"Where does he live?"
"In the sky."
"What does he sit on?"
In their domestic relations they have a system thousands of years older
than the Edmunds Act, which works to suit them, and fills the
requirements of satisfied nationalities. The old men said the marriage
system had given them more trouble than anything else, and they finally
abandoned all laws to the laws of nature. The young people were allowed
to mate by natural selection, and if they were not satisfied they could
"swap."
In after years, when I was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, I selected
a stalwart Pima named Luis, who was proud of his acquirements in the
English language, and gave him a uniform, sword, and epaulettes about
the size of a saucer, to stand guard in front of my quarters.
One day I came out and found Luis walking with an ununiformed Pima, with
their arms around each other's waists, according to their custom. I
inquired, "Luis, who is that?"
"That is my brother-in-law."
"Did you marry his sister?"
"No."
"Did he marry your sister?"
"No."
"Then how is he your brother-in-law?"
"We swapped wives."
Among the Pimas there is no incentive to avarice, and the accumulation
of large personal fortunes. When a Pima dies, most of his personal
property, that is, house and household belongings, which he had used
during life, is committed to the flames as a sanitary measure, and
whatever he may have left of personal property is divided among the
tribe.
The dead are buried in the ground in silence, and you can never get the
Pimas to pronounce the name of a dead man. The Pimas have many customs
resembling the Jews, especially the periodical seclusion of women.
The Apaches have robbed them time immemorial, and they in turn make
frequent campaigns against the Apaches. When they return from such a
campaign, if they have shed blood they paint their faces black, and
seclude themselves from the women. If they have not shed blood they
paint their faces white, and enter the joys of matrimony.
The Pima handiwork in earthenware, horsehair, bridle reins, ropes, and
domestic utensils, is remarkably ingenious. They formerly cultivated
cotton and manufactured cotton cloth of a very strong quality. The men
understood spinning and weaving, and passed the winter in this
industrial pursuit.
Their subsistence is wheat, corn, melons, pumpkins, vegetables, and the
wild fruits. They have herds of cattle, plenty of horses, and great
quantities of poultry.
The Americans are indebted to the Pima Indians for provisions furnished
the California emigration, and for supplies for the early overland
stages, besides their faithful and unwavering friendship.
The habitations of these prehistoric people form the most unique of all
the anomalous dwellings of Arizona, and a more minute investigation than
has hitherto been made will show the earliest habitations of man. There
are similar edifices in Egypt and India, but they are mostly temples.
These Arizona cliff dwellings are the only edifices of the kind that are
known to have been inhabited by mankind. They exist mostly in the
mountains in the northern portion of Arizona. A more ancient race,
still, lived in the excavations on the sides of the mountains, prepared,
no doubt, as a refuge against enemies.
At the time of our first exploration (1854) there was virtually no
civilized population in the recently acquired territory. The old pueblo
of Tucson contained probably three hundred Mexicans, Indians, and half
breeds. The Pima Indians on the Gila River numbered from seven to ten
thousand, and were the only producing population. We could not explore
the country north of the Gila River, because of the Apaches, who then
numbered fully twenty thousand. For three hundred years they have killed
Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans, which makes about the longest
continuous war on record.
It was impossible to remain with a considerable number of men in a
country destitute of sustenance; so we followed the Gila River down to
its junction with the Colorado, and camped on the bank opposite Fort
Yuma, glad to be again in sight of the American flag. The commanding
officer, Major--afterwards General--Heintzelman, issued the regulation
allowance of emigrant rations, which were very grateful to men who had
been living for some time without what are usually called the
necessaries of life. Fort Yuma was established in 1851, to suppress the
Indians on the Colorado, and to protect emigrants at the crossing.
It was apparent that the junction of the Gila and Colorado must be the
seaport of the new territory.
The Colorado was supposed to be navigable nearly seven hundred miles,
and steamboats were already at Yuma transporting supplies for the post.
By the treaty with Mexico of 1848 the boundary line was established from
the mouth of the Rio Grande northwardly to the headwaters of the Gila
River, thence along the channel of the Gila River to its confluence with
the Colorado. The treaty then says: "From a point at the confluence of
the Gila and Colorado rivers, westerly to a point on the Pacific Ocean
six miles south of the southernmost point of the Bay of San Diego."
