The Pima Indians/History/Annals
HISTORY
Annals
CHRONOLOGICAL RECORDS
Three chronological records have thus far been preserved from among the many that are supposed to have existed among the American tribes. The first of these to be published was the Walum Olam of the Delawares, the definitive edition of which was published by D.G. Brinton.[1] In 1877 Col. Garrick Mallery brought to light the "Lone-dog winter count" of the Sioux and subsequently secured several other reeords from the same tribe.[2] Recently James Mooney has published a series of Kiowa calendars that resemble those of the Sioux, but are more distinctly calendric.[3]
In addition to these published records we have references to yet others that have wholly disappeared; references that can not now be verified. For example, the Iroquois are said[4] to have maintained a record of their exploits in war by means of war posts on which notches indicated the occurrence of campaigns and conventional characters denoted the number of scalps and captives taken. Events of a certain class were thus recorded in chronologic order. Among the Santee Sioux Clark[5] found a notched stick which he was assured represented the history of the tribe for more than a thousand years. Mooney suggests that this must have been used in connection with a chant similar to that accompanying the Walum Olam. However, it seems extremely improbable that any record should have survived the vicissitudes of an Indian camp for so long a period. The use of notched sticks for mere numeration is common enough in all cultures and among all peoples, but such a use as that made by the Santees is not, so far as known, mentioned elsewhere in the literature.
The writer was therefore greatly interested to discover no fewer than five notched calendar sticks among the Pimas. Two sticks were "told" to him by their possessors. The record covers a period of seventy years, dating from the season preceding the meteoric shower of November 13, 1833, as do the oldest of those discovered among the Kiowa. There are traditions of older sticks that have been lost or buried with their keepers. Juan Thomas, of the village of Blackwater, had lost his stick in some inexplicable manner, but he was continuing the history with pencil and paper, thus rendering it more nearly comparable to the calendars of the Plains tribes. It is noteworthy that the change from stick to paper introduced a tendency to use pictorial symbols rather than merely mnemonic characters, such as are most easily incised on the surface of a stick having clearly marked grain. Among the sticks there is an evident increase in the number and elaboration of characters which may be attributed to contact with the whites, though not to their direct influence, as the existence of the calendars has been almost entirely unknown to them.
The year begins with the saguaro harvest, about the month of June. At that time, also, the mesquite beans are ripening, as well as the cultivated crops. It is the season of feasting and rejoicing. No other annual occurrence can compare in importance with these festivities, so that it is not surprising that the years should be counted by harvests. The Lower California tribes, as described by Baegert more than a century ago, similarly numbered the years. A space of three years would be expressed by the term "three pitahayas," "yet they seldom make use of such phrases."[6]
THE PIMA CALENDAR
It is said that when Elder Brother was leaving Pimería for the last time he told the people to count the tail feathers of the little bird, Gisap, which are twelve in number, and that they should divide the year into that number of parts. He gave them names for these parts, except for the coldest and the hottest months. The writer is disposed to regard the recognition of the "moons" as of recent origin. Not many have any names for them and these do net agree even in the same village. For example, the list of months given by the chief is quite different from that furnished by Kâʼmâl tkâk, and also contains references to wheat, which is of course modern.
| The months according to Kâʼmâl tkâk. | The months according to Antonio Azul. |
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As they have no winters the Pimas naturally do not have a "winter count." As there are two rainy seasons and neither is of any consequence as a general rule, while both are sometimes wanting altogether, they could not be expected to mark the flight of years by the recurrence of the rains. There are but two seasons in the Gila valley, one of torrid heat[7] and one of ideal weather throughout the remainder of the year. The onset of the former coincides with the harvest season and the new year is therefore adapted, albeit unwittingly, to seasonal change. The year mark is invariably a deep notch across the stick.
The records of the early years are memorized and there are few minor notches to aid in recalling them. The year notches are exactly alike, yet on asking a narrator to go back and repeat the story for a certain year the writer found that he never made a mistake. Taking the stick in hand he would rake his thumb nail across the year notch and begin: "That notch means," etc. The interpreter, either through imitation or because of the same mode of thought, would then take the stick and dig his thumb into the same notch before repeating the story in English. Both seemed to endow the stick and the particular notch with a definite personality in their minds. That notch looked exactly like its neighbors but it stood for something different, which was apparently recalled as much by the sense of touch as by that of sight.
Dots or shallow circular pits and short notches are the most common symbols on the sticks. These have no distinctive meaning, and are used for recording a great variety of events. The human figure is freely used, and may signify that a man killed Apaches or was killed by them, that he was bitten by a rattlesnake, struck by lightning, or, in short, any event relating to a man in any manner may be denoted by this symbol. The date of building railways was recorded by an ideogram, representing rails and ties. Only one symbol had come arbitrarily to designate a single event. This is the ⊤ which was used to record the "tizwin drunks," or festivals at which saguaro or agave liquor was brewed and freely imbibed.
NATURE OF THE EVENTS
It has been frequently observed that the records of the American Indians contain much that is trivial and oftentimes omit that which is important. There are obvious reasons for this that have been adequately set forth by Mallery,[8] and it must also be borne in mind that the relative importance of an event differs according as it is viewed by Caucasian eyes or by those of the American Indian. Judging by the early portions of the records, the conclusion might be reached that the purpose was to secure chronologic sequence, though the Pimas are not known to have had ceremonies that by their infrequent recurrence would require calendric regulation. However, the later years are so filled with events that the primary purpose is clearly narrative. They are therefore to be designated annals, rather than calendars. Moreover, the years are never named. "In this year the crops failed;" "In this year the floods overspread the whole valley," etc., but never, "This is the famine year" or "This is the flood year." Upon analysis the events recorded are found to be distributed as follows:
Battles or skirmishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
66 | |
Infrequent phenomena, eclipses, floods, earthquakes etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
14 | |
Famines and years of abundance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
5 | |
Epidemics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
11 | |
Accidents, rattlesnake bite, lighting strike, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
13 | |
Events relating to whites, but not to Pimas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
19 | |
Relations with whites, building churches, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
21 | |
Number of sorcerers killed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
18 | |
Changes of village sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
2 | |
Races, relay, kicking ball, and horse races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
7 | |
Festivals in which liquor was brewed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
25 | |
Trivial events, including those of personal interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
13 | |
Number of persons killed during drinking bouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
24 | |
THE NARRATIVE
1833–34
Gila Crossing, Salt River. During the moon preceding the meteoric shower the Yumas, armed with clubs, bows, and arrows, attacked the Maricopa village. The Yumas surprised the Maricopas and captured their women, whom they surrounded and tried to take away with them. They were about to cross the Gila with their captives when the Pimas arrived and attacked them. The women took advantage of the confusion to escape into the chaparral. The Yumas fought bravely, but they were overpowered by numbers and few escaped to tell of their defeat.
In the early winter[9] the meteoric shower took place. This event was followed by heavy rains that caused floods in the Salt and Gila rivers. The spectacle of falling stars was to the Pimas an augury of disaster, and the succeeding floods were regarded as a punishment for sins which they had committed. What the sins might be they did not know, but concluded that they must have offended some medicine-man who possessed great magic power. Many thought it must be the medicine-man Kaku who brought this calamity upon them because they had not shown him the respect that he thought was due him. It is said that when the flood was at its height he climbed a cottonwood tree and thence proclaimed in a loud voice that he would perform certain miracles that would prove disastrous to them if they did not listen to him and show him respect.
Others declared that the floods were caused by the two sons of an old goddess, Takwa-artam. When she saw the flood threatening to overwhelm the Pimas and Maricopas she said to her sons: "Give me back my milk and then you can drown my people. The land is yet what it was when it was new." This puzzled the two brothers. They knew that they could not return the milk that had nourished them in infancy, so they did not allow the flood to rise any higher, but caused it to go down.
1834–35
Salt River. This year was long remembered because of the bountiful crops of wheat, corn, squashes, pumpkins, and watermelons that were raised. The desert mesas were carpeted with flowers and the bloom of cacti further transformed them into gardens. "Our people worshiped the gods in grateful recognition for their protection; we danced unmolested by the murderous Apaches; we looked after the welfare of our households."
