Photo Tour of the Land of the San Carlos Apaches

"APACHE CATTLE COUNTRY - POINT OF PINES" View

It is looking north from a hill just southwest of where the Black River Pump Road takes off from Point of Pines. Much of the San Carlos Indian Reservation consists of superior range for cattle - the Apaches' largest industry. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.32 at 1/10th sec.; Graphic Optar 135mm lens; September; slightly overcast sky; ASA rating 64.

"SAN CARLOS APACHE TRIBAL FARMS" Photograph taken

View from volcanic cliff to the west of the highway running from Peridot to San Carlos. View shows tribal farms where alfalfa is raised. San Carlos is just around the bend in the distance. Road between Peridot and San Carlos on left is lined with small Apache homes. Those on right have some ground suitable for gardening. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.22 at 1/50th sec.; 135mm Graphic Optar lens; September; good direct sunlight; ASA rating 64.

"TRIPLETS MOUNTAIN - SAN CARLOS APACHE RESERVATION" Photo taken atop a ridge on east side of canyon crossing between rodeo ground and Salt Mountain. Triplets Mountain

It is a noted landmark on the San Carlos Reservation. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome; f.22 at 1/50th sec.; 210mm Sumar lens; September; direct bright sunlight; ASA rating 64.

"SAN CARLOS LAKE-SAN CARLOS APACHE RESERVATION" Photo taken on old U.S. 70 just a short distance east

View from Coolidge Dam at lookout on left. When Coolidge Dam was built, old San Carlos disappeared under the rising waters of the lake. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome Daylight; f.32 at 1/10th sec.; 135mm Graphic Optar lens; October; ASA rating 64.

"MINING COUNTRY - SAN CARLOS APACHE RESERVATION" Photograph taken on road to Phillips Mine off of U.S. 60

About a mile north of Seneca looking down into Salt River Canyon. This photograph shows some of the beautiful rugged country for which the San Carlos Reservation is noted. 4x5 Speed Graphic camera; Ektachrome Daylight; f.32 at 1/10th sec.; 135mm Graphic Optar lens; September; ASA rating 64.

One small business which has a good start offers an opportunity to many San Carlos Apaches and will help keep their fine traditional handcraft work alive. It is the Apache Arts and Crafts Association in Bylas sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. Mr. and Mrs. Steve Talbot, field workers, visit Apache homes, council meetings and local gatherings assisting the Apaches in their own community development through self-help projects. Mr. Talbot keeps in close touch with business and governmental affairs affecting the Apaches, advising them of their rights and sometimes representing them. Mrs. Talbot sowed the seeds from which the association grew. Its prime objective is to help the craftsmen standardize their products, improve the quality and to teach them business procedure, selling technique, and bookkeeping. The committee also helps finance loans to a limited degree.

The Tribal Council approved of the association and allotted two acres on U. S. 70 in Bylas for its use.

The association buys goods from members and non-members for cash, selling them at a profit. But large articles of high value are taken in on consignment to save putting a strain on the cash box. It buys raw materials at wholesale and sells them to members at cost and to non-members at a slight profit.

All members are required to work as sales person in the retail store but they fill in slack time sewing something for themselves. During good weather many gather in the shade of an adjoining ramada, making an interesting attraction for tourists to see and photograph. Fees for making pictures help to build up income. Periodically the profits are divided between the members.

The shop features cradleboards, baskets, bead-work, bows and arrows, belts, dolls and Apache fiddles. We found Roberta Rope and Edith Starr tending store and putting the finishing touches on some dolls dressed in exquisitely designed camp dresses.

Then Mrs. Talbot took us over to see old George Goseyun, Apache fiddle maker, who was expecting us. He had prepared a set for the pictures out in the back yard. A supply of raw materials along with tools and the finished product were arranged on the ground, back-dropped with an old rug. He cheerfully showed us how sections of dried agave stalks form the main body of the fiddle and horse hair is used for the strings. Pegs placed in holes drilled near one end were used to tighten the strings secured to the other end. There was a simple design painted with bright colored paint on the surface of the agave. Although George didn't bring forth any heart touching strains we did listen in on some real old plaintive Apache music right in tune with primitive tradition.

