It was a sad blow to the settlement when the Merrill company departed, in
August, 1877, leaving only the Jones, Biggs, Rogers and Turley families.
Nearly all the teams available went with the Merrills, thus delaying
completion of the canal, which at that time had reached the settlement.
The fort also was left in an incomplete state. The few left behind mainly
were employed by Chas. T. Hayden of Tempe, who was described as, "so very
kind to the brethren and their families, giving them work and furnishing
them with means in advance, on credit, so that they might subsist."
A very interesting item in a letter written by Jones is:
"This country is so productive and easy of cultivation, but,
notwithstanding, this colony was too poor at seed time to buy a common
plow. From present prospects, we hope to be able to save up and have
enough for seed and plow the coming season. You speak of the ancient
Egyptians using a crooked stick for plowing; if you will call down here
soon, we can show you some 300 acres of good wheat patch plowed by our
colony with a crooked stick plow, without so much as a ram's horn point."
Probably Jones included a part of the holdings of his Indian wards in
this demonstration of primeval agriculture. For years following the
advent of the white man, the Pima Indians habitually plowed by means of a
crooked mesquite stick, connected by a rope to a pole, tied firmly across
the horns of a couple of oxen.
Whatever the dissension between Jones and the other pioneers, he appeared
at all times to have been popular with his Indian wards. This is
evidenced by the fact that to the north of Lehi is a thriving Pima-Papago
Mormon settlement, known as Papago ward. Dan P. Jones followed his father
in its administration. A few years ago it had a population of 590
Indians, mainly Pimas, and of four white families, headed by Geo. F.
Tiffany, with an Indian counselor, Incarnacion Valenzuela. This counselor
has been described by Historian Jenson as "one of the most intelligent
Indians I have ever met. He speaks Spanish fluently, as well as the
Papago and Pima language; he also understands English, but does not like
to speak it." Henry C. Rogers also was a successful Indian missionary.
Tiffany's son now is in charge of the Lehi Indians.
Besides the Indians directly belonging to the ward, is a record of 1500
baptized Mormon Indians, mainly Papago, in the desert region to the
southward, as far as the Mexican line.
Sunday schools and meetings are held in the Papago ward schoolhouse,
built a few years ago. The Indians farm and raise stock; some of them
live in good houses and all are learning the habits and ways of their
neighbors, who have been their friends from the beginning.
Jones was charged by the people of Phoenix and Tempe with protection of
Indians who had trespassed upon crops. He was warned by the Indian agent
at Sacaton that he must cease his proselyting, a warning he calmly
ignored. He seemed to have had assistance generally from the military
authorities at Camp McDowell, about fifteen miles northward, for a time
commanded by Capt. Adna R. Chaffee, Sixth Cavalry. Trouble was known with
Pima Indians, who lived across the river, where they had been placed a
few years before by Tempe settlers, as a possible buffer against Apache
raids. This reservation's extension cost Lehi several sections of land.
Altogether, Jones' life in the Salt River Valley was not an easy one.
Finally he joined a community in northern Tonto Basin, where his wife and
youngest child were killed by accident. After that he moved to Tempe.
Thereafter he went to Mexico, where he had mining experience. In the
winter of 1884, he helped Erastus Snow and Samuel H. Hill to cross the
border at El Paso. His latter days mainly were spent in Utah and
California. Early in 1915 he returned to Arizona. His death occurred
April 20 of that year, at the Mesa home of a son. His life work is well
set out in a book written by himself and published in 1890. The
descendants of the sturdy old pioneer are many in southern Arizona and
numbers of them have occupied responsible office with credit. A son, Dan.
P. Jones of Mesa, is a member of the current Legislature. Other sons and
grandsons have been prominent especially in educational work.