1835–36
Gila Crossing, Salt River. One summer afternoon when only women and old men were at home, the Apaches came and killed two Pimas, a man who was irrigating his field and a boy who was hunting doves. That morning the younger men of the village of Rsânûk had planned to have a rabbit hunt toward the north, but when the crier gave the final announcement it was to hunt toward the south. Thus it was that one side of the village had been left unprotected, and when the fighting men returned it was too late to follow the raiders and the revenge was postponed.
1836–37
Salt River. At the beginning of this year the fruit of the giant cactus was gathered and a large quantity of liquor prepared from it. All the men became intoxicated—too drunk to be on their guard against an attack from the Apaches. Early in the morning a woman started toward the hills to gather cactus fruit. She had not gone far when she saw a man mount a horse and start toward her. She suspected danger and walked backward for some distance before turning to flee. She got halfway to the village before she was overtaken by the Apache, with whom she struggled so desperately as to raise a cloud of dust. Those who were somewhat sober hastened toward the place, but too late to rescue the woman from being roped and dragged to death. However, they overtook the party of Apaches and killed five of them. Upon examining the dead Apaches it was found that their bodies were protected with rawhide armor; then the Pimas understood why their arrows had glanced off or jumped back.
Gila Crossing, Salt River. A year passed without a visit from the marauding Apaches, "We tilled our fields, danced our war dances, sang songs, kept up target practice, and exercised in the use of the shield."
1837–38
Gila Crossing, Salt River. One cold night in the spring a Pima at Rsoʼtûk was irrigating his wheat field by moonlight. Without thought of enemies he built a fire to warm himself. This the Apaches saw and came about him in the thicket. Hearing the twigs cracking under their feet, he ran to the village and gave the alarm. The Pimas gathered in sufficient numbers to surround the Apaches, who attempted to reach the hills on their horses. Two horses stumbled into a gully, and their riders were killed before they could extricate themselves. The others were followed and all killed. "This was the only event of the year, and our people were undisturbed further in the practice of their customs."
1838–39
Salt River. Late in the spring a party of Pimas went to Tucson to buy clothing and other needed supplies. On their return they were ambushed and barely escaped massacre. The Apaches had concealed themselves on either side of the trail, and when the attack was suddenly made the Pimas were at first panic-stricken, but recovered sufficiently to repel their assailants, with the loss, however, of two men killed and a boy captured. This youth is said to have been a very handsome fellow, skillful in the use of the bow and arrow. Fearing a renewal of the conflict, the Pimas hastened home.
A few months later they obtained their revenge upon a party of Apaches who came to the villages to steal horses. The enemy were seen and chased across the river. On the way they were met by a party of Pimas, returning from a council, who called out to the approaching horsemen to ask who they were; on receiving no answer they shot one of them. An Apache called "Slender Leg" was pushed off his mule and two Pimas jumped off their horses and tried to hold him, but he was too strong for them and they had to tie him. He was taken to the well-swept plaza of the village, according to the Salt River calendar, or to an open alkali flat near the villages, as stated by the Gila Crossing annalist, where the people gathered and danced and sang around him. Two widows of men killed in an ambuscade earlier in the season walked four times around the outside of the circle of dancers, and then passed inside as an avenue was opened for them. They carried long clubs of mesquite, with which they beat the captive into insensibility.
1839–41
There are no events recorded for these two years on either of the two sticks that date back thus far.
1841–42
Gila Crossing, Salt River. The Maricopas of the village of Masakimûlt, accompanied by one Pima, went on a campaign against the Yumas. The enemy gathered to meet them and sent a messenger to tell them that they should leave aside their knives and bows and fight only with sticks. The Maricopas agreed to this, but the Pima said he had made his bow and arrows to use on the enemy and he would keep them in his own hands. The Yuma messenger showed the Maricopas where to cross the Colorado river and conducted them to the assembled Yumas on the farther side. It was agreed that four from each side should engage in the combat, using sharp sticks about 6 feet long (lances) instead of the customary war club.
Four times each squad ran in a semicircle near the enemy's line; four times they approached each other before the fight began, At the first onslaught three Maricopas and two Yumas were killed; the Yumas killed the surviving Maricopa and retired to their line.
Then Pantatûk, "bravest of the Maricopas," ran his horse through the entire party of Yumas, striking many with his lance before being caught in the line of women behind the warriors. Kâûtci Pai, Hawk-tail, also rode through the Yuma lines, and is living to-day (1902).
Tcuwut Hakûtäny, Earth-crack, challenged a Yuma to single combat and was wounded, but recovered.
Then the fight became general, most of the Maricopas being killed. Many Yumas were also killed. The Pima killed so many with his arrows that they could not reach him with their lances, and he escaped, as did some Maricopas, and they reached home in safety. Ââpap Anton, Maricopa Antoine (pl. XLIII, b) also kept his bow and arrows, and when closely pressed by the Yumas exclaimed in the Pima language: "You can not catch me!" which somewhat confused his enemies and enabled him to escape.
1842–43
1843–44
Salt River. In the spring the Maricopas, Pimas, and Cocopas went on a campaign against the Apaches. They were scouting through the Verde valley west of the Four Peaks one afternoon when they saw a small band of the enemy. They were unable to overtake the Apaches, who kept sending up signal smokes. The next morning the number of Apaches had increased and formed a circular line, which attacked the allies, who lost two men, father and son.
Four days later a woman went with her daughter to gather cactus fruit for drying. She was accompanied by her husband, who went as a guard. While she was busy gathering the spiny cactus, she heard a step and, turning, saw an Apache. She screamed for help and told her daughter to run to the village and give the alarm. The husband was hunting near at hand, but was too far away to rescue his wife. The little girl brought the men of the village, but they could find no trace of the enemy.
A few days later the Apaches killed a party of Pimas who had gone to the mountains to gather mescal. The Pimas had planned to go to the Kwahadkʽ camp, but changed their minds and camped opposite them. The Apaches sent down scouts from the hills to see how many there were at the place where the smoke from the mescal pits was seen. It was a night attack and many Pimas never wakened to see another day; only one escaped to tell the Kwahadkʽs of the massacre. They followed the trail of the Apaches but did not overtake them. The dead were buried there by the Kwahadkʽs, who knew the Pimas well.
In the summer, when the watermelons were ripe, a large force of Yumas came to attack the Pimas and Maricopas. Their coming was heralded by messengers, who said they were advancing in great numbers as gaily as for a dance. The Maricopas were ready to meet them, but the Pimas were not. The Maricopas went out to engage the enemy and check their advance while the women got out of the way. The Yumas were driven back, but the Maricopas lost two of their bravest warriors.
1844–45
Salt River. The next year the Yumas and Mohaves came to attack the Maricopa village. The fight was undecided, but the enemy retreated. One Pima and several Maricopas were killed.
Gila Crossing, Salt River. A plague swept through all the tribes during this year. Those stricken with it usually died within twenty-four hours, but if they recovered they were well again in three days. From 4 to 10 died each day. The people of Akûtcĭny came to the Gila and the Gila villagers fled into the desert. The [cholera or] tcoko vihâsĭk, "black vomit,"[10] as it was called, brought all the medicine-men not in the best repute under suspicion. Four were killed, and the surviving medicine-men were kept busy guarding the camps against the plague.
Gila Crossing. During the winter, when ice was on the water and snow was evenly sprinkled on the lowlands, the Apaches came to the village of Rsânûk, where one of the marauders was killed. The Apaches, accompanied by the Päsĭnâ tribe from the north, attacked the Papagos at Kihotoak (Quijotoa) in April as the mesquites were changing from bud to leaf. The Apaches advanced with drums beating and with cries like the howl of the coyote. The Papagos were few in number, so they concealed their women in a cave and sought to protect them by fighting outside, but the enemy had firearms and all the Papagos fell in the futile attempt to preserve their loved ones from slavery. There yet lives a Pima who was shot through the leg and left for dead on the field of this battle. Many Apaches were wounded but none were killed.
1845–46
Gila Crossing. A party of Apaches was encamped on Mo‘hatûk mountain, and two of them came to steal corn from the fields at Gila Crossing. The theft was discovered and three Pimas lay in wait for the thieves. When they again entered the field those lying in wait sprang upon them and killed one; the other escaped.
Salt River. During the winter the Pimas went on a campaign against the Apaches, several of whom were killed. The attacks were made at night and the enemy were killed before they could defend themselves. One Pima was killed and one wounded so severely that he died after returning home.
