BANCROFT LIBRARY <> THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENCE AND PROGRESS. AN ORATION DELIVERED AT C O T T , A Tl I Z O 1S T A JUXiIT 4th, HON. RICHARD C. McCORMICK, SECRETARY OF THE TERRITORY. |rescott: OFFICE OF THE ARIZONA MINER 1864. O INDEPENDENCE AND PROGRESS. AN ORATION DELIVERED AT P R K H C O T T , A. B 1 Z O N ^ , JULY 4th, 1864, BY HON. RICHARD C MoO ORM I K, SECRETARY OF TH ^ r e s c o 1 1 ; OFFICE OF THE ARIZONA MINER 1864. pen THE FOURTH OF JULY IN PRESCOTT. FROM THE "ARIZONA MINER," JUNE 22d, 1864. At a meeting of the citizens of Granite Creek and vicinity, held May 30th, to take measures for the disposition of lots in the proposed town of Prescott, Mr. Charles M. Dorman presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously approved, viz : RESOLVED, That a Mass Meeting be held at Prescott, on Monday, July 4th, 1864, at noon, to celebrate the 88th anniversary of American Independence, and pro- perly to inaugurate the new town, a fresh evidence of American progress and prosperity. RESOLVED, That His Excellency Governor Goodwin, be invited to preside on the occasion. RESOLVED, That the Hon Richard C. McCormick, Secretary of the Territory, be invited to deliver an oration. RESOLVED, That John L. Forbes, James G. Barney, John Howard, Dr. T. P. Seeley, and Dr. James Garvin, be a committee to make all necessary arrange- ments for the meeting. Adjourned. - ROBERT W. GROOM, President. T. A. HAND, Secretary. THE FOURTH OF JULY IN PKESCOTT. FROM THE " ARIZONA MINER," JULY 6, 1864. The first celebration of the Fourth of July in Prescott, was general and hearty. It is estimated that four hundred persons were in town during the day and even- ing. Lynx Creek, the Lower Hassayampa, and Weaver, were well represented. The public proceedings, according to the following programme, passed off pleas- antly, and to the apparent satisfaction of all : 1776 1864 FOURTH OF JULY AND INAUGURATION CELEBRA- TION AT PRESCOTT; VAN C. SMITH, ESQ., Marshal of the day. ORDER OF EXERCISES. The flag will be hoisted at daybreak. The Fort Whipple garrison, commanded by Major E. B. WILLIS, will be reviewed on the Plaza, at 9 o'clock, A. M., by His Excellency, GOVERNOR GOODWIN. At 12 M., a mass meeting of the citizens will be held on the Plaza. Governor Goodwin will preside. Prayer by REV. H. W. READ. Music, by L. B. JEWELL, " The Star Spangled Banner." The Declaration will be read by HON. ALMON GAGE, U. S. Dis't Attorney. MUSIC, " The Grave of Washington." Oration, by the HON. RICHAUD C. McCORMICK, Secretary of the Territory. MUSIC, " The Battle Cry of Freedom." At the close of the Exercises a National Salute will be fired. By order of the Committee. The troops made an excellent appearance, and after the review, a majority of them returned to the public meeting. At noon the Governor, Secretary and others appeared upon the platform, which had been tastefully erected between two stalwart pines, on the south-east corner of the plaza. They were loudly cheered. Mr. McCormick's address dwelt upon the duty of the patriot citizen to the Republic at this important hour in its history, and upon the necessity of carefully laying the foundations of our new and wealthy Territory. On motion of Hon. Almon Gage, a copy was, by unanimous vote, requested for publication. ORATION, FELLOW CITIZENS. We are assembled for a double purpose. We have come from the placer and the lode, from the camp and the cabin, from the exploration and the chase, to commemmorate, as all Americans should, the anniversary of our National Independ- ence ; and to inaugurate a new town in a new territory. These ends may be combined with harmony and propriety. It is from the national independence, achieved for us by the heroes of 1776, that we have the freedom and prosperity of 1864. The form of government which they secured by their unparal- leled courage and endurance, has guaranteed to us a country unequalled in its growth and success. History has no like in- stance of rapid expansion in domain and power, and the world is amazed that in the hottest hour of a civil war of gigantic proportions, the Republic is quietly multiplying states and achieving victories of peace, " No less renown'd than war.'' In fewer than an hundred years, our brilliant banner has ac- cumulated stars to its azure field, the emblems of distinct yet united sovereignties, until to-day nearly two-score are cluster- ing there, the glory of every loyal heart. The action of our patriot ancestors, and the principles for which they contended, and to which we owe the magnificent development of the nation, should be our especial study and pride. The American Revolution has justly been styled, not 6 only one of the most important but one of the most interesting events in the history of the world. " The movement of the Colonists was the furthest possible from a sudden outburst of popular passion. It had nothing of the temper, or purposes, or unrestrained impulses, or wild excesses of a mob. It pre- served throughout the war the order, the system, the conser- vatism of loyalty to law and organized civic institutions. It proposed, it is true, an overthrow of government, but it set up another and better government, before it started to pull down the old. It proposed armed and violent resistance to English rule, but it resisted in the name and by the authority of pub- lic law regularly enacted."