Slike strani
PDF
ePub

lars per day, and that the pay of the United States Grand Jurors be increased to eight dollars per day.

The salaries received by the officials of the new territory are not set forth in the organic act but as that act expressly adopted all the terms and provisions of the organic act of New Mexico not inconsistent with the provisions of the organic act of Arizona, the salaries of the officials of Arizona were fixed by New Mexico's act in 1850, and were as follows:

Governor, $1,500 per annum; Secretary, $1,800 per annum; Attorney, $250 per annum; Marshal, $200 per annum and fees, and three justices of the Supreme Court at $1,800 each. The members of the Legislature were to hold annual sessions of 40 days, at a compensation of three dollars for each member, and mileage at the rate of three dollars for 20 miles. In 1854 the salary of the Governor was increased to $3,000, and that of the judges by $500.

The Legislature also memorialized Congress asking that an appropriation of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the placing of the Indians of the Colorado on a reservation, be made, such Indians being the Yavapais, Hualapais, Mohaves and Yumas, numbering about ten thousand, who, the memorial recited, were 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 Verde River on the east; that these Indians were roaming at large over the vast territory described, gaining a precarious subsistence from the small patches of land along the Colorado River, which they cultivated, and from fishing

and hunting; that when the seasons were unfavorable to their little farming interests, or the Colorado did not overflow to irrigate and enrich their fields, they were reduced to a starving condition, and compelled by necessity to make raids upon the stock and property of the whites, and not infrequently did they ambush the traveler and miner, and waylay and stampede the stock of trains and plunder their packs and wagons.

Congress was also memorialized for an appropriation of $250,000 for the organization of volunteers or rangers in the Territory, to aid in the war against the Apaches, and also for an appropriation of $150,000 for the improvement of the navigation of the Colorado River from Yuma to the mouth of the Virgin River, from which latter point, the memorial recited, there was a fine natural road, a distance of only three hundred and fifty miles to Salt Lake City, and that by this route the Government, as well as private transportation could be furnished in a much shorter time, and at less cost, than by any other route; that if the navigation of the river were improved, it would accommodate the general Government, and greatly increase and hasten the development of the vast mineral and other resources of the Territory.

CHAPTER VII.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TREATMENT OF

ARIZONA.

CONGRESS DISREGARDS APPEALS OF ARIZONA FOR AID SYLVESTER MOWRY'S PROTEST AGAINST GOVERNMENT TAKING OVER MINES JUDGE HOWELL'S LETTERS-NAVIGATION OF COLORADO RIVER-ACTIVITIES OF DELEGATE CHAS. D. POSTON IN CONGRESS HIS SPEECH IN CONGRESS.

It shows how utterly regardless Congress was of the needs of Arizona when it is stated that none of the memorials set forth in the preceding chapter were acted upon. It was right that the per diem of members of the Legislature should be increased, because three dollars a day in currency did not pay their board in Prescott at that time. Board alone, without room rent, was from fifteen to twenty dollars in gold per week, and the increase in the salaries of the officers asked for was certainly not exorbitant.

The gathering in of the Indians along the Colorado River upon one reservation where they could be protected from the aggressions of the whites, and which would have afforded the whites protection against the raids of the Indians, was certainly something which Congress should have acted upon immediately, for while Congress set aside seventy-five thousand acres on the Colorado for an Indian Reservation, it made no provision whatever, so far as I can find, for a survey, the digging of canals for irrigating and the settlement of the Indians upon the reservation, consequently, for all practical purposes the

setting aside of the land was useless. The Indians were left to roam at will over their former territory, and, being without means of subsistence, were compelled to prey upon their white neighbors, which resulted in the uprising of what Carleton called the peaceful tribes and the inauguration of a war which for ferocity and brutality is not paralleled by the war which ended in the subjugation of the Apaches, and lasted for at least ten years until they were finally conquered by General Crook and placed upon the reservations. Had Congress acted upon the advice of Arizona's delegate, thousands of lives would have been saved and millions of dollars worth of property have been preserved to the white settlers and that part of the country would have been more rapid in its development.

The exploration of the Colorado River by Lieut. Ives was undertaken by the Government to ascertain if a feasible route could not be found by which Salt Lake City could draw her supplies from the head waters of the Colorado. This was demonstrated, and the town of Callville, near the Virgin River, was established, and was a forwarding point into Salt Lake City for many years, but Congress would appropriate no money to improve the navigation of the Colorado River, nor did it act upon the petition asking for an appropriation of $250,000 to aid in subduing the Apaches, notwithstanding at this time the United States troops were practically withdrawn from the Territory, and the defense of their homes and holdings was left almost entirely in the hands of the settlers.

It will be seen by the correspondence of General Carleton that he advised the taking over of

mining properties in Arizona and New Mexico by the government, and leasing them to operators, and also, by the Governor's message, that he advised the Legislature to enact a law that any prospector who discovered a mining property, should locate a claim adjoining the discovery claim for the Territory, this claim to be sold and a sum accumulated therefrom for the raising of militia to operate against the Apaches. At that time there was a good deal of discussion over this matter in Congress, probably arising from the letters of General Carleton.

Sylvester Mowry, in a letter to the New York World, under date of April 25th, 1864, says that: "In July, 1863, the President of the United States directed the United States Marshal for the Northern District of California to take possession of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine. General Wright, commanding the Department of the Pacific, was ordered to furnish troops to enforce the seizure. The Marshal and the troops proceeded on their errand, and found the mine fortified against attack. Did they seize the mine? By no means. The excitement throughout the State was intense. The present Governor, F. F. Low, leading bankers, merchants and capitalists, telegraphed to Washington, 'For God's sake, withdraw the order to seize the New Almaden, or there will be a revolution in the state,' and the President of the United States recalled the order."

In the same letter Mr. Mowry says: "A resolution has been introduced in the House of Representatives authorizing the President of the United States to take possession of the mines of Colorado and Arizona. Various other propo

« PrejšnjaNaprej »