In the spring the Apaches waylaid a party of Pimas who were returning from a mescal-gathering expedition in the mountains. Nearly all the party were killed and two girls were made prisoners. The Apaches were followed, most of them killed, and the girls rescued by a party from the villages.
1846–47
Gila Crossing. Three Apaches were going toward the Papago village near Mââtcpät, or Table mountain, when a Pima, coming to the Gila river, crossed it and discovered their trail. A party went in pursuit and succeeded in killing all three. Kâʼmâl tkâk's brother was in this party of Pimas and was himself killed a few days later in an ambush into which the Pimas were lured in the Santan hills. One other Pima was killed in this engagement and many were wounded, but no injury was inflicted on the Apaches.
The Pima Kwakrsân was surrounded by the enemy, who clung to him and to his horse and sought to pull him down; but he had spurs on his feet and striking them deeply into his horse's flank he caused the animal to rear and throw the man who was holding its head, high in the air. In the confusion he escaped.
Salt River. The Apaches came one moonlight night to steal horses. Leaving their own mounts tied in the brush, they crept toward the houses near which were the Pima ponies. They were discovered and pursued to the river, where all were killed in a running fight.
1847–48
Gila Crossing. The Rsânûk villagers went to Kâʼmatûk to hunt deer, They were seen coming by the Apaches, who lay in wait at the spring, and two were shot before they could reach cover.
Salt River. The Apaches came to Santan early one morning and killed four Pimas. They were chased, overtaken, and five of them killed before pursuit was abandoned.
1848–49
There is no record for this year upon either calendar stick.
1849–50
Gila Crossing. Three Apaches were discovered approaching the villages and a party was sent out on horseback to attack them. They fled to a hill near Tempe, where they hastily built up a wall of stone, behind which they maintained themselves until nearly sunset, when a Pima led his party inside the Apache breastwork and the enemy were killed.
1850–51
Gila Crossing. The Yumas came again to attack the Maricopas. They surprised the village, killed several, and carried their property to a hill near by, where they sang and danced, saying that they were waiting for the Maricopas to bring their friends, the Pimas, to be defeated next. But they underestimated the number and valor of the Pimas, who soon put them to flight, leaving many of their dead upon the field. One of their chiefs, known to the Pimas as Vĭsaki-kitoʌaȷ(t), when he saw most of his men fallen, came back saying he did not wish to escape alone. He had but a knife in his hand and was killed with arrows.
The remnant of the party took refuge in a thicket near the Estrellas, where the pursuers rushed in upon them with horses and killed all. Many Pimas were wounded but none killed. A strand of hair was cut from the head of each fallen Yuma, but these have since been lost or buried. There were 134 Yumas killed; their bodies were left on the field.
1851–52
Gila Crossing. Two Apaches were discovered near the Maricopa village by Whyenânâvĭm, a Maricopa warrior, who killed one of them before they could escape.
The Pimas went on a campaign against the Apaches on Salt river, near where the present reservation is located, and one of their number was killed.
Blackwater. In this year the Apaches raided a Papago village near Quijotoa, called Koĭ Tatkʼ (mesquite root).[11]
1852–53
For three years the Gila Crossing calendar has nothing but the year marks on it, and the keeper could recall no event for that period.
Blackwater. At the hill shaped "like a nose," in the Santans, the Apaches ambushed a party of Pimas and Maricopas. They sent six men to the Maricopa village, near which they discovered and killed some women. The Maricopa and Pima warriors pursued the Apaches, who retreated slowly, thus luring them within reach of the arrows of the waiting Apaches, who killed four Maricopas and one Pima. The survivors retreated to their supports, who were coming up in such numbers that the Apaches withdrew. The dead were burned that day north of the Santan hills.
At about the same time the Pimas killed four Apaches south of the villages.[12]
When the wheat was ripe [June] the Apaches were pursued north of the Santan hills and four of them killed. Three men are yet living who killed Apaches in this fight.
1853–54
Blackwater. The Apaches came to steal horses and brought a live vulture with them. They were discovered and several killed.
1854–55
1855–56
Gila Crossing. Skââkoĭk was approached one evening by seven Apaches, who were discovered and surrounded. Six escaped in the darkness, but one was tracked into the arrow bushes, where he dropped his bow. He was soon found to have secreted himself in a hole washed deep in the sand. The Pimas could not see or reach him, so they shook live coals down upon the fugitive, which caused him to yell and suddenly leap out among them. The apparition so startled everyone that no move was made to detain him. As he was passing through their line some asked those around them, "Can we catch him?" but he was such a giant and the peculiar manner of his appearance among them so unnerved for a moment the courage of the men whose deepest instinct was to crush out the life of the Apache, that he made his escape.
Blackwater. The Apaches, whom the Pimas attacked during a raid of this year, were grinding out mesquite beans from the dry pods when the arrows began to fall into their camp. A blind Apache was killed as his companions fled.
1856–57
Blackwater. The Pimas and Maricopas joined the white soldiers in a campaign against the Apaches under White Hat. Two Pimas were killed and two wounded, but no Apaches were injured. While the Pimas were on their way home still another of their party was killed. The Pimas burned their dead. Later they killed several Apaches who were raising corn on Salt river.
1857–58
Salt River. About the end of the year a band of Apaches came to the Pima villages one morning. They were discovered and chased 30 miles to Tempe butte, where they were surrounded. They hid themselves at the summit of the butte, but were all killed except one, who escaped into the brush.
In the summer the Yumas came again, accompanied by the Mohaves. They sent scouts ahead, who found the Maricopa women gathering mesquite beans. They killed all the women except one, whom they kept to act as a guide. She was the sister of a well-known Maricopa warrior, and they compelled her to lead them to her brother's home. When they reached it she was killed with a club and the man was chased, but he was as good a runner as he was fighter and they could not catch him. A Yuma told him to stop and die like a man, but he answered that if they could overtake him he would show them how to die like a man. The Maricopas fled from their village and the Yumas burned it. Messengers went to all the villages that day and under cover of the night the Pimas and Maricopas gathered. They kept coming until late the next forenoon. They found the Yumas encamped near the river at a spot where they had assaulted some women and a Pima had been killed while defending them. The Yumas had spent the night in singing their war songs. Now and again a medicine-man would come forward to puff whiffs of smoke in order that their cause might find favor with the gods. The Pima-Maricopa council ended about noon and it was decided to surround the Yumas and to make special effort to prevent them from reaching the river to obtain water. Formed in a semicircle, the Pimas and Maricopas shot down the Yumas upon three sides. Soon the Yumas began to waver and become exhausted from thirst in the heat of the day. They made several attempts to break through the line, but failed, and finally gathered in a compact body to make a last attempt to reach the river. At that moment the Pimas and Maricopas who were on horseback rushed in upon the enemy and rode them down. After a hand-to-hand combat the Yumas were all killed except one, who was stunned by the blow of a club and lay unconscious under a heap of dead. During the night he recovered his senses and escaped. This was the bloodiest fight known, and the Yumas came here to fight no more.[13]
Blackwater. During the year Pimas were killed in two places by the Apaches; three south of the river and one north.[14]
1858–59
1859–60
Blackwater. The Pimas attacked a party of Apaches and killed a man and a boy. A white man who accompanied the Pimas was slightly wounded with an arrow.
1860–61
Gila Crossing. A plague which killed its victims in a single day prevailed throughout the villages. Three medicine-men who were suspected of causing the disease by their magic were killed, "and nobody was sick any more."
Blackwater. The one-armed trader sold his store to Ammi M. White during this year and for some reason unknown to the Pimas threw away his grain sacks.[15]
Two Pimas were killed by Apaches, but the details concerning the event are beyond recall.
1861–62
Blackwater. A man named Thomas [whether given name or surname could not be ascertained], who had been trading at Gila Crossing, took charge of White's store after the latter left. The soldiers from the west fought the soldiers from the east at Picacho and were defeated. Then a white man known to the Pimas as Has Viakem came from the east and traded with them.
[John] Walker[17] came from the west with the California Column and learned the Pima language at the same time that Thomas learned the Maricopa.
