daylight. The Apaches ran confusedly about without their weapons; fifteen were killed and many guns, bows, and quivers were captured.
Blackwater. At the hill, Kâ’matûk, somewhat detached from the Sacatons on the northeast, a man was bitten by a rattlesnake and died.
At about the same time the Pimas killed an Apache who was known as Vakoa, Canteen, near the Superstition mountains.
1872–73
Gila Crossing, Salt River. For several years the Pimas had had little water to irrigate their fields and were beginning to suffer from actual want when the settlers on Salt river invited them to come to that valley. During this year a large party of Rso’tûk Pimas accepted the invitation and cleared fields along the river bottom south of their present location. Water was plentiful in the Salt and the first year's crop was the best that they had ever known. The motive of the Mormons on the Salt was not wholly disinterested, as they desired the Pimas to act as a buffer against the assaults of the Apaches, who were masters of the country to the north and east.[1]
Salt River. It was during this winter that the United States soldiers and the Pima, Maricopa, and Apache scouts surrounded the Superstition Mountain Apaches at the "Tanks" and rained bullets into their ranks until not a single man remained alive. "It was a sight long to be remembered," said Owl Ear, in narrating the circumstances.[2]
1873–74
Gila Crossing. Ku-ukâmûkam, the Apache chief, and his band were killed by the soldiers and Pima scouts.
Kâmûk Wutcâ Â-âtam, People-under-Kâ’matûk, or the village at Gila Crossing, was settled during this year.[3]
Gila Crossing, Salt River. The telegraph line was run through from west to east during the winter.[4]
- ↑ By Executive order of June 14, 1879, the land occupied by the Pimas on Salt river was set apart as the Salt River reservation. It embraces about three townships on the north side of the river about 30 miles north of the original Pima villages. There are several large ruins and at least one large canal upon the reservation that were built by the Hohokam. By an arrangement with the canal companies the Pimas have insured for themselves a constant supply of water, and the Salt River community is regarded as the most prosperous among the Pimas.
- ↑ This sharp engagement took place on the 28th of December, 1872, in the canyon of the Salt river, south of the Mazatzal mountains. It has been graphically described by Capt. John G. Bourke in his On the Border with Crook, 191–200. He states that 76 Apaches were killed and 18 captured. One wounded man was overlooked and made his escape. "Lead poured in by the bucketful" and an avalanche of bowlders was hurled down hundreds of feet from above upon the enemy.
- ↑ There is an unfailing supply of water at this place; the Gila, after flowing 75 miles beneath the surface, rises to form a stream large enough ta irrigate several hundred acres.
- ↑ This was a military telegraph built from funds obtained by special appropriations from Congress. Arizona was fairly well provided with telegraph lines by the time the railroad reached Yuma, in 1877, as there were more than 1,000 miles in operation in the Territory.