* In your resolutions proposing with the celebration of the day, the proper inauguration of this new town, the latter is pro- nounced " a fresh evidence of American progress and pros- perity." Such it is in the broadest and happiest sense. The location, the surveying, and the upbuilding of a town in this newest portion of Arizona, this remote and hitherto unknown region, where the white man ventured less than a twelve month since, and where even now the howl of the wolf and the mi- micking Apache are heard by night, is an indication of enter- prise which on the part of any other people, or under any other government, would be accounted remarkable. But to the American, the American of the far west, it is but a natural advance, a proper progression. Webster, addressing a mass of citizens at Bunker Hill, found that they were press, ing too hard upon the platform, when he requested them to fall back. " We cannot," shouted a voice from the crowd, " You can," responded the earnest orator, " on Bunker Hill noth- ing is impossible." The American will, restless and resolute, hath declared that in the Rocky Mountains and upon the Pacific coast nothing is impossible. In less than a decade of hurried years, countless acres, before untrodden by the whites, have been wrought into stalwart and busy states. Nebraska, Colo- *J. G. Baldwin. rado and Nevada, our elder sisters, lately granted admission to the federal circle, were less than ten years since, the undis- turbed home of the savage and his game. He who had trav- ersed their rivers and mountains was accounted a venturesome explorer, and one who had penetrated beyond the bounds of civilization. Arizona, youngest of the Territories, organized under mani- fold disadvantages, and depreciated by many, is to be the theatre of marked and surprising progress. The red-man dis- posed to accept civilisation within her borders, as an inevitable consequence of the age, will be spared to witness its miracu- lous march, but where determined, in his blindness, to oppose it by his rude force, he will be swept away as a straw; A few short years of perilous life will end his existence, even here in his final fastnesses. The active steps" of the civil and military authorities, and of the indomitable hunters for gold, will not longer admit of his hostile attitude. He must yield to the pale face and his laws or be extirpated. The present formidable military campaign against the Apache, skillfully planned by General Carleton, and intrusted to intrepid officers, is an en- couraging evidence of the determination of the government to open and keep open this marvellously rich country. Whatever our estimate of the course of the present administration in other matters, it deserves our grateful acknowledgments for its re- cognition, its organization, and its protection of a valuable terri- tory which previous administrations had refused to aid, even in more prosperous times. And in this connection it must be ap- parent to all that it is to our interest, no less than our duty, come from where we may and whatever our prejudices of edu- cation or association, to firmly uphold, not as politicians but as patriots, the central government. Our present strength is in its fostering hand, our future glory depends upon our connec- tion with it. Now more than ever before may we realize the force and wisdom of the prediction of Washington : " It is only in our united character, as an empire, that our independence is acknowledged, that our power can be regarded, or our credit supported, among foreign nations." 8 An apt and forcible illustration of the sagacity of this warn- ing comes to us at this time. No one that discerns the motives by which the European nations are commonly actuated, can doubt, for a moment, that if the United States were at peace, and in the full possession of all its powers and able to exert them at will, that the nations which have interfered in Mexico would have withheld their hands. But taking advantage of our situation, like burglars who assail an undefended house when the neighbors are absent or the police off their guard, they pounce upon distracted and enfeebled Mexico with impunity. The London Times, in that high style which always covers its truculence and falsehood, announces that " the country and capital of an American State have been transformed from a re- public to a monarchy," that " a prince from one of the reigning houses of Europe has been introduced," and so on, because Mexico was a miserable shipwreck to be appropriated by the first comer. But the Paris ConstUutionnel