1862–63
Gila Crossing. The men of Rso’tûk went to the mountains about Prescott in search of Apaches during the summer of 1862. As they were following a mountain trail they caught sight of a man lying on his coat asleep. From his dress they could not be sure if he were an Apache or a Pima, so two men went to waken him. "How did you sleep?" said they. On hearing this the man sprang up and they saw that he was an Apache. One struck him on the head with his club, but he jumped and would have escaped had not the other shot him. Soon afterwards two Apaches came to the village of Akûtcĭny and their trail was discovered by two Pimas who were hunting for their horses. They followed the Apaches, who ran toward the Estrellas. The elder Pima was some distance ahead of the other when the leading Apache climbed the mountain and the other turned back to fight. The two men used their bows, each endeavoring to protect himself behind a clump of bushes. Finally, as they were chasing each other around the same clump of bushes, the Apache getting the better of the conflict, having wounded the Pima in the elbow and side, the other Pima came up and killed the Apache, who was called by the Pimas Whaiemââ.
Two Maricopas dragged the body of the Apache to a hill near Gila Crossing and tied it to a post, where it remained for some time. A friend of the dead Apache led a party of six to the place where he had fallen and followed the trail of the dragged body to where it stood tied. The friend wept and went away without attempting to remove the body. As the party returned up the river they entered an isolated house in which there were two old Maricopa men. They warmed themselves at the fire, but did not molest the old men.
Salt River. Two Apaches came near the villages and were seen by a man working in the fields; he called to his friends to help him and at once set off after the enemy. When the Apache who was farthest away saw that his companion was in danger he turned back and attacked the first pursuer. The other Apache escaped, but the braver one was killed. The Pimas returned home, but the Maricopas dragged the body to the buttes at the point where the Maricopa and Phoenix railroad now crosses the Gila and left it tied to a post. The Apache who ran away led a party of his people to recover the body, but it was afterwards ascertained from the tracks that they turned back just before reaching the spot.
A Pima was killed by the Apaches while the California Column was at the villages and a squad of soldiers accompanied the pursuing party of Pimas as far as the Estrellas, but the enemy escaped. The raid was in the saguaro fruit season "as shown by the red on the dead Pima" [or the month of June, 1862].
Blackwater. Two medicine-men, father and son, were killed during the year because of their supposed machinations against the people.
1863–64
Gila Crossing, Salt River. For a short time there was peace between the Pimas and Apaches. During this period the Maricopas killed two old men and captured a boy from a party of Apaches who came to the Maricopa village. The boy was sold to a half-brother of the trader A.M. White [named Cyrus Lennan], known to the Pimas as Satcĭny Vâ, Chin Beard.
Salt River. While peace prevailed between the tribes a party of Apaches came to the Pimas to trade goods for ponies. When near the villages they divided into two parties, one of which came on to trade and the other went around to try to steal horses. The thieves were followed and when it was found that their tracks joined those of the party at the villages the Pimas went back and killed many of those who were trading. Some of the Pima warriors overtook the horse thieves and killed several of them.
Blackwater. A Pima was killed by Apaches while looking for his horses near Kâʼmatûk, the hill between Blackwater and the Sacatons.
1864–65
Gila Crossing, Salt River. This was the first year in which the Pimas were supplied with firearms (by order of General Carleton) and aided the United States soidiers.[20]
Salt River. The Pimas and Maricopas went on a campaign against the Apaches and met a band that had probably ambushed some American soldiers, for they had arms and other army property. The allies rushed the camp of the enemy and captured all that had been taken from the soldiers. When they returned with their spoils to the villages some whites accused them of having killed the soldiers. They told how they obtained the things, but the whites would not believe them. "That is why I do not think the white man is good enough to trust us," said Owl Ear. When several guides took the whites to the battle ground they were satisfied when they saw the dead Apaches there.
Blackwater. In a raid in this year two Apaches were killed and their ears cut off and nailed on a stick.
1865–66
Gila Crossing, Salt River. The Pimas went on a campaign against the Apaches and one of their number was killed. His fellows burned the corpse with the bow and war gear. Dry ironwood was used in the cremation.[21]
In the same engagement another Pima was wounded and came home to die.
Gila Crossing. The Pimas soon afterwards went to the mountains north of Tempe to seek Apaches. Two of their party were killed and a third came home mortally wounded.
Blackwater. Another war party attacked an Apache camp, described as the one at which the children were playing and piling up gourds, and killed several of the enemy.
1866–67
Gila Crossing. Many died this year of a sickness characterized by shooting pains that resembled needle and knife pricks. One day the three medicine-men who were accused of having caused the disease came home drunk from the Gila Bend stage station and were set upon by their fellow-villagers. Two were killed and the other was seriously but not fatally wounded.
Gila Crossing, Salt River. This year was marked by a devastating fever at Rso’tûk and three medicine-men were killed there in the hope of stopping it.
Blackwater. A party of Pimas accompanied the soldiers to the Verde region and there killed a number of Apaches, among whom was a man with a very long foot.
1867–68
Gila Crossing. During this year a disease prevailed that from the description would seem to have been malaria. Many died, and the medicine-men were blamed, as usual, for the calamity. Two were killed before the disease abated.
Blackwater. The Pimas went raiding in the Superstition Mountain region and killed one Apache who was running away with his shield but who stumbled and fell.
1868–69
Gila Crossing. A heavy rain caused a flood which destroyed the store at Casa Blanca.[22]
This was known as the Vamati Tcoki, Snake rain. 
Blackwater. The Pimas went on a campaign against the Apaches with the Papagos, but the parties quarreled and separated. The Pimas killed an Apache woman near Salt river while on their way home.
1869–70
Gila Crossing. A man at Rso’tûk was killed by the accidental discharge of a revolver in the hands of a companion.
Blackwater. An unusually heavy rain occurred during the winter, which gullied the hills deeply.
The Apaches were making tizwin when the soldiers and Pima scouts attacked them; they took the alarm and escaped, leaving the liquor in the hands of the allies.
1870–71
Gila Crossing. The first canal[23] at Tempe was built by the Mormon settlers [1870].
Blackwater. The Apaches had come to the river at Santan for water and some Pimas discovered their trail and set off in pursuit. They failed to inflict any injury upon the enemy and retired with one of their own number mortally wounded.
At this time a Pima was killed at Ta-atûkam by the Apaches. These two corpses were burned.
Another Pima was killed during the year at Tempe by the Apaches, and his body was buried.
1871–72
Gila Crossing. An epidemic of measles prevailed in all the villages during this year. The Indians knew absolutely nothing about treating the disease, and many died.[24]
Salt River. In the winter the Kwahadkʽs went on the warpath against the Apaches and were accompanied by Na-aputkʽtʽ. They tried to surprise the enemy at a tank near Picacho, but found no one there. They followed the trail, however, until they came to a point near the present station of Red Rock, where they sent out scouts in the night, who discovered the whereabouts of the enemy by hearing one of them cough. They surrounded the camp and attacked it at 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.[25]
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.[26]
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.[27]
The Pimas went on a campaign against the Salt River Apaches soon after a heavy rain. When they reached the Salt river it was too high to be safely forded, so they built a raft and tried to take their saddles and blankets across upon it. The raft sank and they lost all their effects. Some of the party who had not engaged in the raft enterprise found a safe ford and continued on their raid, in which they killed several of the enemy, and near Four Peaks captured an Apache lad.[29]
1874–75
Gila Crossing. A man trying to catch his pony approached from the rear so that he could reach its tail, which he probably thought it advisable to lay hold on until he could fasten the rope around the animal's neck. One end of the lariat was attached to his waist, the other he tied to the horse's tail. The animal broke away and dragged him to death.[30]
Blackwater. The Apache White Hat killed a Pima.
1875–76
Gila Crossing. In this year sickness prevailed in the village of Rsânûk, apparently the same as in 1866, when the principal symptom of the disease was shooting pains through the body. Two medicine-men were suspected of having caused the trouble by magic means, and they were killed to stop the plague.
Blackwater. For a short time the Pimas were free from Apache attacks, and they ventured into the mountains to gather mescal. While there, a race took place between a man and a woman, in which the woman won.
Later in the season there was a general gathering of the villages to witness a race with the kicking-ball.
1876–77
In the spring of 1877 the Gila Crossing Pimas and the Gila Maricopa villagers were pitted against each other in a relay race, the first between the two tribes.[31]
Blackwater. While a party was gathering mescal just before the wheat ripened a mare gave birth to twin colts.
