LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN

Land of Beginning

"LAND! Give us fertile watered land, and we'll take care of our education and health. We will be self-supporting!"

The Southwest Indians Tribes have been saying that to a paternal government for many decades without any apparent result. But Congress and the Office of Indian Affairs have been on the alert for suitable land for destitute tribes. Land which could be irrigated and placed at the disposal of Indian colonists was found in 1939 when the Colorado River Tribes, located along the Colorado in southwestern Arizona, asked to have help in utilizing their huge domain. For a century this land has been claimed by the Mohave and Chemehuevi Tribes which are of the Yuman Language Family.

Before history was recorded in the southwestern United States a horde of aggressive dark-skinned people occupied wild country on both sides of a sullen turbulent stream winding its way over deserts and through canyons from the Rocky Mountains to the sea. The people were Yuman Indians and the river the untamed Colorado. Hoover Dam, Parker Dam and Headgate have tamed the river into a controlled power, and centuries and white men have subdued

Again

the Indians, and divided them into tribes among which are the stockraising farming Mohaves and the Chemehuevis, a Piute offshoot.

Not much has been written about these Colorado River Tribes perhaps because they have no colorful dances, and their arts and crafts leave much to be desired. Their tribal ceremonies repel rather than attract white visitors. Numbering less than 1,000 now, their tribe was one time the largest and most warlike branch of the Yuman Family. The Spanish invaders in 1540 gave them a wide berth having heard of their ferocious tendencies, but when Father Garces stopped among them in 1774, he praised their kindness and great physical superiority, then went on to their companion tribe, the Yumas, who beat out his brains with war clubs. This discouraged outside meddling with affairs of the Colorado River Indian Tribes.

In 1854 fifty Mohaves attacked 1500 U. S. Cavalry soldiers as they were passing through that country en route to Fort Yuma. The soldiers fought a running battle close pressed by the Mohaves armed with war clubs and battleaxes. They like to fight hand to hand combat where they can use their muscles and clubs. Ten years later the Mohaves completely destroyed a wagon train of Texas pioneers en route to the west coast. Seventy men, women and children were killed and the horses and stock added to Mohave herds. There was no formal treaty between the United States and the Colorado River Tribes but in 1863 there was a meeting in council and the Mohaves and Chemehuevis agreed to break their weapons and stop fighting among themselves and to cease their killing and robbing of white people. Colonel Charles D. Poston, Superintendent of Arizona Territory Indian Affairs, reported the meeting to the Indian Commissioner in Washington, and I copied the flowery handwritten words a few days ago. The yellowed foolscap paper was brittle with age and handling, but quite legible: "September 30, 1864."

"Prolonged investigation of conditions among these (Colorado Tribes) Indians show that a reservation for them is mandatory. It should be large enough to support 10,000." A later report was more specific: "A reservation should be selected for these Indians on the banks of the Colorado River, and the government should be asked to open an irrigation canal on the land to aid them in becoming industrious and self-supporting Indians." He suggested that the cost of settling 10,000 of them on this reservation and getting the land irrigated would cost $50,000 in gold or twice that amount in currency. In that same year Colonel Poston represented Arizona Territory as a delegate, and his efforts to push through the Colorado River Reservation fill many yellowed pages of Congressional Records. To him should go the credit for having the reservation established. On March 2, 1867 Congress let loose of $50,000, "for the expense of collecting and locating Indians of the Colorado River in Arizona on a reservation set aside for them, includ-ing expense of a canal." The Act setting up the reservation was a classic example of ambiguity, and after almost a cen-tury has come back to haunt current lawmakers. "All that part of the public domain in the Territory of Arizona lying west of a direct line from Half-Way Bend to Corner Rock on the Colorado River, containing about 75,000 acres of land, shall be set apart for an Indian Reservation for the Indians of said River and its tributaries."

The tributaries of the Colorado are far flung and their waters flow on the lands of Hopi, Apache, Navajo, Zuñi, Walapai, Havasupai, Piute, Pima and Papago.

Off and on feeble efforts were made to put portions of the big reservation into shape for farming, but little was really accomplished. There was entirely too much land for the Mohaves and Chemehuevis occupying it, and in 1874 an effort was made to have them share it with the troublesome Walapais from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The United States Army moved seven or eight hundred Walapais down there by force, and it was a bad move. Thousands of dollars were spent for food and supplies try-ing to colonize these homesick, ailing troublemakers. A few of them made an effort to establish themselves. They cut wild hay and sold it to army camps and with the money they bought cattle for stockraising. Apparently interest waned in the project and within three years the Walapais were back among their Peacock Mountains where today they are living comfortably on their cattle sales and farm products.

The Colorado River Reservation slipped the mind of Congress until in 1904 somebody reminded it that rich farm land was there and it could be taken away from the Indians by law. A law was passed allotting a plot of five acres to each Indian living on the reservation, and directingthat the rest of the land be sold to white settlers, under the Reclamation Act of course. The Reclamation Law called for quarter section farm plots. The Office of Indian Affairs side-stepped this grab, and ten years later another law was passed saying ten-acre plots were to be allotted to the Indians, and this was done. More and more inadequate laws were passed and the Mohaves and Chemehuevis just sort of existed on wood they could cut and sell, raising some cattle and horses and consuming government rations when they could get them. Perhaps 10,000 acres of land had been cleared and watered during all that time and some of it had reverted to mesquite and cactus.

that the rest of the land be sold to white settlers, under the Reclamation Act of course. The Reclamation Law called for quarter section farm plots. The Office of Indian Affairs side-stepped this grab, and ten years later another law was passed saying ten-acre plots were to be allotted to the Indians, and this was done. More and more inadequate laws were passed and the Mohaves and Chemehuevis just sort of existed on wood they could cut and sell, raising some cattle and horses and consuming government rations when they could get them. Perhaps 10,000 acres of land had been cleared and watered during all that time and some of it had reverted to mesquite and cactus.

The reservation has always been entirely too large for the Mohaves and Chemehuevis to utilize, and when the War Relocation Authority needed a place where 18,000 Japanese-Americans could live and be self-supporting, it entered into an agreement with the Indian Service to use a portion of that land. In exchange for the use of the land it was to be cleared, levelled, irrigated and cultivated and left in good condition for the Indians when the Japanese people moved away.

Accustomed to wresting an existence from any sort of soil, the Japanese farmers were delighted with what they could grow there in that fertile Arizona land. They cleared 3200 acres of land, irrigated 2500 acres of it by extending canals and laterals and making drainage ditches to prevent the rising of alkali.

Their school building was of adobe and met all requirements for modern lighting, heating and sanitation. Their medical center was close to the barracks and amply equipped. Stock pens, slaughter house and refrigeration plant were excellent, and they even improved the appearance of their barrack village by planting trees along the streets and covering the buildings with fast growing vines.

The Mohave Indians liked to scoff at the Japanese industry, but when the War Relocation Authority returned the