Arizona's Trail

AT THE CLOSE of its war with Mexico the United States became sovereign over an immense region largely arid or mountainous, a land but little known to the historian and geographers of that period.

The southern part of this domain that lay east of California was known as New Mexico. The western part of the territory of New Mexico extending from about the continental divide on the east to the Colorado River on the west, and from the Gila River on the south to beyond the great canyons of the north, was spoken of as Arizona.

Here lay sublime mountain ranges crowned with majestic peaks, their slopes and plateaus clad in forests of pine; here were deep, dark canyons and fertile valleys, dry brush-covered plains, and vast deserts, in places studded with barren hills; here too rolled a mysterious, red river through the deepest, most magnificent gorge on the earth's surface.

From the dry desolation of the hot, sandy plains and waterless deserts came the Spanish appellation "zona arida" (arid zone) which was corrupted by the jargon of the early Americans of that part of the world to Arizona.

At this time (1848) no white man dwelt in this Arizona region and it had barely been traversed by trappers and explorers.

South of the Gila River lay a district still in Mexico, inhabited by Mexicans and semi-civilized Indians, and to the southeast lay the mountains that sheltered the wildest and fiercest Indian tribe that history records, the Chiricahua Apaches. A few years later (1853) the Gadsden Purchase brought this district also into the confines of New Mexico. Tucson, with a population less than 1,000, and Tubac on the Santa Cruz River were the largest towns. Here ranches were operated, and in the neighboring mountains mines were exploited. At this time Tucson had become a refuge for some of the worst characters of the West, men who had fled from the justice of California and Texas and even more distant States, and here also, numerous outlaws from Mexican states sought sanctuary. Here every man was almost a law unto himself, and here these outlaws contaminated Prepared for ARIZONA HIGHWAYS by the Arizona Writers Project, W. P. A.

DRAWINGS BY ROSS SANTEE the reputation of the United States' only walled town.

The renegades, both Mexican and American of this far southwest were no less murderous than the hostile Indians themselves. And to the drunkenness, brutality and inhumanity of these outlaws may be partly ascribed the ferocity of the Indians in their struggle against the whites, a struggle largely in retaliation of wrongs.

The United States established military posts in this district in the 1850's, there already being a post at Fort Yuma on the California side of the Colorado just south of the influx of the Gila, and a post on the east side of the mountain ranges in New Mexico. The immigration of prospectors and miners now began. Placer and lode mines were discovered near the banks of the Colorado and lower Gila. The old Spanish mines near the Mexican Border were again opened and operated, and the fertility of the valleys and the salubrious climate were made known to the world and the settlement of Ari-zona began.

North of the Gila lay a vast region of unknown resources, reputedly rich in geld but rendered uninhabitable by the presence of a tribe of Indians who subsisted on the proceeds of robbery and pillage.

This tribe of Indians divided into several subdivisions usually given as eight, were called Apaches. Of these the Aravaipas living in the south-central part of Arizona were the most peaceful and most given to agricultural pur suits. The Chiricahua branch, whose territory lay south of the Gila in what is now Cochise County, Arizona, and whose range included the Chiricahuas, the Dragoons and the Hua chucas were the most intractable and ferocious. They cultivated some corn at their rancherias and did some hunting and collected wild vege tables, fruits and nuts, but depended mostly on loot for a livelihood. As far as history records, the Apaches have been known for their rob beries and atrocities, and it is not improbable that the cliff dwellers were driven to seek in accessible abodes in the high canyon walls as a protection against these marauders. Further more it was doubtless the harassing of these same Apaches that contributed to, if it was not entirely responsible for, the destruction of the civilization that thrived in the Salt and Gila valleys until about the middle of the 16th Century. That the ancient population of Arizona may have once equaled the present population is everywhere discernible. The great canal sys tems of the Salt River valley, capable of irri gating a hundred thousand acres some canals of which were utilized by the modern settlers-the productivity of the soil, the fact that all produce was for home consumption only, all Go to show that a multitude of people could here be supported. Added to the food supply of the cultivated land were the wild foods of which these people made use as do their descendants today. As their public buildings, temples and castles, of which some ruins remain, were built of sun-dried mud laid tier by tier, or rather built up, layer by layer, the rains and weather have beaten them back to the earth of which they were constructed, and that which the weather spared, the modern farmer has leveled with his plow. At the time of the first Spanish missionaries this agricultural civilization had not yet disin tegraded to the level in which the first American explorers found it, but in 1850 the Pima, who by some is supposed to be the descendant of the last of the canal builder peoples, were noted for their arts, agriculture and mild, congenial disposition. It may be supposed that the introduction of horses enabled the Apaches to make more and more successful forays on the peace-inclined toilers of the canals, eventually forcing them to abandon their labors in the fields and the upkeep of their waterways.

