sometimes several bushels of beans. Supposing, then, that in this year every acre 
 produced five bushels, the crop would amount to 70,400 bushels, which with rabbits, 
 lizards, tuli roots, the fish of the river, the little wheat and pumpkins they can raise, and 
 the sale of hay, may give a precarious subsistence this year to the ten thousand Indians 
 for which the Government intends to make provision. 
 
 But not taking into consideration that many Indians do not relish mesquite beans, 
 the mesquite trees do not bear every year, and agriculture depends entirely on the cas 
 ual overflows of the river. Last year the crops of the Indians amounted to very little, 
 and if the river does not soon rise it will be the same this year. 
 
 The most humane and cheapest way to provide permanently for the Indians, and ed 
 ucate at least their rising generation to useful labors, would be, in my humble opinion, 
 that the Government not only give them the land between Halfway Bend and Corner 
 Rock, but also assist them in digging an irrigating canal from the Mesa toward Halfway 
 Bend. They would then become independent of the uncertain rise and fall of the river, 
 could raise regular crops, and would soon be able to sell a large surplus. 
 
 From Halfway Bend to the Mesa, I noticed at various points that the ground slopes 
 gently back from the bank of the river toward the valley. The best proofs of this are 
 the numerous sloughs. Ascending finally the Mesa and looking down the valley, I was 
 struck with the evident facility with which a canal could be dug to irrigate many thou 
 sand acres of the richest soil, barren only for want of moisture. 
 
 According to Lieutenant Ives's report the fall from the foot of the Mesa to Halfway 
 Bend is fifty-five feet, the distance by land twenty-seven miles. The foot of the Mesa 
 seems to have been destined by nature for the head of a canal. The river flows to this 
 point between hills of conglomerate, upon which freshets can make but little impression. 
 A few piles would make an efficient wing-dam. A belt of willow and ash trees should 
 protect the lower embankment for the first few miles. 
 
 At the foot of the Mesa I estimated the difference of level between the bottom of the 
 river and the top of its upper bank fourteen feet. 
 
 Following the natural level of the country, and giving one foot fall to the mile, which 
 is much for a large body of water, then, after fourteen miles of canal, all the land be 
 tween the canal and the river for the remaining thirteen miles could be irrigated. If the 
 
12 
 
 canal were at this point only two miles distant from the river, deducting one fifth for 
 sand land, 20 square miles, or 12,800 acres, up to Halfway Bend, could be irrigated. But 
 long before the canal has reached the first-mentioned point, sloughs could be filled, de 
 pressed flats overflowed by branch ditches, and many Indians could plant little patches 
 along the embankments of the canal while it is in progress of construction. 
 
 Taking, now, twenty square miles as a minimum of irrigable land at thirty bushels 
 of Indian corn per acre, they could produce 384,000 bushels ; and at twenty bushels of 
 wheat per acre, 256,000 bushels ; one third of which, even with the propensity of the 
 Indians to waste, would be more than sufficient for home consumption of ten thousand 
 souls, allowing to each of them, women, children, and babies included, five hundred 
 pounds of corn or grain. 
 
 How the canal should actually be laid out, how branch ditches and flood-gates have 
 to be constructed and distributed, what amount of earth the Indians have to remove, 
 what dimensions it should have what, finally, the cost of this canal would be, (proba 
 bly less than one hundred thousand dollars,) all this can only be ascertained by a sys 
 tematic survey of the valley for that special purpose. 
 
 Since for years accustomed in my profession to ascertain scientifically if the plans 
 conceived by practical men can be executed,! feel some reluctance in making estimates 
 before I have reduced them to a thorough scientific basis. The estimates of the amount 
 of land to be reclaimed from a desert, and its productiveness, are therefore rather 
 underrated. 
 
 The foregoing considerations have convinced me that the lands between Halfway 
 Bend and Corner Rock are not only suitable for a reservation, but, in my humble opinion, 
 are in every regard the best that could be selected in this section of Arizona. 
 
 The difference of level between Halfway Bend and La Paz is twenty-eight feet for a 
 distance of nine miles by land, so that the canal could easily be continued from Halfway 
 Bend to the foot of the valley, changing La Paz from " the city of the desert" to the city 
 of a terrestrial Eden of laughing gardens and waving grain fields. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 EADOLPHUS F. WALDEMAR, 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 Col. CHARLES D. POSTON, Superintendent Indian Affairs, La Paz, Arizona Territory. 
 