does not scruple to divulge the real object, which is nothing less than to put an end to the colossal strides of the grand republic of the North. " Half the territory," it exclaims, " was the sure and speedy con- quest of the United States." Temporarily, because of our unfortunate domestic troubles, we must submit to the humiliation, but the late news from the seat of war indicates that our grand armies will soon be out of employment. Who in Arizona will not rejoice to have their bayonets turned towards the speedy expulsion of the hirelings of Napoleon from the soil of our sister republic, and who but that keenly regrets that forgetting the warning of Washington, we have at any time been unable to give them that direction. We want no monarchy in Mexico, and if her states are to be sundered, a first choice should be ours for reasons too numer- ous to enumerate, but obvious to every American, and ample for our justification. Fellow citizens. Let us see to it that our Territory contributes at all times, as best she may, to the unity and prosperity of the government whose foundations were laid by Washington and his unselfish co-workers. Undreamt of by him, (when urging attention to agriculture and commerce, he exclaimed " within our territories there are no mines either of gold or silver,") we have the precious metals in unbounded profusion. By their unearthing we may keep the national treasury from depletion, nay more, we may dispel the national debt as a cob-web, and in so doing but add to our own prosperity. We may afford the Republic a support even more valuable. By an elevated and unflinching patriotism, by an exalted integrity, by a cordial encouragement of the institutions of education, of law, and of religion, we may here erect a state whose influence for good shall be wide and enduring. The expectation of success without toil, is perhaps the chief cause of the pioneers too frequent lapse into vicious and unprofitable ways. " Idleness is the nurse of sin." Labor is essential to success even in the best mineral regions. Were men willing to work here as at their former homes, they would not only, in nine cases out of ten, meet a good reward, but also be contented and happy. Bancroft LitSrary A disposition on the part of many, who cannot be called idlers, to wander about, forgetting the old adage that " a rolling stone gathers no moss " is a fruitful source of injury to a mineral district. Striking a rich placer or finding a promising lode these men are not content, but must look further. We have those here who beginning at Pike's Peak have abandoned excel- lent interests there, and in Nevada and California have literally run away from fortune, as they are likely to do here. Mining is at best an irksome pursuit, but where systematically and faithfully pursued it is almost certain to yield a handsome remuneration. Again, let us remember that though in the wildest of wild countries, aloof from the restraints of society, and the influences of refinement, we have nothing to gain by leading wild and 10 undisciplined lives. Although the smile of woman may not cheer our daily toil and sweeten our mountain homes, we have in the dainty works of nature much to soften and profitably to engage the mind. " If thou art worn and hard beset With sorrows that thou wouldst forget, If thou wouldst read a lesson that will keep Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep. Go to the woods and hills ! No tears Dim the sweet look that nature wears." In passing through the miners' cabins I have been pleased to see the presence of beautiful flowers culled and arranged with taste. Our hills and valleys abound in them and nothing is more tenderly suggestive of the cultivated homes we have left behind, or of the gentle hands that, in memory, are constantly entwining garlands of unfading love for us. Incidentally I have referred to the immense resources of our new country. They deserve especial mention, the more from the fact that Arizona has too frequently been called a desert. The explorations of the present year have brought to light and occupancy districts of rare value. Adding the now known resources of Northern and Central Arizona to those long developed below the Gila, and upon the Colorado, we have with many barren acres, as is common in all metallic countries, an extent of mineral, agricultural, pastoral and timbered lands, equal in the aggregate to the state of New York Of the mineral deposits it is enough to say that in gold, silver, copper and lead, no portion of the world is believed to be so rich. If a tithe of the lodes lately found yield as they promise, to say nothing of the old and confessedly rich mines, some of which were worked two centuries since, the return will be beyond calculation, and more than enough to confirm the reports of the early Jesuit explorers, of the marvellous wealth of the land to which Cortes came for gold, but where he did not overlook the importance cf agriculture. Nor must this branch