Orders for any items or inquiries should be sent to Apache Arts and Crafts Association, P. O. Box 21, Bylas, Arizona.

Continued from page fifteen worker himself. I impress on every one who takes a job that he has a great responsibility to do his work to the best of his ability, to be faithful, honest and industrious in order to have a good reputation, not only for himself, but for the whole Apache Tribe, so that employers will know that Apaches are good workers and will be ready to give other Apaches jobs when they are available. This is the responsibility they have to their people."

Marvin was called back to his office so he pointed us over to the Tribal store for our next stop. The building covered half a block. It was new and modern having been rebuilt since fire destroyed it recently. The midday rush was on. Both checkout counters were jammed with carts piled high with assorted packaged goods. Each had sweets and soft drinks for the kids. Checkers were running up totals and collecting cash and metal script. These chips, advanced to the Apaches against their pay checks or cattle sales credits, simplify bookkeeping by eliminating charge accounts. This store did $1,000,000 gross business last year and the store at Bylas about $330,000. Across the street a three-lane service station and garage pumps around 1,200 gallons of gas a day.

Up the street, in a well-laid-out residential section, the Government-employees Club House, Lutheran and Catholic Churches occupy a prominent position. Here, many new homes have been built for the staff of the up-to-date U.S. Public Health Service hospital recently opened. This new, 36-bed facility has the latest X-ray equipment and a diagnostic laboratory. Today most babies are born in the hospital and the infant mortality rate has dropped greatly. Earl Sholly, Administrative Officer, said there are many narrow escapes when the ambulance or police cars dash out and bring in an expectant mother, but they usually make it on time. It has been the policy of the hospital to employ as many Indians as possible and presently two of their registered nurses are Apaches.

When the reservation was established, Indians preferred to take their troubles to the Medicine Men. But now, most of them, including some Medicine Men, have accepted this medical service available to them. And they depend on it.

Separate from the hospital, the Field Nursing Service is the liaison between home and hospital. Its Public Health nurses visit homes, instruct mothers in sanitation, nutrition, first-aid and baby care. The Service is proud to have Dora Hoffman, an Apache, assigned to work with them. Dora is the first Apache to qualify as a Trained Practical Nurse at San Carlos and she renders valuable service by talking with the old Apaches in their own language.

On a visit to the school, we learned from Reservation Principal, Alberta Challis, that classes from Beginners through Grade 4, for 462 children of the Peridot and San Carlos area, are taught by Bureau and Arizona Public School teachers, and 317 children attend Globe Public Schools for Grade 5 through high school. Six-year-old children who speak English enter first grade while those who speak only Apache must start in beginners class (similar to kindergarten) to learn English.

A similar system is used at Bylas except children in the upper grades go to Ft. Thomas.

Instructors have had special training in order to teach on Indian reservations. Classrooms are bright and colorful and the cafeteria is modern, beautifully equipped and decorated. Hot lunches, planned by the State Dietician in Phoenix, are prepared in the shining, stainless-steel kitchen. They are available for all pupils but only the public school children pay for theirs.The objective of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is eventually to have all Apache children educated in public schools. In this way, through closer association with their non-Indian neighbors, they will be better equipped to take their place alongside them. Their off-reservation neighbors, in turn, will better understand problems facing the Apaches.

In a new, modern building which also houses the jail, a Trial Court for infractions of Apache Reservation Laws is presided over by 27-year-old Dennis Nelson. Judge Nelson is another example of a well-educated member of the Tribe who came home to serve his people. Agency Criminal Investigator Phil Jordan supervises a welltrained police force equipped with two-way radio cars. The old courthouse has now been turned into a public library.

Churches of many different faiths dot the hillsides andlittle valleys throughout the populated areas. They are well-attended on Sundays and Prayer Meeting nights and serve as gathering places for their social and community activities.

The time now was right for seeing the reservation. John Fryer, a long-time friend, photographer and student of American Indians, had just arrived from Montana to accompany us. Back in the Tribe's office, Calvin Kindelay, Apache Game Warden, was assigned to show us the back country.