1877–78
Gila Crossing, Salt River. During the winter a man who had gone a long distance to search for his horses perished from the cold, and his body was found in a sitting position under a tree.[32]
Gila Crossing. A party of Pimas went to the Kwahadkʽ village to drink tizwin, and in the quarrel which ensued the Casa Blancas killed two men of Santan.
Some time afterwards the Gila Crossing people drank tizwin, and one of their number was killed by a man from Salt River.
Blackwater. A man of Blackwater who was with a party that went to gather mescal sickened from some unknown cause, and died. The corpse was brought back to the village.
1878–79
Gila Crossing, Salt River, Blackwater. The principal event of the year was the building of the Southern Pacific railroad along the southern border of the Gila River reservation.
|
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Salt River (a), Blackwater (b). A feud that had originated in the quarrel at the Kwahadkʽ village during the preceding year reached an acute stage in February, 1879. The majority of the people of Blackwater and the lower villages, which were then known as Santan, conspired to kill the men of a certain faction during a night determined upon several days in advance. A guard was set at Blackwater, who was to watch their movements without giving them any hint of his purpose. One of those who were preparing for the attack at Blackwater had a brother at Casa Blanca, and he feared that this brother might be included in the list of victims at the lower villages, so he went one night to warn him or to get him to return with him to Blackwater. The next day the brother's conscience began to act, and he finally decided that if these men were killed and he did not warn them he would be answerable for their death. He therefore sent a runner to Blackwater, who told one of the intended victims of the conspiracy formed against them. The recipient of the news sent one of his family to inform another of his party, and so the news was spread so quietly that the guard scarcely noticed what was going on until the men began slipping one by one into the mesquite thickets. Before he could reach his friends, who were out in the fields, the whole proscribed party had escaped and were on their way toward Santan, where they and their friends attacked their Santan opponents early the next morning.
Juan Thomas, his two brothers, father, and uncle were in the party attacked. The old man, Iĭâs, was the bravest, and fought openly with bow and arrows until they succeeded in driving off their assailants. He was slightly wounded with a bullet in the abdomen and an arrow in the arm, but no one was killed. One of the brothers was irrigating his field when a runner came with the news that his family was being killed and that he was in danger also. He ran toward the Double buttes and soon saw another man running in a course parallel to his own. The other saw him, and both began dodging to escape from the two clumps of mesquite behind which they had halted. Then they discovered that they were brothers, and they debated long as to what they should do. It is also said that they shed tears at the peril of their relatives, to whose aid they could not go without weapons. It was also a cause of grief that their fellows should rise against them. They decided to return to the village, but by that time the fight had ended.
Iĭâs had come out of his house and chased those who were trying to shoot him. They fired several shots and some arrows at him, but when he came near they ran away. He called his enemies by name, inviting them to come and get satisfaction if they were bent on killing him. When the attacking party withdrew, the Thomas family went to the Double buttes, and on finding that they were not pursued they went to Blackwater, where their story so aroused their friends that an expedition was organized to seek revenge. They secured two boxes of cartridges from the trader at Blackwater and came down the river.
They formed a skirmish line as they approached the lower settlement and met their opponents at the Government school building. The Santan party hastily knocked a few loopholes in the adobe walls and gathered in and around the building, to withstand an attack. The Blackwater men killed three among those outside the schoolhouse and could have killed many more with their superior weapons, but their thirst for revenge seemed to be satisfied with that number, and they did not pursue those who fled across the mesa like frightened rabbits. 1879–80
Gila Crossing. During this winter there was a heavy fall of snow.[33]
Blackwater. At an abandoned store above Casa Blanca, the walls of which are yet standing, a white man was killed by two young men, who were caught before they secured the money of the victim, robbery being the motive for the deed. The one who did the shooting was taken to the county jail at Florence.
1880–81
Gila Crossing. At the beginning of the year a man was bitten and killed by a rattlesnake at Gila Crossing.
Blackwater. The murderer mentioned in the record of the preceding year was hanged at Florence.
1881–82
Gila Crossing. During a tizwin drunk at Salt River two young men killed each other. The Casa Blanca people went to Gila Crossing to participate in a feast and dance.
Blackwater. The Pima police were sent from Sacaton to arrest some Kwahadkʽs living at their village about 50 miles south of the agency. Two were killed.[34]
1882–83
 (a) |
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1883–84
Gila Crossing. The Salt River Pimas went to a fiesta at Gila Crossing.
Blackwater. A drunken Pima while riding on a box car on the Southern Pacific was run over and killed.[35]
1884–85
Gila Crossing. An epidemic during this year among the Kwahadk’s caused the execution of two medicine-men who were suspected of bringing the visitation upon the tribe.[36]
Blackwater. The first wagons issued by the Government to the Blackwater people were received this year.
1885–86
Gila Crossing. Hwela, named for the agent Wheeler, was baptized this year as the first Christian convert among the Pimas.[37]
Two youths were thrown from their horses during a rabbit hunt and killed.[38]
Blackwater. Two prominent men of Blackwater died.
1886–87
Gila Crossing. Tizwin was made at Gila Crossing in such quantities that it was passed around in bowl-shaped baskets. One man was killed.
The first adobe houses were built at Gila Crossing, and their owners were thereby entitled to one wagon each.[39]
Gila Crossing, Salt river. The Maricopa and Phoenix railroad was built during this year, and thus connection was established between the fertile districts of the Salt river and the Southern Pacific railroad.[40]
Salt River. The medicine-man Staups gave a great dance at Santan, which was accompanied by races and other ceremonies which attracted many visitors, among whom were a Yuma and his wife.
Blackwater. Juan Thomas was employed as a scout by the troops who pursued Geronimo during his last flight into Mexico. The eight dots on Juan's stick represent the soldiers whom the Pimas accompanied. The minor leaders of the Apaches had entered the Pima camp thinking that they were friends, and had been captured, except seven who broke away. The commanding officer having ordered a fresh party of Pimas who had come up, to pursue the escaping Apaches, thirty-one Pimas and eight soldiers tracked the Apaches for two months, until they doubled back to the White mountains, where they were captured by the white soldiers before the Pimas overtook them.
1887–88
Gila Crossing, Salt river. Special mention is made by two annalists of the severe earthquake of May 3, 1887.[41] Owl Ear declared that "it was noticed by many of our people, if not by all, who wondered why the earth shook so."
Gila Crossing. The stage station at Gila Crossing, no longer needed after the railroad was built from the Southern Pacific to Phoenix, was moved during this year to Maricopa junction.
The Gila Crossing settlement was prosperous, and the Casa Blanca people went down to dance and share the products of their brothers' industry.
During a tizwin carousal which took place later in the year, two Gila Crossing men killed each other.
It was at this time that "a Mexican (sic) counted the bones of the people."[42]
The Maricopas were all living together at Moʼhatûk mountain when a quarrel arose in which a medicine-man was killed. His friends retaliated by killing a medicine-man of the opposite faction. This resulted in a division of the tribe, some going to the Pima settlement on Salt river and the remainder going to their present location on the Gila below the crossing.
Salt River. A white man killed an unknown Pima some time after the earthquake for some unknown reason.