of industry now be neglected. Without well tilled farms and gardens and their sustaining produce the best mineral country in the world were unsuited to permanent residence or success. The triumphs of the plow must go hand in hand with those of the pick and the rocker, the shaft and the mill. Of the agricultural lands of Arizona Bartlett says those of the river Salinas, " will alone supply food for a great state." Irrigation is not necessary in this region if the rains are as frequent as they have been during the present year, and in the southern districts where it is required, the rivers are large and regular in their flow. No finer wheat or corn is grown than that produced by some of our Indian tribes. The sun never shown upon a better grazing country than that of the numerous and beautiful valleys and hill sides in various parts of the Territory. The grasses are unsurpassed in their nutritious qualities, and furnish excellent pasturage at all seasons. The great pine forests of this region, and well timbered districts elsewhere, furnish an abundance of wood for building and other purposes. The scenery and climate in this locality beggar description. We may travel from the East to the West, and where shall we enjoy a landscape more picturesque and grand than that to-day surrounding us, or where at mid-summer, in a latitude so low, a temperature so delightful, so eminently conducive to the object of life : " For life is not to live, but to be well.'' From the bay of Naples I have admired the gorgeous skies of Italy. I have loitered upon the banks of the Bosphorus " In the glory of the sunset, In the purple mists of evening," but nowhere have I seen more magnificent combinations of sun and cloud than are to be seen from this new and charmingly located town. I have tested the most salubrious climates of Europe and Asia but I have not found the atmosphere so replete with 12 health giving properties as in this portion of Arizona. As you are aware, death from natural causes is almost unknown, and those who come here with disease soon throw their physic to the dogs. Such a country must be attractive, and a popular resort. Its resources make it important. Its chief deficiency a want of running water is not sufficient to prevent its early and extensive settlement, although it may at points retard placer mining. Moreover it is an historic land, and one of absorbing- interest, as the illustrious author whose name does honor to our capital town, and others skilled in research, have eloquently proven. On every side are the memorials of a people, whose rise and utter passing away, are prolific of suggestion and worthy the most careful contemplation- When Hernando Cortes, and his little band, sought the great Aztec monarch, Montezuma, and found him in the height of his grandeur, they were not bold enough, with all their presumption, to look for the early decay of that glory, and the ultimate extinction of the race whose attainments were their wonder. They did not realize in the bewildering glitter, the absence of those virtues and mental qualities which alone insure national as well as individual life : those elements of character which have given the Anglo-Saxon his long and controlling pro minence. The mouldering fragments of the Aztec empire, and indeed of its Spanish succession, bear to us an impressive lesson. They suggest a higher and nobler end than the accumulation of gold ; they protest against an abandonment to pleasure and sensuality. They indicate, in unmistakable language, the folly of founding institutions other than those which shall improve and strengthen with the lapse of ages ; which based upon sound principles, correct morals, and liberal intelligence shall rightly appropriate the wealth of these everlasting hills. Fortunately, by the act under which the Territory was recognized by the general government, the institution which has been the bane of the states, is allowed no footing here. 13 absence and that of its sister system, which has so seriously retarded the profitable working of the mines of Mexico, will give us the great advantage of free labor from the beginning, which, with unity of sentiment, and of action, attachment to country rather than to party, tenacity of will and integrity of purpose, must greatly contribute to our success. Our geographical position, though at present from a lack of roads, mails, and facilities for travel, apparently isolated and remote, is in fact central, and on the best highways from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. The inevitable continental railroad can follow no parallels more favorable for its economical construction and successful working than the 32d or 35th. The great river, which forming our western boundary from the Mojave country, sweeps southward to the Sea of Cortes, must, when rightly navigated, put us in good water communication with all the world. The physical difficulties and pecuniary perils that have embarrassed our pioneers