There is no reason to believe that the Canal Builders were inferior in civilization to the people who dwelt in and around Mexico City.

They were probably of the same race, and the As the population increased in the valleys of Arizona beyond the capacity of the food supply to maintain, it overflowed southward civilizing the peoples it encountered as it progressed through Mexico. These canal people, in common with the other people of America, lacked a knowledge of iron, and were thus limited and confined in their labors and arts, but the works they per formed with the simple tools at their command were prodigious as shown by the canal system of the Salt River, unequaled in extent in the ancient world; the ruins of magnificent edifices and castles; and the pyramid of the Sun near Mexico City, a huge pile, the base of which exceeds in extent the largest pyramid of Egypt. Where are the canal people now? Ask of the once fierce and relentless Apaches whose fore bears for generations harried them until their fields lay fallow and the canals ran dry. They cannot tell you.

The logical direction of their migration would be to the southward, as it was the most accessible route and the climatic conditions were there most inviting. On the west rolled the waters of the mighty Colorado backed by des erts, on the north impassable chasms blocked the way, and to the eastward were high mountain ranges infested with savage, wild men, while to the south lay a natural roadway, first down the valleys of the San Pedro and Santa Cruz whence well watered routes led to the Plateau and west coast of Mexico. In regard to the destruction of this civilization S. W. Cozzens says in The Marvellous Country, "The adventurous spirit of the Spaniards, as well as their avarice manifested itself in so many ways, that the Apaches were roused to resistance, as well as a desire to punish the invaders.

"It was not however, until the year 1680 that the Apaches made any open demonstrations of hostile intentions; but they then attacked the Spanish settlements in such overwhelming num bers that resistance was useless, and the missionaries were obliged to flee for their lives. Gathering together such spoils as they could take with them, they abandoned their mission settlements, leaving the people to carry out the unequal contest alone, and bear the brunt of the burden which the cowardly Spaniards had, by their culpable avarice, incited As often as the missionaries returned and were attacked, the natives rallied to their defense; but the constant war waged by the Apaches soon destroyed many of their finest cities and towns, completely rav aging their most thriving settlements, massacring the people, and thus, ultimately compelling the Jesuits to abandon their missions, and seek refuge far in the interior of Mexico, while the remnants of a once happy and pros perous people became victims to a horde of blood-thirsty savages, who thus commenced the extirpation of a civilization, the remains of which are today a source of wonder and admir ation, and the like of which may never be again seen on that part of our continent. Today Arizona presents a sad spectacle, one that cannot fail to impress the beholder with wonder and regret; for its mute sentinels silently point to a civilization centuries old which has not even the poor consolation of a history to record its rise and fall. The above excerpt was written about 1859, before the white man's civilization had risen over the ashes of the old.

After the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 which brought the country south of the Gila into the United States, a town was begun on the east side of the Colorado River, first known as Colorado City, then Arizona City and later as Yuma, the name it has since borne. At this time there were no white settlements north of the Gila in this Territory.