 Irrigating canals are essential to the prosperity of these Indians. Without 
 water there can be no production, no life ; and all they ask of you is to give 
 them a few agricultural implements to enable them to dig an irrigating canal 
 by which their lands may be watered and their fields irrigated, so that they 
 may enjoy the means of existence. You must provide these Indians with 
 the means of subsistence or they will take by robbery from those who have. 
 During the last year I have seen a number of these Indians starved to death 
 for want of food. They were eating the bark and leaves of trees, and also 
 the lizards, frogs, and snakes, so that it was impossible for me to procure any 
 
13 
 
 of the great natural curiosities of that country for the Smithsonian Institu 
 tion. It was a matter of profound regret that the natural history of Arizona 
 could not be illustrated in that depository of science; but the Starv 
 ing condition of the Indians forced them to consume the wonderful reptile 
 production of that country, which, had a better fate been reserved for them, 
 would have delighted my friend Professor Baird and the many visitors at 
 that fountain of science. 
 
 I was especially charged to examine and report upon the customs and hab 
 its of the grasshoppers or locusts of the western plains, to determine if they 
 were the locusts of Asia, their mode of procreation, subsequent length of 
 life, and many other interesting details ; but alas for the lights of science and 
 opportunity of grasshopper fame, these interesting insects had all disappeared 
 down the wide-spread gullets of my red children. The Indian policy that I 
 have the honor to present to you is simple and plain easily understood by 
 the Indians and not to be mistaken by the whites. We must have peace or 
 war with the Indians, and I propose to give them their choice. The Indians 
 that choose to be friendly with the Americans and one another will move 
 westward to the reservation selected for them on the Colorado river 
 and betake themselves to habits of industry and thrift. The Indians 
 that reject the proffered friendship must go eastward and mingle with 
 the barbarous Apaches and share their fate. It will then be easy to 
 draw the distinction between friendly and unfriendly Indians. No Amer 
 ican and no friend of civilization will disturb or be allowed to disturb 
 the friendly Indians engaged in the active pursuits of productive indus 
 try on the Colorado reservation. Here they will have a resting-place and a 
 home on the banks of the river they have bathed in since childhood, and with 
 the generous aid of the great Government whose hapless wards they are, will 
 soon become a self-sustaining people. They will learn the first great lesson 
 that by the sweat of their brows they shall earn their bread, and in due time 
 reap the reward that sweetens toil. ^BHMMlltibnQF 
 
 With an irrigating canal, the soil of the Colorado will become wonderfully 
 productive. In that latitude the sun is over-genial ; and the valley, not hav 
 ing an altitude of more than three hundred and fifty feet above the level of 
 the sea, possesses an immunity from snows and frosts, so destructive to crops 
 in more northern latitudes. There is no reason why the valley of the Colo 
 rado may not be made as productive as the valley of the Nile. In that tem 
 perature, it only needs the vivifying influence of water to make the produc 
 tions of nature spring up like magic. 
 
14 
 
 The system of irrigation is no new experiment ; it existed in Egypt before 
 the pyramids were born; it was practiced in Asia before Confucius wrote; 
 it was brought to great perfection by the Aztecs of America, when our ances 
 tors were dressed in skins and furs, and lived by the booty of the chase ; it is 
 scientific agriculture, and the only insurance against the uncertainties of a 
 crop. "With a proper system of irrigation, yon shall surely reap where you 
 sow ; yea, even twice or thrice per annum. The sediment of the Colorado 
 will plaster the walls of a canal and make them impermeable to water ; such 
 is the beautiful arcana of nature. On this river a lively commerce is already 
 springing up, and some half dozen steamboats plow its turbid waters. It is 
 navigable five hundred miles from its mouth, and its sources drain the Great 
 American Basin. The Indians will have a ready market for their surplus 
 . production at their very doors, and the friendly current of the Colorado will 
 bear it, tin taxed, to market. 
 
 It will be necessary for the Government to furnish the Indians with some 
 intelligent superintendence in opening their irrigating canal, and the neces 
 sary implements of husbandry and seeds to enable them to raise a crop. 
 Then let them work or starve ; but do not force them to starve or steal with 
 out first giving them a chance to labor. It is a cruel thing to force men 
 into a new civilization without preparing them for its duties. As the Amer 
 icans come into the country the wants of the Indians increase ; but with 
 out aid the means of satisfying these artificial wants are not commensu 
 rate. Without tools a man is helpless indeed. What would a man do with 
 out a knife, an ax, a hoe, a spade, or a shovel? He could make very little 
 progress in agriculture ; but tenfold is his power of production increased 
 with these simple implements of husbandry. Among these Indians, as well 
 as all primitive "people, the women are the " hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water," the very slaves of the lords of creation. It is only where the 
 light of Christianity and the spread of civilization illuminate the pathway 
 of a people that woman assumes a position " a little lower than the angels." 
 The Indian women have to work out their salvation in sweat and blood, 
 or, lacking food and clothing, flock around a military post like moths around 
 a candle. The dusky maidens of the Colorado are fast disappearing under 
 the influences of these debasing establishments of military power, and soon 
 their graceful forms and melodious voices will be only remembered in tra 
 dition and song. The disappearance of a people is a melancholy spectacle, 
 and bodes no good to us. The tide of civilization is bearing them to eter 
 nity with the same certainty that their native Colorado bears its sands to 
 