1888–89
Gila Crossing. The American settlers at Tempe invited the Salt River Pimas to a feast. |
An eclipse of the moon was observed by the Pimas, and as usual was spoken of as the "time when the moon died."[43] |
A prosperous season enabled the Salt River people to hold a dance festival. |
Tizwin was made at Gila Crossing, but no one was killed in the resulting debauch. |
Blackwater. A Papago who knew the bluebird series of songs sang for the Santan people during the festival held by them. |
The captain of the native police and the calendrist went to Fort McDowell with three other men to act as scouts for the soldiers stationed there. |
| During the year an epidemic carried away three prominent men at Blackwater. |
1889–90
Gila Crossing. Two tramps killed a man near the Maricopa and Phoenix railroad. |
The Salt River people made tizwin, and during the carousal which followed a man was shot and killed. The murderer was sent to Yuma. |
The Hi’atam villagers who formerly lived at Akûtcĭny, south of Maricopa station, went to Gila Crossing to join in the dance festival held there. |
Salt River. In a tizwin drunk at Salt River Santco was killed. Soon afterwards another general debauch resulted in the death of Hitiraki. These events caused the order prohibiting the Pimas from making tizwin. |
Blackwater. The wife of the head chief died. |
1890–91
At the Salt River settlement a Mexican under the influence of whisky killed a Pima, but the Indians "were good enough not to want to kill" the murderer. | |
Gila Crossing (a), Salt River, Blackwater (b). In the spring of 1891 occurred the last and most disastrous of the Gila floods. The Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad bridge was swept away and the channels of both the Gila and Salt rivers were changed in many places. The destruction of cultivated lands led to the change of the Salt River Pimas from the low bottoms to the mesas. |
1891–92
Gila Crossing. A boarding school[44] for Indian children was established at Phoenix. |
Two men died at Gila Crossing during the autumn, and it was supposed that they were poisoned by the tizwin which they had been drinking. |
In a tizwin drunk on the Salt River reservation a Papago shot a Pima and fled to escape the consequences, leaving his wife at the village. |
Blackwater. The chief and one of the headmen at Blackwater died during the year. |
1892–93
Gila Crossing. Two friends went to Maricopa and got drunk on whisky. One cut the other's throat; he then went to the villages on the river above Gila Crossing and in maudlin tones said he thought he saw himself striking someone under him.[45] |
The schoolhouse was moved out of Phoenix to a point 3 miles north of the city during the summer of this year (1892). |
A woman was struck by lightning at Hi’atam, the village above Gila Crossing. |
A dance at Salt River occurred in which two men, drunk with whisky, killed each other. |
In the spring of 1892 the Gila Crossing chief, Ato’wâkäm, died. |
The Government issued barbed wire for fencing at Gila Crossing, and directed the people to make a road across the fields, which should be fenced to form a lane. |
Blackwater. A woman was gored to death at Blackwater by a cow. |
The chief, who had been bitten some years before by a rattlesnake but had recovered, died in the spring of 1893.
|
1893–94
Gila Crossing. The village of Hi’atam and the Gila Maricopas had a dance together, but no one was killed. |
| Tizwin was made secretly at Gila Crossing, but no fatalities occurred. |
The "prettiest woman in the village" died at Gila Crossing, and her husband was suspected of having caused her death. |
A man was shot by another, who was drunk with whisky. |
Blackwater. This year the first horse race ever held by the Pimas took place at Blackwater.[46] |
1894–95
Gila Crossing. The Gila Crossing Presbyterian Church was built at the beginning of the year—that is, during the summer of 1894. It was dedicated in December of that year.[47] |
A woman was found dead on the Phoenix road. It is supposed that she had been killed by a Maricopa or a Chinaman. |
The Gila Crossing people held a dance festival. |
The Santa Fé railway reached Phoenix. |
There was an eclipse of the moon during this year. Blackwater. The chief at Gila Crossing favored tizwin drinking and resisted the progress that was beginning to manifest itself. He died in jail at Sacaton. |
In a horse race between animals owned by the Sacaton flats and Blackwater villages, that of the former won. |
1895–96
Gila Crossing. The Maricopas living on the Gila came to Gila Crossing to attend a dance festival. |
Kâemâ-â was elected a chief at the Gila Crossing village. The line is drawn "crooked because I was crooked in my mind whether or not I should accept the responsibility." Salt River. Two brothers-in-law got drunk together and in the quarrel that ensued one was seriously injured. Soon afterwards Juan made some wine and invited a number of his friends to come and drink with him. All became drunk and Luigi killed a man whose name was not known to the calendrist. Luigi was sent to the Territorial prison at Yuma, where he died a year later. |
| Blackwater. Two Christians died in this year, one at Blackwater and the other at the Cottonwoods.[48] |
During this year a Blackwater youth at the Phoenix school committed suicide by shooting himself. |
Gila Crossing. The Kwahadkʽs indulged in a tizwin drunk in which one man was killed. |
Gila Crossing, Salt River. The Gila Crossing chief fell dead in the prisoner's chair when on trial at Sacaton for selling whisky. |
1896–97
Gila Crossing. An epidemic of smallpox prevailed and the whites established a quarantine which the calendrist interprets as, "the Pimas were ordered to stay at home." |
Blackwater. Square indicates the Gila Crossing church. |
| Salt River. The Maricopa and Phoenix railroad was extended from Tempe to Mesa [a distance of about 8 miles] during this year. |
1897–98
Gila Crossing. At the beginning of this year the Gila Crossing Catholic and the Casa Blanca Presbyterian churches were being built. |
A Papago chief was killed at Maricopa by a companion who was drunk with whisky. |
The Rsânikam people went to Akûtcĭny to dance and run a relay race. |
In various ways the Spanish-American war was brought to the notice of the Pimas and Kâemâ-â made a record of the event by the sign which might be supposed to be a bush or a yucca plant. |
| Blackwater. Juan's brother "and another man" died. |
1898–99
Gila Crossing. Many children died this year of measles at the Phoenix Indian boarding school.[49]
|
| There was a heavy fall of snow that could be rolled into great balls as it was melting. |
Blackwater. There was no crop this year.[50] |
1899–1900
Gila Crossing. During the summer of 1899 a Catholic mission school was established at Gila Crossing. |
| A Papago was killed by lightning at Gila Crossing. |
Barbed wire was issued from the agency at Sacaton.[51] |
The Indian Department established a day school at Gila Crossing at this time. |
Victor Jackson was struck by lightning as he was returning to Sacaton on the stage road from Casa Grande.[52] |
Blackwater. A woman at Blackwater was fatally bitten by a rattlesnake.[53]
|
1900–1901
Gila Crossing. It was during this year that the President came to Phoenix.[54]
Gila Crossing, Salt River. During the spring the man employed to carry the mail between Phoenix and Scottsdale became insane and shot a white man and a Pima youth whom he met on the road near the latter place.
1901–2
Gila Crossing. In September, 1901, the day school was started at Masâʼkimûlt, the Gila Maricopa village.
- ↑ The Lenape and their Legends, Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature, V, 1885.
- ↑ A Calendar of the Dakota Nation, Bulletin U.S. Geol. Surv., III, no. 1; also Fourth and Tenth Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology.
- ↑ Calendar History of the Kiowa, Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
- ↑ J.E. Seaver, A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, 70; cited by Mallery.
- ↑ The Indian Sign Language, 211, 1885; cited by Moonéy.
- ↑ The aboriginal inhabitants of the Californian Peninsula in Smithsonian Report, 1864, 388.
- ↑ Maximum temperature recorded for a period of nineteen years at Phoenix was 119°F. Report of Chief of Weather Bureau, 1900–1901, I.
- ↑ Tenth Annual Report to the Bureau of Ethnology, 271.
- ↑ November 13, 1833.
- ↑ Aquellas gentes y sus ministros gozan por lo general de buena salud: entre los naturales pasan muchos de cien años, excepto los pimas altos que segun se cree por razon de las aguas y sombrío cauce de sus arroyos, son espuestos á diversos achaques. El mas temible entre ellos es, el que llaman saguaidodo ó vómito amarillo." Alegre, Historia de la Compañía de Jesus en Nueva-España, II, 213.
- ↑ The figure on the Blackwater stick is intended to represent a mesquite root.
- ↑ At a point about 15 miles from the Gila where the Southern Pacific now runs—just south of the reservation.
- ↑ "In 1857, with Mohave, Cocopa, and Tonto allies, they [the Yumas] attacked the Pimas and Papagos up the river, and in a great battle were almost annihilated." Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico, 501.
Cremony visited the Pimas as a captain in the California Column in 1862. In his Life Among the Apaches, 148, he mentions this conflict of the Pimas with their old enemies, saying: "The grazing ground to which we resorted during our stay near the Maricopa villages had been the scene of a desperate conflict between that tribe and the Pimos, on one side, and the Yumas, Chimehuevis, and Amohaves on the other. Victory rested with the Maricopas and Pimos, who slew over 400 of the allied tribes, and so humiliated them that no effort has ever been made on their part to renew hostilities. This battle occurred four years before our advent, and the ground was strewed with the skulls and bones of the slaughtered warriors."
For the Yuma side of the story see Lieutenant Ives's Report upon the Colorado River of the West, p. 45.