As the geography of the country was not well understood at the time, it
was not presumably known to the makers of the treaty that the boundary
line would include both banks of the Colorado River in the American
boundary, but it does. By a curious turn in the Colorado River, after
passing through the gorge between Fort Yuma and the opposite bank, the
boundary line of the United States includes both banks of the River to
the crossing at Pilot Knob, nearly nine miles. When the State of
California was organized in 1850, the constitution adopted the boundary
line of the State, and consequently assumed jurisdiction over the slip
of land on the bank of the Colorado opposite Fort Yuma. When Fort Yuma
was established, the commanding officer established a military
reservation, including both banks of the Colorado River at its junction
with the Gila.
The boundary line between Mexico and the United States, under the treaty
of 1848, was run in 1850, and monuments erected on the southern bank of
the Colorado, to indicate the possession of the United States.
While we were encamped on the banks of the Colorado River, in the hot
month of July, 1854, we concluded to locate a town-site on the slip of
land opposite Fort Yuma, and as we were well provided with treaties,
maps, surveying instruments, and stationery, there was not much
difficulty in making the location. The actual survey showed 936 acres
within the slip, and this was quite large enough for a "town-site." A
town-site is generally the first evidence of American civilization.
After locating the town-site at Yuma there was nothing to do but to
cross the desert from the Colorado River to San Diego. We made the
journey on mules, with extraordinary discomfort. At San Diego we were as
much rejoiced as the followers of Xenophon to see the sea.
The town-site was duly registered in San Diego, which could not have
been done if both banks of the Colorado just below its junction with the
Gila had not been recognized as being within the jurisdiction of the
State of California. The county of San Diego collected taxes there for
many years. After the organization of the Territory of Arizona in 1863,
Arizona assumed jurisdiction over the slip, and built a prison there.
Congress subsequently made a grant of land included in the slip to the
"Village of Yuma," so that it is a mere question of jurisdiction, not
involving the validity of any titles. The question of jurisdiction still
remains unsettled, as it requires both an Act of Congress and Act of the
State Legislature to change the boundaries of a sovereign State.
The town-site of Yuma has grown slowly, but there will be a town there
as long as the two rivers flow. The Southern Pacific Railroad was
completed years ago, and forms the great artery of commerce. Immigration
enterprises of great magnitude have been undertaken with the waters of
the Colorado River. The river washes fully three hundred thousand square
miles, and furnishes a water power in the cataracts of the Grand Cañon
only second to Niagara.
"At Yuma, on the Colorado River, the only attempt at irrigation so far
made is by pumping works, which raise the water from the river and
convey it in pipes to the lands to be watered. While thus far only a
limited area is watered by this method, the results are satisfactory,
and the expense no greater than in many of the pipe systems of
California.
"But for the magnitude, scope, and the boldness of its purpose, the
project to irrigate the great Colorado Desert is without a parallel in
the arid West, if in the world.
"This undertaking contemplates the construction of gravity canals from a
point in the Colorado River, several miles above Yuma, and the
conducting of the waters of this river over an arid waste, that, while
forbidding in appearance, is known to be capable of great fertility. One
interesting feature of this plan to reclaim the desert is found in the
character of the water to be utilized. Analysis shows that the water of
the Colorado River carries a larger percentage of sedimentary deposit
than any other river in the world, not excepting the Nile. The same is
true, in a relative degree, of all the other rivers in Arizona. By
constant use of these waters the soil not only receives the reviving
benefits of irrigation, but at the same time a very considerable amount
of fertilizing material.
"The beneficial results thus made possible have already been practically
demonstrated, and what may be achieved by the proposed reclamation of a
vast area, with peculiar advantages of climate and environment, is one
of the most significant suggestions conceivable in connection with the
new era of irrigation.
"The storage of water by reservoirs for irrigation purposes has thus far
been one of the untried problems in Arizona. But the possibilities in
this section are equal to any section of the arid West, and because of
the stability and certainty of this method, it is only a question of
time when it will be carried into practical force."[B]
In the progress of civilization, Fort Yuma has given way to an Indian
school, where the dusky denizens of the Colorado are progressing in
learning.
After concluding our business in San Diego, we took the steamer for San
Francisco, and laid the result of the reconnaissance (which was not
much) before the "Syndicate." We had an audience with the commanding
officer of the Pacific, and procured a recommendation to the Secretary
of War for an exploration of the Colorado River. This was subsequently
accomplished with beneficial results,--at least for information. In San
Francisco it was decided that I should proceed to Washington, for the
purpose of soliciting assistance of the Federal Government in opening
the new Territory for settlement, and the voyage was made _via_ Panama.
* * * * *