Trappers had discovered a route across the southwestern regions whereby travelers to California might traverse the country through low passes, thus avoiding the rigors of the high mountains of the northern routes, and troops marching westward to California had followed down the Gila River, as early as 1846. A ferry was early established at Fort Yuma, followed later by other ferries farther north along the Colorado. Sailing ships from San Francisco brought supplies for the fort to the river's mouth, steam boats began to ply the Colorado's waters, and Yuma became a supply depot for Tucson and the Santa Cruz valley.

Deposits of gold and silver were found along the Colorado causing settlements to spring up and the wild interior of Arizona became encircled on three sides with the towns and forts of the white men; the mines and ranches of the Rio Grande valley on the east, the Mexicans and Americans established south of the Gila, and on the west the miners along the banks of the Colorado, while to the north lay the almost impassable canyons with their perpendicular walls cut thousands of feet into the solid rock.

Civilization was slowly setting the trap that was to capture and tame 5,000 of the wild Apache. But at this time, the late 50's, this region north of the Gila was owned by the Indians; no white man lived there, and to venture into this forbidden land unless in a large party well-armed was to court almost certain death.

Fabulous wealth in gold was said to exist in this mysterious region. Where there is gold men will go is an axiom here in the West, but into the Apache country they dared not venture, for the gamble there was 100 to 1 that the prospector would not return. But with the encircling pressure of civilization gradually increasing, the Indian might kill and torture in desperation, but ever and ever the coils were tightening about him, and his wild, free and untrammeled life was doomed to take on the dull monotony of the toiler's tedious grind.

In 1857 the stage coaches came; in 1871 the telegraph, and in 1880 the railroad crept eastward to Tucson. Now the nomads of the mountains and deserts were forced on reservations or in impotent rebellion to seek safety in the remote fastnesses of the Sierra Madres in Mexico. For them there was no escape; even into the inaccessible crags of Sonora and Chihuahua, Uncle Sam's boys were at their heels, hounding their trail till the few fugitives that survived realized the futility of resistance and in sullen despair yielded, to be led back captives and banished to a distant, different land.

Of the Apache chiefs, Cochise of the Chiricahua tribe, in the 1860's became the most dreaded and notorious. Word of his probable coming sent chills of terror through the hearts of whites, Mexicans and civilized Indians in his path. He was reputed to have had a hand in the killing of over thirty whites, many of these by torture, and this figure does not include Mexicans and Indians, or soldiers or civilians killed in battle. Cochise claimed that up to the year 1860 he had murdered only Mexicans, but if he had been laggard in his attentions to the whites he now made up for his oversight by increased zeal and industry.

In 1860 Lieutenant Bascom had been in pursuit of a band that had stolen some cows and abducted a Mexican boy from Ward's ranch on the Sonoita River. This boy, Mickey Free, then about 8 years of age, afterward became a wellknown scout and interpreter. Bascom met Cochise, his wife and son, and three minor chiefs who were relatives of Cochise, and invited them to a conference in his tent where he accused the chiefs of complicity in the theft. Although Cocut away their living flesh or slowly consumed them by fire while their captors sung and danced in glee.

The inherent ferocity of these people may be surmised from the fact that in slaughtering a beast for food, they sometimes, first bound the animal, then cut away the flesh before killing it by severing the jugular vein to secure the blood. On their forays they would ride a horse or mule until it fell exhausted, then cut away the fleshy parts of its body to bear away as food. They preferred horse or mule meat to beef.

An Apache murder could usually be recognized by the facts that the victim would be stripped of all clothing and mutilated and if great bravery had been exhibited by the slain, the heart would be removed, Not only were the Apaches experts in diabolical torture in regard to Americans and Mexicans but some of their tribal customs were devilish. As an example, if an Apache woman was proven an adulteress, or guilty of fornication with a white man her punishment was the severance of the tip of her nose.

At their dances the Indians drank immoderately of a potent liquor called by them tulapai, this being the Mexican tezwin, which is made by fermenting cooked corn in sufficient water to form a beer, and then flavoring it with pounded roots.