In a letter from an unnamed correspondent living among the Yumas or at Fort Yuma, to Sylvester Mowry, it is stated that the tribes engaging in this battle were the Yumas, Yampais, Mohaves, and Tonto Apaches, with one or two Dieganos [Diegueños], against the Pimas, Maricopas, and Papagos. One thousand five hundred men were engaged on each side. The Yumas "lost not less than 200 of the flower of their chivalry." See S. Ex. Doc. 11, 588, 35th Cong., 1st sess., 1858.
The Blackwater annalist could give but little information concerning the victory over the Yumas, but he had recorded it upon the calendar stick by a fringed line, in itself meaningless.
- ↑ The two men in the figure are not meant to represent two killed, but that the events occurred in two places.
- ↑ Probably to avoid contagion.
- ↑ "Early in 1862 a force of two or three hundred Texans, under Captain Hunter, marched westward from Mesilla and in February took possession of Tucson for the Confederacy. There was, of course, little opposition, Union men, if there were any left, fleeing across the line into Sonora. Not much is really known of Hunter's operations in Arizona so far as details are concerned, even the date of his arrival being doubtful. Besides holding Tucson, driving out men suspected of Union sympathies, confiscating a few mines belonging to Northerners, and fighting the Apaches to some extent, he sent a detachment to the Pima villages, and possibly contemplated an attack on Fort Yuma. But—to say nothing of the recent floods, which had greatly increased the difficulties of the route, destroying Gila and Colorado cities—the news from California was not reassuring, and Hunter deemed it best to retire.
"This news was to the effect that California troops were on the march eastward. These troops, about 1,800 strong, consisted of several volunteer regiments or parts of regiments organized at the beginning of the war, and which, on receipt of intelligence that Arizona had been invaded, were ordered to Yuma and Tucson, constituting what was known as the California Column, under the command of Colonel James H. Carleton. The main body of this army in detachments, whose exact movements now and later I do not attempt to follow in detail, left Los Angeles and was concentrated at Yuma in April, and in May followed the Gila route to Tucson. But previously Lieutenant-Colonel West, commanding the advance, had sent out some parties from Yuma, and these were the only troops that came in contact with the Confederates. Jones, in February, was sent with dispatches to Tucson and fell into the hands of Hunter, who released and sent him back by another route, bearing the first definite news that Tucson had been occupied. Captain William McCleave, of Company A, First Cavalry, being sent out to look for Jones, was captured, with three men, at the Pima villages on the 6th of April and was carried to Mesilla, where he was soon exchanged. Captain William P. Calloway was next sent up the Gila with a stronger force to rescue McCleave. At the Pima villages he heard of a Confederate detachment of 16 men, under Lieutenant Jack Swilling, and sent Lieutenant James Barrett with 12 men to cut them off. Pursuing the enemy into a chaparral, Barrett was killed, with two of his men, one or two of the foe being also killed and three taken prisoners. This was the only skirmish of the campaign with Confederates, and it occurred on the 15th of April at a spot known as El Picacho," Bancroft, XVII, 514.
Both the Gila Crossing and the Blackwater calendars mention the capture of White, but the calendrists can give no definite information concerning the events related by Bancroft. The trader was of vastly more interest and importance to the Pima than the whole Confederate or Union army. He was agent for the Pimas, an office which he held until 1865. The writer has not found any account of his capture in the records of thy period, but it is probable he was soon released. As soon as he was taken away, the Pimas took possession of his store and quarreled over the distribution of the stock of wheat on hand.
- ↑ See p. 33 for list of Pima agents.
- ↑ Owl Ear states that Lennan shot the man who struck him and they fell dead together.
- ↑ As we have independent white testimony, it is interesting to compare it with the Piman account. In his Adventures in the Apache Country J. Ross Browne describes the engagement in which Cyrus Lennan was killed. It was at the "Bloody Tanks" and is known in history as King Woolsey's (infamous) "pinole treaty." A party of 26 whites had been pursuing a band of Apaches with stolen stock for several days until they ran out of provisions and sent to the Pima villages for supplies. They were joined by 14 Maricopas under the leadership of Juan Chivaria and Cyrus Lennan. The entire party under the command of King Woolsey camped on the Salt river in a small valley which could not have been far from the upper end of the Salt River canyon. As soon as the smoke of their camp fire arose they were approached by Apaches to whom "Woolsey sent Tonto Jack, an interpreter, to learn what they had to say, and at the same time to tell them it was not the wish of his party to fight them; that he wanted them to come down and he would give them some pinole." The Apaches were finally prevailed upon to enter the camp to the number of 30 or 35. After the display of some insolence on the part of the Apache chief Woolsey drew his pistol and shot him dead. "This was the signal for the signing of the treaty. Simultaneously the whole party commenced firing upon the Indians, slaughtering them right and left. Lennan stood in advance of the Maricopas and was warned by Woolsey to make sure of a lame Indian with a lance, who wad eyeing him suspiciously. 'I'll look out for him,' was Lennan's reply, and the slaughter became general. * * * The fight, if such it could be called, lasted seven or eight minutes. Lennan had incautiously closed upon and shot an Indian near him, forgetting the lame one against whom he had been cautioned, who the next moment ran him through the body with his lance. Dye (a rancher) coming up, killed this Indian. The only person wounded was Tonto Jack, who was shot in the neck with an arrow. * * * Twenty Tontos and four Pinals lay dead upon the ground. Others were seen running off with the blood streaming from their wounds, and it is supposed some of them died." (P. 121.)
- ↑ John Walker, the first agent for the Pimas, in his report for the year 1860 stated that the tribe petitioned for more guns, as theirs were "few and old." See Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1860, 168. In the report of J.L. Collins, superintendent of Indian affairs in New Mexico, it is stated that 100 muskets and 10,000 rounds of ammunition had just been given the Pimas. In ibid., 1862, 239, 1863.
- ↑ This custom of burning the dead is occasionally referred to in these annals, though my informants always insisted that this method was never resorted to by their people except in the case of those killed in war.
- ↑ The store was more than 2 miles south of the channel of the river, but it had been built at the foot of a little rise upon which the present village is located and was within the reach of the flood. This is but one of many instances where the white settlers of Arizona have not profited by the experience of the natives, ancient and modern, who have located their homes beyond the reach of the freshets that transform the shallow beds of blistering sand into irresistible torrents that overrun the bottom lands which may have been untouched by flood for many years. "The flood of September, 1868, was perhaps the most destructive ever known, destroying three of the Pima villages and a large amount of property on the lower Gila." Bancroft, XVII, 536.
- ↑ The main canal is less than 2 miles in length. It has been enlarged several times, so that its capacity is now 325 cubic feet per second, irrigating over 30,000 acres.
- ↑ The experience of the agency physicians in after years show that the high rate of mortality from this disease has not been due to the lack of acquired immunity, but to the ignorance of the Pimas as to the proper care of patients, and especially those convalescing. The youth who was the only victim at Sacaton in 1899 took a cold water shower bath as soon as he was able to be about and paid the penalty for his rashness.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ He afterwards became known as Doctor Montezuma, now a prosperous physician practising in the city of Chicago.
- ↑ This, the only event of the year in the Gila Crossing record, is unimportant in itself, and yet it illustrates a phase of Pima character that is worthy of notice. In handling horses they exhibit a patient subtlety resembling that of the snake creeping upon its prey, until they have gotten a rope or halter on the animal, when their gentleness disappears. Yet in all their harnessing or saddling they manifest an innate tendency toward carelessness. They always work up on the right instead of the left side of a horse, and they also mount from that side.
- ↑ Tcĕrĭkûs, one of the Maricopa runners, afterwards won a six-day race in San Francisco and was a close second in a similar endurance race in New York.
- ↑ The Pimas believe that be froze to death, and if this be true it indicates an unusually low temperature and that one man at least had very slight power of resistance to cold. The lowest temperature recorded at the Phoenix meteorological station for a period of sixteen years is 11° F. Rept. of Chief of Weather Bureau, 1900–1901, I.
- ↑ An event of such rarity that it is mentioned but twice in these records of seventy years.