15 
 
 the sea. On what distant shore they will be stranded or saved is a mys 
 tery which they do not attempt to penetrate. The smoke of incineration 
 floats away on the breeze, and a few charred bones and smoldering ashes 
 are all that remain of the "human form divine." 
 
 Ireteba, the great chief of these Indians, was in Washington a year ago, 
 on a visit to the President and the army. He returned to his own country 
 much pleased with his visit to the Americans, lie told his tribe that it would 
 ^ be of no use to go to war against the Americans ; that they were a great peo 
 ple, against whom the Indians could never war [successfully. He made an 
 effective speech to them; and he and they agreed that, if the Americans 
 would deal with them fairly and justly, and provide them with the means of 
 existence, they would bury the scalps that they had taken from one another ; 
 they would bury the tomahawk, and would never strike an American again. 
 The responsibility now rests upon you. The Great Spirit, who deals alike 
 with the destinies of the red man and the white man, will judge between you. 
 In the long muster-roll of nations, which will be called after the echoes of 
 Gabriel's trumpet shall have died away, if it shall be found that you have 
 dealt fairly with your red brethren on this continent, you will stand before 
 the Dispenser of universal justice acquitted of crime. If, on the other hand 
 it shall be decided that your track across the continent has been a succession of 
 wrong, without an honorable effort at reparation, what terrible judgments 
 may be meted out to you ! We have always time to do justice, and to delay 
 it is a crime. Jt is especially a duty to render justice to the weak and the 
 helpless. Be merciful to the degenerate, for in the cycle of time our own 
 doom may come. 
 
 It is not alone for the Indians that I ask your generosity, however much 
 may be their due; but, looking far beyond the present moment, it must be appa 
 rent to every man who lifts his mind from the struggle of the hour and indulges 
 in a contemplation of the grand future of our country, that the settlement of 
 the aborigines of the mineral Territories in reservations must precede the active 
 and full development of the great treasures of the nation. It is to these great 
 mineral fields that the financiers of the Government and the world are now 
 * looking for relief from the financial embarrassments consequent upon a civil 
 war unprecedented in the history of nations. The idea of discounting or re 
 pudiating the national debt can never be indulged in for a moment while the 
 mountains west of the Sierra Madre are teeming with mineral wealth. In 
 4k order to allow scope and verge enough for our hardy and enterprising fron 
 
 tiersmen to prospect the mines of Arizona, it becomes necessary to have the 
 
16 
 
 Indians colonized in a reservalion,'so that a miner may know, when he meets 
 an Indian in a lonely gorge in the mountains, whether he is a friend or a foe. 
 Ifc scarcely becomes me to allude to the subject; but justice to the brave 
 and hardy pioneers who have risked their lives a thousand times to carry the 
 institutions of the American people into Arizona deserves a tribute at the 
 hands of their first Representative. No people have ever endured the hard 
 ships, dangers, and privations of those brave and adventurous men who left 
 the homes of their ancestors a thousand miles behind and penetrated the wil- 
 derness, sending its golden sands into the Gulf of California. 
 
 In the year 1824, Sylvester Pat-tie and his son James, from Bardstown, 
 Kentucky, with a party of about one hundred hardy and adventurous fron 
 tiersmen, set out upon a trapping expedition to the head waters of the Ar 
 kansas river. After many romantic adventures in New Mexico, the party 
 dispersed, and a few of the boldest spirits undertook to reach the Pacific 
 ocean. They spent one winter at the celebrated mines of Santa Eita del 
 Cobre, on the head waters of the Gila river, and the next spring trapped 
 down that river to its confluence with the Colorado. Here they embarked 
 their canoes on the turbid waters of the Colorado, and drifted down to the 
 Gulf of California, whence they crossed the peninsula to the Pacific ocean. 
 Here they were imprisoned by the Spanish commandant at San Diego, and, 
 after along and cruel confinement, the elder Pattie died in prison. 
 