are slowly yielding to energy, enter- prise and experience, but it is obvious that capital is requisite to the successful working of most of our mines, and every proper effort should be made to secure it. A broad and liberal policy with those who make investments here will prove the most profitable in the end. Every piece of machinery that is put up will add directly and measurably to the value of our mining property. Individual and selfish schemes should be ignored in a general endeavor to promote the public good. " In union there is strength." The axiom is no less applicable to our business than to our political relations, and knowing the value of our mines and the facilities for working them, we may invite co-operation in their development with confidence in the results. It is the opinion of those most competent to judge that there is no mining region where the prospect of realizing large returns from comparatively small investments, is so good. But while we extend a generous hand to capital let us also wakefully guard our rights, and the protection of our leading 14 interest. Some of the propositions regarding mineral lands, lately made in Congress and elsewhere, are both unwise and unjust. It were folly for the government to think of working the mines, or to attempt the imposition of an oppressive tax upon them. In a pecuniary as well as a political view the result must be the opposite of that desired. The experiment with the Galena Lead mines in 1835 is upon record as an illustration of the fact. Let mining property, like every other species of property, be taxed on the net proceeds, if necessary for the common good ; but let the imposition of the tax be made in accordance with common sense. The old Spanish mining ordinances the collective wisdom of three centuries gave to the mining interest every protection that could be desired ; free importation of machinery, quicksilver, all the aids to developing the mines, gave undisputed and rigidly protected tenure to the discovery and purchase of mines, and demanded in return for government aid a fixed royalty, or tax, payable at the assay offices in each district, established for that purpose. The Spanish law is certainly better than any yet proposed in Congress, but saving in this day of war and national necessity I should doubt the wisdom of any tax upon the mines. Rather let them be worked with all protection, and no incumbrance, and reap the national revenue from the actual wealth in property which they add to the country. A recent protest to Congress from California * against taxing the gross products of the mines exhibits the wisdom of a liberal policy on the part of the government : " Mining operations are from the beginning, laborious, tedious, costly, and extremely precarious. Of this the countless number of abandoned shafts and tunnels, and the numerous others wherein the unrewarded labor of years is vigorously continued, in the hope of ultimate success, afford the most conclusive evidence. Nothing but the liberal policy heretofore observed by government, respecting the working of mines, could stimulate By the Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco. 15 men to embark in such perilous enterprises. To that liberal policy may be justly attributed the peopling of vast territories belonging to the national domain, the organization of new states, the building of towns and cities, the aggrandizement of commerce, and the actual production of metallic currency sufficient to preserve the vitality of our national finances during a period of unprecedented trials." I have spoken of the encouragement of education. Schools of mining are projected in New York and San Francisco. They are much needed in the present condition of the country. The work of discovering, opening up and operating the immense mineral resoures of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope has been, and is almost entirely, in the hands of unscientific prospectors. There are many now within sound of my voice who have keenly felt the want of scientific insight and guidance, but it could not be had except to a very limited extent. The establishment of the schools proposed, and which are similar to those maintained by nearly every government of the old world, should be followed by the creation of a similar institution here, at the earliest practicable moment. " No science," says Watts, "is speedily learned by the noblest genius without tuition." If so much has been achieved here, without the light of science, how much more may we expect when we can command its varied powers of investigation. More- over, " science " in the words of Brewster, " has been, and ever must be, the safeguard of religion." Combined they will give to us not only a clear and profitable conception of the works of the Almighty as revealed in nature, but also incline us to a lively and constant faith in the divine plan for the redemption of the human family from the sins entailed by our first parents.