- ↑ The Kwahadkʽs had been drinking tizwin, and as they had never been interfered with by the agent they were not conscious of having trangressed any laws. Furthermore, drunkenness was the rule among the few whites with whom they came in contact, and it was a privilege that the Kwahadkʽs indulged in but once or twice a year. Old inhabitants at Sacaton tell me that the agent was working prisoners upon a reservation farm and selling the crop for his own profit. The Pimas had been committing no misdemeanors or crimes that offered any excuse for imprisoning them and the crops needed attention, but nevertheless he ordered his police to bring in the Kwahadkʽs dead or alive. One of the young Kwahadkʽs frankly declared his innocence of any intentional transgression and defied the police to take him from his home. He was promptly shot. As the police were returning to Sacaton they were overtaken by the father of the murdered man, who told them that he had nothing to live for, as they had killed his son and they might as well kill him. The police obligingly complied with his request. "Innocent and unoffending men were shot down or bowie-knifed merely for the pleasure of witnessing their death agonies. Men walked the streets and public squares with double-barreled shotguns, and hunted each other as sportsmen hunt for game. In the graveyard of Tucson them were 47 graves of white men in 1860, and of that number two had died natural deaths, all the rest having been murdered in bar-room quarrels." Life Among the Apaches, by John C. Cremony, 117.
- ↑ The practice of allowing the Indians to ride free upon freight trains was established when the road was first built and is yet continued. The object of this generosity is said to be the procurement of the good will of the natives, who in return would give warning of washouts, or obstructions intentionally placed on the track and, perhaps, give concessions of rights of way across the reservations in the event of future extensions. Agent Jackson in his report for 1883 stated that six Pimas had been killed that year by falling from trains when drunk.
- ↑ It will be noticed that such common events as this among the Kwahadk‘s are recorded by the calendrists, thus showing how closely related the tribe is to the Pimas.
- ↑ Mr C.H. Cook, a Civil War veteran, had come as a teacher and missionary among the Pimas at the close of the year 1870. A sincere and devout Christian, he labored for nearly fifteen years before the people to whom he has devoted his life began to understand the message that he brought to them. He informs the writer that three or four other men had accepted his teaching before Hwela, but it is probable that this year marks the beginning of the conversion, which thereafter advanced very rapidly. Mr Cook has described his experiences among the Pimas and Apaches in a small volume of 136 pages, entitled, Among the Pimas, 1893. The chapter on "The Pima Indians, their manners and customs," by Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore, is inaccurate and inadequate.
- ↑ These hunts were frequently made and resulted in the destruction of large numbers of hares and rabbits, two species of the former and one of the latter. They were simply drives by a company of mounted men who surrounded the area to be beaten over and then advanced toward the center, where the animals were shot with arrows or killed with clubs. Such hunts are yet continued.
- ↑ These wagons were issued to such men as were willing to cut their long hair, build adobe houses of reasonable size, and provide suitable sheds to shelter the wagons from the scorching heat of summer, which is exceedingly severe on vehicles.
- ↑ The road was completed July 2, 1887.
- ↑ This is known as the "Sonora earthquake." The shocks were so severe in that state as to be destructive to property and human life. At Tombstone, Ariz., the severe shocks lasted ten seconds, and the vibrations continued for a full minute. The earthquake was felt throughout the southern part of the Territory, and many ranchmen firmly believe that the drought of the last few years, which has transformed the grassy mesas into a desert waste, is due to that earthquake. See Goodfellow in Science, New York, Aug. 12, 1887.
- ↑ This is the Pima view of the somatological investigations of Dr Herman F.C. ten Kate, who measured 312 Pimas, besides many others among the Maricopas, Papagos, Zuñis, etc. His results are briefly summarized in the Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, III, 119.
- ↑ Notwithstanding the fact that several score of partial and total eclipses of the moon were visible in Pimería during the period covered by these annals, which in that clear atmosphere must have been seen, they are mentioned but twice, and that in recent times. As it is known from American testimony that the Pimas were profoundly impressed by such phenomena, the failure of the annalists to note them can be accounted for only by their aversion to even a mention of supernatural events supposed to be threatening in character.
- ↑ It was opened in leased hotel building in September, 1891. Owing to lack of facilities only boys, to the number of 42, were admitted.
- ↑ The passion for distilled liquor had arisen within the last quarter of a century. Lieutenant Emory wrote, in November, 1846, "Aguardiente (brandy) is known among their chief men only, and the abuse of this and the vices which it entails are yet unknown."
- ↑ However, this sport has not become popular among them, partly owing to their poverty, which prevents them from feeding a horse well enough to enable it to run and from accumulating property with which to bet on the race, and perhaps partly owing to the growing influence of the church party in the community.
- ↑ This church was established by the veteran missionary, Mr C.H. Cook, who successfully awakened an interest in Christianity among the Gila Crossing villages and had a number of converts at the time when it was considered that, owing to its isolation, the settlement should have a resident missionary.
- ↑ Professing Christians among the Pimas were not so rare at this time that the death of two need have been recorded. This was the time when the long labors of the missionary were beginning to take effect and the converts numbered hundreds each year.
- ↑ The disease also prevailed at Sacaton. Nearly all the children in the school, about two hundred, were sick, but the indefatigable efforts of the agency physician saved all but one, who disobeyed his orders.
- ↑ The water of the Gila had been so far utilized by white settlers above the reservation, for the most part more than a hundred miles above, that there was none left for the Pimas. It is difficult to obtain accurate information at this time of the number who perished either directly or indirectly by starvation. During this and the following year five persons are known to have died from this cause, and it is probable that there were others. Most of the Pimas will not beg, however desperate their need may be, so that not all cases were reported.
In one case a wood chopper tried during the hot season to cut mesquite for sale, but he was too weak to withstand the heat and the exertion and was found dead in the chaparral. An old couple were found dead in their house with no food of any kind in their storehouse, and it is supposed that they preferred to starve rather than beg. A man riding to Salt River was too weak from hunger to keep his saddle and fell and perished.
- ↑ The agent wisely stipulated that if they received free wire they must leave a lane for a road through the fields. The width was not prescribed and they made the lane so narrow that two teams can scarcely pass each other in it, and it becomes churned into mud when the adjoining land is flooded for purposes of irrigation. The Pimas have not manifested any striking road-building instinct that would lead an enthusiastic admirer to relate them to the Aztecs or Incas. Year after year they plodded through the slough between the agency and the river without making an effort to put in a bridge or filling. When one of the Government employees was building a bridge for them several passing teamsters preferred risking their teams and wagons in the sea of mud to assisting for a few minutes to put the bridge in place.
The soil of the reservation is well adapted for road making, and a little care would make the thoroughfares as hard and smooth as those to be found anywhere. However, those upon the tillable lands of river silt readily cut into light dust that rises in clouds when disturbed. In a few places this condition has been remedied by resorting to the temporary and shiftless expedient of the white settlers, who cover the road with straw or corral refuse. The mesa roads, which include all those leading any distance from the Gila, pass alternately over loose soil containing coarse sand that gradually accumulates in the ruts and renders the road "heavy," and over "adobe" soil which is hard and firm in dry seasons, and which makes an ideal roadbed. Hill roads are unknown and there are very few traveling sand dunes to be crossed near the reservation.
- ↑ His horse was killed and its bones are certain to be pointed out to the stage traveler by the loquacious driver, John McCoy.
- ↑ It may be presumed that such occurrences are rare or they would not be deemed worthy of record. This women had gone far out on the desert to search for mesquite beans, as she was without food; indeed the whole community was starving because of the failure of the crops owing to the lack of water in the river for their ditches. Rattlesnakes sometimes make their way into the houses and bite the occupants. Repeated inquiries failed to elicit information that would indicate that any remedies were used for snake bites. A common weed (golondrina?) is called snakeweed by a few whites, and is supposed to be used as a remedy by the Pimas, but I have not yet found a native who ever heard of its being so used.
- ↑ The visit of President McKinley to Phoenix, in May, 1901, made a profound impression upon the Pimas. Kâemâ-â lives but 20 miles south of the Arizona capital, and was present at the time of the President's visit. He made no mark upon the calendar stick to commemorate the event, but related the circumstances as a part of the history.
It is not surprising that the Pimas, who had heard for many years of the Great Chiefs in Washington, should be desirous of seeing one in the flesh when the opportunity presented itself. The official interpreter at the agency frequently, during the winter of 1901–2, expressed her desire to obtain a good biography of the late President. After commenting upon the hideous crime of the assassin at Buffalo she made the truthful and suggestive remark that "no Pima would do such a thing; he would never kill his chief."