 The oldest living trapper in Arizona at this day is old Pauline Weaver, from 
 "White county, Tennessee. His name is carved in the Casa Grande, near the 
 Pima villages, on the Gila river, under date of 1832. This old man has been 
 a peacemaker among the Indians for many years, and is now spending the 
 evening of his life in cultivating a little patch of land on the public domain 
 in the northern part of the Territory of Arizona, on a beautiful little stream 
 called the Hassiamp. 
 
 In the early settlement of our western country the pioneers formed the 
 advancing wave of civilization, and were generously sustained by the friends 
 and relations they had left behind ; but the pioneers of Arizona leaped be 
 yond the reach of succor and led the forlorn hope of civilization. Self-reliant 
 and full of manhood, they went forth to battle alone. And manfully they 
 bore themselves in the struggle, until overborne by the misfortunes which 
 have nearly enveloped the nation in ruin. Many of them had seen the glori 
 ous banner of our country carried to the tides of the Pacific ocean, where na 
 ture said to man : " Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." We had to turn 
 our course southward, and sought the unpeopled lands of Northern Mexico. 
 
17 
 
 The Government followed in the train of the people, and in a period of 
 great prosperity, when the Treasury was overflowing with gold, gave 
 $10,000,000 for what was called the Gadsden purchase. The people rushed 
 into the new " purchase" and soon the indomitable industry and energy of the 
 coming race was apparent in the discovery of mineral wealth and the estab 
 lishment of relations with the nearest commercial centres. The industry of 
 our people soon spread a beneficial influence in all Northern Mexico ; the In 
 dians were softening under the influence of civilization, and I wish the sequel 
 could be omitted. Would that Lethean waters could produce oblivion. In 
 less than sixty days after the demon of civil war had commenced his ravages 
 on this side the continent, the infant settlements of Arizona were abandoned 
 and the track of receding civilization was for the first time in the history of 
 this country turned eastward, marked in its reti'eat by new-made graves. For 
 two years the Territory remained a prey to anarchy. 
 
 At the end of that time, by the indefatigable efforts of a few fast friends, 
 a provisional government for the Territory was organized, and a staff of Fed 
 eral officers of more than ordinary ability and character were sent across 
 the plains to establish civil government in that remote region. In the over 
 whelming events of the great civil war impending, it was a grand moral 
 spectacle to see the Republic sending its agents to a remote and distant Ter 
 ritory to plant the banner of freedom on the ruins of a former civilization. 
 We are but repeating history in following the footsteps of the Aztecs from 
 their northern homes to Central Mexico. The civil officers sent out by the 
 President have discharged this duty, and discharged it well. 
 
 At a greater distance from this capital than any proconsul ever planted the 
 eagles of Rome from the imperial city they established the stars and stripes 
 of the Republic. In a beautiful lap of the mountains, where never white man 
 trod before, they located the capital of the Territory and named it in honor 
 - of the Aztec historian, Prescott. On this very spot there is an Indian mound 
 with the remains of an ancient fortification of the Montezumas, reminding 
 us forcibly of the mutations of time and the rise and decline of nations ; but 
 nowhere yet in ruins do we find a temple dedicated to the living God. Let 
 us take warning and lay deep the foundations of the Christian faith, not only 
 in the monuments of Christianity, but in the hearts of the people. 
 
 In that peaceful mountain home no sectional political differences rankle in 
 the heart. It was my good fortune on the last anniversary of our Independ 
 ence to assist in its celebration in that primitive capital. The people who 
 had borne the banner of freedom from Bunker hill to those distant moun- 
 
18 
 
 tains and the men who had escaped the horrors of war in the Old Dominion 
 joined in fraternal celebration of Independence day, and consecrated them 
 selves to the future prosperity of the Territory. And there in those ever 
 lasting mountains the genius of the American people will build a capital 
 which will rear its domes and spires to the heavens when " Time shall doubt 
 of Rome." 
 
 Such is the genius of American civilization. It may be impeded now by 
 the horrors of civil war, but the day is not far distant when it will overleap 
 the boundary of nations like an avalanche, and spread itself over Northern 
 Mexico. It is destiny, and it may be a duty to carry our institutions into 
 that country ; and God send the day when, as a united people, we may heal 
 the discords of civil war by joining the armies now engaged in fratricidal 
 strife to drive from this continent the fungus of European monarchy. I am 
 willing to join in paoans to universal emancipation for the sake of national 
 unity. "The nationality of the American people" is the motto upon which 
 I was sent into this House, and when it ceases I shall leave it without regret. 
 
