Building a State in Apache Land | Page 3

newly acquired territory.
We were very much disappointed at its meagerness, and especially that
the boundary did not include a port in the Gulf of California. A larger
territory could have been secured as easily, but the American Minister
had only one idea, and that was to secure "a pass" for a Southern
Pacific Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The
pass desired was the Guadaloupe Cañon, used as a wagon road by
General Cook in his march from New Mexico to California in 1846,
and strange to say, not subsequently occupied as a railroad pass.
The country south of the new boundary line is not of much
consequence to us: it belongs to Mexico.
The country north of the Mexican boundary is the most marvelous in
the United States. After many years of arduous investigation and
comparison with all the other countries of the world, it is still nearly as
great an enigma as when first explored in 1854. The valleys are as fair
as the sun ever shone upon, with soil as productive as the valley of the
Nile. The rigors of winter never disturb agricultural pursuits in the open.
In fact, in the southern portion of the territory there is no winter.
The valleys of Arizona are not surpassed for fertility and beauty by any
that I have seen, and that includes the whole world; but still they are

not occupied. Spanish and Mexican grants have hung over the country
like a cloud, and settlers could not be certain of a clear title. Moreover,
the Apaches have been a continual source of dread and danger. This
state of affairs is, however, now passing away.
There were evidences of a recent Mexican occupation, with the ruins of
towns, missions, presidios, haciendas, and ranches. There were
evidences of former Spanish civilization, with extensive workings in
mines. There were evidences of a still more remote and mysterious
civilization by an aboriginal race, of which we know nothing, and can
learn but little by the vestiges they have left upon earth.
They constructed houses, lived in communities, congregated in cities,
built fortresses, and cultivated the soil by irrigation. No evidence has
been found that they used any domestic animals, no relic of wheeled
vehicles, neither iron, steel, nor copper implements; and yet they built
houses more than five stories high, and cut joists with stone axes.
How they transported timbers for houses is not known. The engineering
for their irrigating canals was as perfect as that practiced on the
Euphrates, the Ganges, or the Nile. The ruins of the great houses (casas
grandes) are precisely with the cardinal points.
Near Florence, on the Gila, is beyond all doubt the oldest and most
unique edifice in the United States. Just when and how it was built
baffles human curiosity. Whether it was erected for a temple, a palace,
or a town hall, cannot be ascertained. The settlement or city
surrounding the ruin must have occupied a radius of quite ten miles,
judging from the ruins and pieces of broken pottery within that space.
An irrigating canal formerly ran from the Gila River to the city or
settlement, for domestic uses and for irrigation.
The Pima Indians have lived in their villages on the Gila River time
immemorial, at least they have no tradition of the time of their coming.
Their tribal organization has many features worthy imitation by more
civilized people. The government rests with a hereditary chief and a
council of sages. The rights of property are protected, as far as they
have any individual property, which is small, as they are in fact

communists. The water from the Gila River to irrigate their lands is
obtained by canals constructed by the common labor of the tribe.
In my intercourse with these Indians for many years they frequently
asked questions which would puzzle, the most profound philosopher to
answer. For instance, they inquired, "Who made the world and
everything therein?"
I replied, "God."
"Where does he live?"
"In the sky."
"What does he sit on?"
In their domestic relations they have a system thousands of years older
than the Edmunds Act, which works to suit them, and fills the
requirements of satisfied nationalities. The old men said the marriage
system had given them more trouble than anything else, and they
finally abandoned all laws to the laws of nature. The young people
were allowed to mate by natural selection, and if they were not satisfied
they could "swap."
In after years, when I was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, I selected a
stalwart Pima named Luis, who was proud of his acquirements in the
English language, and gave him a uniform, sword, and epaulettes about
the size of a saucer, to stand guard in front of my quarters.
One day I