We took on provisions while Calvin worked out the itinerary. At five o'clock the next morning we headed up the road to Hilltop. Lights were burning in homes along the San Carlos River as early risers were preparing for the day's work. We took the first fork to the right, crossed mud puddles in the river bed and started up to the mesa on the other side.

Our way led up and up, over the foothills, along the edge of a canyon, then climbed steeply up the main mountain. Behind us were the thin outline of San Carlos and headlights of timber-workers' cars and trucks. From the crest, which was sparsely covered with cedar and juniper, we could see the distant ridges silhouetted by the first, soft shades of morning light.

In the pine forests, a little farther on, ponderosa pines crowded in close on both sides with small evergreens and sumac outlining the road.

When the sun came up we shed jackets and followed a timber truck to the logging site for pictures of loading.

Back to Hilltop, Calvin took us in his pickup across country to the Black River Crossing where the San Carlos joins the Fort Apache Reservation. There were many spectacular views as the road descends from the plateau to the river. Camping spots are available and fishing is good in the clear stream.

Next morning we headed for U.S. 60, driving through pines, past watering tanks and across wide stretches of open range where the grass was green and cattle grazed contentedly. A family of javelinas scampered away from a water-hole and a flock of fat turkeys strutted from an open spot into safe cover.

Calvin pointed out the area where the Tribe hopes soon to develop a lake as part of the Recreation Enterprise. It is an ideal setting close to the main highway.

Turning right on U.S. 60 we drove into Seneca and visited the small charcoal plant there. Tribal leaders see this type of small industry as ideal for Apache families who like to camp out and who prefer work on the reservation. They hope to stimulate interest in it and eventually to provide the needed working capital and marketing facilities.

Back on U.S. 60, and going north a few miles, we turned off to the west and to the asbestos mines. Both the Metate and Phillips mines have yielded extra-fine, extra-long fibers that are in demand for filters in wineries, breweries and chemical plants. Apache men do most of the mining and women do the sorting. The Tribe wants either to encourage more miners to operate on their land, or else go into the business themselves. Here and there the roads to each mine cling precariously to the steep Salt River Canyon walls offering spectacular picture possibilities.

Our return trip to San Carlos was made after the sun came up so there was a better chance to see the country. In the forest, only trees the government forester selected for cutting had been felled and the brush was neatly piled up for burning. Where the road starts down into the valley we stopped to picture the vast country stretching out before us. In the distance numerous mesas rising abruptly from the valley floor stood out in bold relief. Close by, several canyons with steep rock walls started a quick descent, widening and softening out as they met the flat country. Tall seed-pod stalks of sotols stood along the ridges like sentinels.

Going down, we found a different view at each turn, then, following a hog-back for some distance, descended another slope through scattered oaks to the rolling foothills and soon dropped into Cassadore Springs Canyon. Fresh water bubbled from the hillside, flooding a patch of water cress and wild mint. Inside an area, fenced to keep out cows, is a concrete table, a fireplace and water, piped in for the convenience of picnickers. Large sycamore and walnut trees shaded both sides of the small stream. Sides of the hills forming the canyon were studded with huge rocks and yuccas, cactus and yellow flowers. The rest of the way on down to San Carlos was through arid desert country.

With more provisions and full tanks, we hit the trail for Point of Pines about ninety miles to the northeast. From a point midway between San Carlos and Peridot, we took the gravel road gravel road going east, crossed the river then climbed up a rugged canyon for nine miles to the broad mesa above. Saguaros and many desert plants on each side of the road stood out against red rock formations. To the right, the back side of Triplets rose up on the skyline and a new, wide road came in from the south. It is the first section of the proposed highway through the reservation, connecting U.S. 70 with the Coronado Trail, Arizona 666, opening up the Point of Pines recreation area.