 It is a source of extreme mortification that I am unable to present this 
 amendment with the approbation of the Committee of Ways and Means, but 
 it has not been possible to bring them to an estimate of the justness and im 
 portance of the measure. If the same economy pervades every branch of 
 the administration of the Government, the tax-payers will have no cause of 
 complaint. We have neither military protection, mail facilities, nor any of 
 the fostering cares of Government ; but we prefer rather to indulge in pleas 
 ant hopes of the future than unworthy complaint. The Pacific States and 
 Territories are rich in wealth, filling up rapidly with an indomitable popula 
 tion, and "by-and-by will grow a little stronger." Confiden^ in strength and 
 hopeful of the future, we are willing to " bide our time/' With five hundred 
 thousand square miles of mineral lands, we do not despair. With a climate 
 surpassing any other part of the continent, and perhaps of the world, we 
 shall " multiply and replenish the earth." 
 
 No Alpine top nor Apennine valley is waked to industry by a brighter sun 
 light than bathes the mountains and valleys of Arizona. It is the land of the 
 olive and the vine. The pearls of the Orient were not richer in purity and 
 value than those of the sea of Cortez. The gold of Ophir was not so abundant 
 as that which awaits the hand of industry in our pregnant mountains. The 
 " planchas de Plata" are the richest silver mines known to history. We are 
 the children of your loins ; give us sympathy. We are brethren of the same 
 family ; give us help. Nurture us, strengthen us, raise us up to dignity, and 
 
19 
 
 in a few short years we shall come to add another block to this grand mosaic 
 temple of freedom which we hope will endure to the remotest ages. 
 
 The uniform courtesy and kindness with which the Delegates from the 
 remote Territories are received in this capital inspires the most grateful 
 emotions. 
 
 As this is the first occasion on which I have presumed to occupy the valu 
 able time of the House, accept my sincere thanks for your kind attention. 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. 1 am sorry to be obliged to object to the proposition of 
 the gentleman from Arizona, [Mr. POSTON,] who represents a very worthy 
 'Territory. An application for an appropriation of this kind was made to the 
 Oommittee of Ways and Means, who, on examining the matter, thought such 
 an appropriation a little premature. There have been as yet no treaties with 
 the Indians under which appropriation should be made. We found there 
 were some four or five thousand very excellent white men in the Territory, 
 and that the remainder were Indians ; and we made such appropriations, 
 which have already passed here, as were necessary for the proper organiza 
 tion of the Territory. We did not think it would be proper to organize this 
 great Indian system at this time. We thought that it would be better for us 
 to wait until the whole matter can be fully considered and reported on by the 
 commission which we have already appointed for that purpose. The Com 
 mittee of Ways and Means were reluctant, on account of the eloquent gentle 
 man who represents the Territory, to reject these large appropriations, holding 
 them to be wholly disproportionate. 
 
 I move to strike out the gentleman's amendment, and insert the following 
 
 For increase of the salary of the territorial judges of Arizona, $1,000 each, $3,000. 
 
 Mr. WILSON. I ask whether this amendment is in order ; for it is cer 
 tainly not germane to the amendment of the gentleman from Arizona. 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. I move to strike out the amendment of the gentleman 
 from Arizona, and to insert my amendment instead of it. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. The Chair overrules the point of order. 
 
 Mr. WILSON. I desire to say one word in reply to the gentleman from 
 Pennsylvania who made the declaration that there is no provision of treaty 
 for these Indians. I remember well, when the Indian appropriation bill was 
 under discussion a few days since, that we were told by gentlemen that appro 
 priations were necessary for certain tribes of Indians in Oregon and Wash- 
 
20 
 
 ington because there were no treaties with them. Now, if it were a good 
 reason to make appropriations for the Indians of Oregon and Washington 
 that there had been no treaties made with them, I do not see why the same 
 reason may not be urged in the case of Arizona. I do not know whether the 
 sum is too large or too small ; but I do know that the same reason which car 
 ried the appropriation for the Indians of Washington and Oregon ought to 
 induce the adoption of the appropaiation for Arizona. 
 
 Mr. STEVENS. I withdraw my amendment. 
 
 Mr. WILSON. I move to reduce the appropriation to $100,000. 
 
 Mr. POSTON. I accept that as a modification of my amendment. 
 
 The question recurred on Mr. POSTOS'S amendment, as modified. 
 The committee divided; and there wero ayes 54, noes 43. 
 So the amendment was adopted.