Cochise finally agreed to remain on a reservation and cease his murderous forays, providing the reservation and the Indian agent be of his choosing. General Howard, whose fearless, unarmed approach to the dangerous, belligerWhen Cochise brought about his subjugation in 1872, agreed to his terms, and the Apache war temporarily ceased, and the Chiricahua Apaches dwelt in their home land in peace, except for possible raids into Mexico.

Cochise was given a reservation extending north from the Sonora boundary over 50 miles and including within its confines the Chiricahua Mountains, the Dragoon Mountains and the great Sulphur Springs valley that lies between

Great Sheep Drive

(Continued from page twenty-one) Greet the blaze with relish, for there is a chill to the breeze at this elevation in the spring and often well into June.

In most years of scant feed the top of the Sierra Anchas is usually the objective of a mad two weeks of hurrying, scurrying flocks and burro trains. The heat of the desert, scarcity of water and feed are the reasons. Enjoyment of camp and the leisure of the mid-day rest are rushed past. Finally the edge of a sheepman's summer paradise is reached. Even the campfires radiate a warmth of welcome to the passer-by and camp inhabitants. Harmonicas, and an occasional banjo, and the song of the herder may be heard along with the wind in the pine tops. The drop into Gun Creek is sharp but not long, then up onto the open mesas that slope into Spring Creek. Scattered out feeding along, there is no hurry now, cool weather and feed, -two or three miles a day is plenty. Over the lower country it had been five or six miles a day sometimes more.

The travel is across Spring Creek and up Walnut and the mesas around Potato Butte and to the west of Young Post Office and stores in Pleasant Valley. Here again the owners show up with trucks and more supplies. Leisurely the bands move across the open mesas to the foot of Naegelin Rim. This rim is not easy but is a sharp rise of several hundred feet that is hard on the whole outfit. It is the secondary rim below the Mogollon that extends from the Pine and Payson country clear across and into the Apache Indian Reservation, not continuous but nevertheless definite.

From the top of Naegelin Rim on, the sheep pass through the extensive stand of Ponderosa pine that is reputedly the most extensive unbroken stand of this pine in the world.

The route crosses the head of Colcord Canyon and then past the McKenzie sawmill and off into Canyon Creek and up past the O W Ranch to the foot of the Mogollon Rim.

This Mogollon Rim which extends over 100 miles across central Arizona, forms the south face of the mountain at that point. It gets its name from Don Juan Ignacio Flores de Mogollon, who was Captain General of New Mexico from 1712-15. Whether the Don ever passed this way is doubtful the mad scramble to the top of the rim puts the last barrier behind them as this is summer sheep range, and the Sitgreaves National Forest.

The eighty or ninety miles of driveway over the rough country to the top of the Mogollon Rim spells one thing to a sheepman-cutsmeans losses of small bunches of sheep out of the main band. There are some losses sustained and never retrieved. However, the bulk of the cuts are picked up by bands that follow. Some fall prey to predators such as the coyotes, bear, and lion.

When the bands reach the top of the rim they may not have as many sheep as when they started, or they may have more, and some of practically all the twenty owners that use the trail. The sheepmen have built pulling corrals at Mule Springs. At this place the sheep inspector goes over the sheep for disease and they are also separated by ownership and returned to their rightful bands.

The sheep trail is widened here to over two miles to allow room to hold the various brands. This is also true all along the driveway where obstacles enter into the picture. For these reasons the driveway width varies.

From Mule Springs on the sheep outfits begin to leave the trail and establish themselves on their summer ranges. Some, like George Wilbur's, go easily to theirs. Others must go on north past Heber and off the Sitgreaves to later go over the Morgan Mountain Driveway to the White Mountains on the Apache National Forest or the White Mountain Indian Reservation, or to public domain between Snowflake and Springerville. The lack of water around Heber was overcome in a more or less novel way. The Forest Service constructed an Australian type water development on the driveway north of Heber. This development consists of a roof of several thousand square foot area of galvanized iron which slopes in to a center, and drains into a storage tank 40 feet in diameter and 8 feet in depth, holding approximately 75,000 gallons. Thus snows and rain run into a tight storage,