At Warm Springs Junction, Calvin turned north. Scattered cattle grazing on the range seemed mere specks in this vast plateau and, ahead of us, a single-strand telephone wire stretched out to infinity. The road, rough in spots, soon took a sharp dip down off the mesa into a narrow canyon. At the bottom a shaded park alongside the clear stream was inviting. We took a quick, refreshing look, crossed over and climbed to another mesa. Looking back we could see the tufa-stone ranch headquarters and many trails worn in the hillside by stock going down for a drink.Using a map put out by the San Carlos Game and Fish Commission, it was easy to trace our route. At Rocky Junction, about five miles farther on, we crossed a dry wash studded with boulders, then took the right hand fork towards Chiricahua Butte. There were hills on both sides. Soon a roundup camp with house, corrals, fenced pastures and watering tank was passed. Scattered junipers and cedars indicated that we were beginning to climb to the high country.

Keeping the butte to our left, we turned right at the next junction. Unusually finally large clumps of cholla were on both sides. Oaks and junipers grew closer together providing shade for cattle. Gaining altitude the open country extended far to our right with Triplets in the background and Mt. Graham showing on the distant horizon. Scrub trees closed in as the road narrowed and followed a hog-back in the Nantes Mountains. An aroma of coffee came out of the brush and instinctively we turned down the first trail to a roundup camp about half a mile away. Trees were so close together that a clearing had to be cut to make room for the camp with its twenty tents, two cooks and twenty-five cowboys belonging to the Ash Creek outfit. This camp at Round Valley had to have its water hauled in a 500-gallon tank truck. From where we sat it looked like it would take a magician to find cattle in the dense cover, let alone round them up. Later we learned how this job was done. When the roundup is in full swing, trap gates are set in the fences enclosing water holes. When cattle come in to drink they push their way in easily but can't get back out. It's an old Indian trick.

Returning to the hog-back road, we soon entered the pine forest, crossed Deer Creek, went through a junipereradication area, passed the Bloody Basin turn-off and came to Pole Corral. Here a permanent camp is headquarters for spring and fall roundups and for cowboys who move the cattle around to different pastures in the summer to prevent over-grazing of the range. During winter a stockman and his helper stay to take care of the cattle. There's a fine tank (lake) here with good camping sites among the pines along the shore and fishing is good at times.Now we were in real high mountain country with thick stands of prime timber and open parks carpeted with grass and wild flowers. In one of these parks at Bobcat, the Point of Pines Cattle Association roundup camp had been set up. This camp stood out as a model of perfection, as cow-camps go. It was late so we arranged to revisit the camp for pictures and pushed on to our Point of Pines destination. After we made camp and sat around the fire, Calvin loosened up and told us some folk tales of the early days. We were particularly intrigued with the story about medicine men who had the power to cast a spell all around a wild horse so that a brave could walk up and catch him, and another about the spirits that brought motor-trouble to the dusting plane that had killed the queen grasshopper. Then there was the girl who could not do any farming because she had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and, after that, plants would wither if she touched them. You could run fifteen miles up a mountain between sunset and dark if the medicine man treated you by sprinkling pollen on the calves of your legs. Bear meat made the eater as mean as a bear and hoot owls predicted a death in the family.

Roundup camp

Stars were bright in a clear sky when we turned in but next morning it was raining. Over at the University of Arizona diggings at the prehistoric Indian mounds, we picked up several pieces of pottery. The whys and wherefores of these extensive excavations were too much for amateurs to understand so, on our return to Tucson, we looked up Dr. Emil A. Haury who summarized the work of the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School like this, "During a fifteen-year period, 278 student diggers, from so colleges and universities, produced evidence for the continuous occupation of the region from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1450 when the area was abandoned. Only minimal information was recovered for the study of the early Apache who moved into the area after the abandoned prehistoric villages had fallen into ruin."

When the excavations were terminated in 1960, the University of Arizona turned over to the Tribe all of the buildings and facilities at the station. Plans are now being formulated to use them as the nucleus of a summer resort. Furnished cabins will be available. There will be a restaurant and a string of pack horses and saddle horses for trips to wilderness areas such as Dry Lake.

We made the trip to Dry Lake in Calvin's pickup but cannot recommend it for travel in anything except high clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles. The route goes through interesting wilderness country that eventually will be accessible by a good, safe road. Wildlife abounds in this area and fishing is good. We saw six deer and lots of turkeys. The road, built to serve as a fire lookout, has been in disuse for a long time. The station was abandoned. Now, only stockmen, hunters and a few adventurers use the road.

North of Point of Pines, wide-open range country extends to the Black River Canyon and eastward to the reservation boundary. The road was slippery but passable with Calvin's positive-action rear axle. Three coyotes ran off to a safe distance to watch us.

The Phelps Dodge Corporation operates a pumping plant to lift water from the Black River and pipe it six miles to an open ditch for gravity flow on its way to the copper operation at Morenci. The Apaches allowed it to cross their land in return for water for their cattle in this area. We found the superintendent, Randall Lunt, picking apples in his orchard. He had a bumper crop in spite of the freezing weather the April before when he had to work nights to save the blossoms and baby fruit.

It was cloudy when Mr. Lunt took us down four hundred feet by cable car to see the pumping plant and canyon. We felt we were in another world down there, so thick and green was the vegetation along the river. When the sun came out next day, we returned and photographed the river, going and coming, from both the top and bottom of the canyon.

Later on when the light was right, we revisited the lake at Pole Corral and some of the open parks seen on the way up, and made pictures under more perfect conditions.

Next morning we started out to complete our loop tour of the reservation by following the southern route. Right after Point of Pines there was a long stretch of ponderosa forest but as soon as we started down to a lower altitude we were among the scrub trees.

At Park Creek we found the Tribe's IDT Cattle outfit roundup camp under some trees on the bank above the stream bed. Profits from this herd are set aside mainly for the Tribe's old age assistance program.

Very little roundup activity was in sight around any of the camps we had visited as the cowboys were out in teams, combing the arroyos, brush and timber for strays. This is a long, exacting job which can be done well only by seasoned men who know the country. So vast and wild is the range that it takes over a month to work it thoroughly and collect the herd into a fenced pasture. Then, the cattle are sorted and those ready for market are driven to the auction pens, in some cases fifty miles away.

Following a tributary of Bonita Creek, we lost altitude quickly and came out into the open country with wide vistas but sparse browse. Hills were covered with grass, the steeper the hill the more grass, as the cows preferred to graze on the easier-to-get feed. According to history, Apaches got a bad deal when they were restricted to this reservation but it has turned out that they have some of the finest grazing land in the southwest and are envied by many ranchers operating in border areas. The Tribe wishes that it had even more and is completely sold on the need for conservation and takes all recommended steps to improve the available range so that it will carry more cows and increase the beef yield.

Dropping down into the Big Bonita basin we came on the Slaughter outfit's camp just in time to shoot a picture of the remuda coming in.

Coming out of the canyon we were soon in a great range country cradled by the Gila Mountains on the south and the Nantac Rim on the north, and extending over twenty miles. Numerous watering tanks had been developed to collect the run-off water and hold it for the cattle. They were spaced at intervals sufficiently close so that the cattle did not work off their fat going from feed to tank and back again. The well-used road crossed several cattle-guards in the six-strand barbed wire fences before we arrived at the headquarters of the Tribe's Registered Herd.

George Stevens, the Apache manager, was expecting us and had arranged to show a bunch of the prime purebred Herefords. On a tour of the pens and pastures, he told us about registered cattle.

The Registered Herd was started in 1938 to provide breeding stock for the Apache cattle associations. Upon recommendations from the University of Arizona and the Bureau, six prize Montana bulls were bought, for $750.00 each, to start the new program to raise bettergrade beef cattle instead of show-type animals.

Today, stout fences divide 90,000 acres of good range into thirty-one controlled pastures, including seventeen breeding pastures each with concrete watering troughs. Each fall around one hundred and fifty bulls are sold to the cattle associations at about $300 a head, while six top ones are held over. At spring roundup, heifers are carefully checked, culls turned over to the IDT Herd, the best ones kept to build up the Registered Herd. Steers and old cows are sold to outside buyers. In this way Stevens aims to up-grade the registered cows and replace the unregistered ones with purebreds so the Tribe eventually will have a one-hundred percent regis-tered herd of around one thousand cows. Stockmen of the various Apache cattle associations are grateful for the assist they have had in being able to buy registered bulls at reasonable prices. Cattle raising is so important the Tribe budgeted $85,000 this year for the Registered Herd.

George, who has been with cattle all his life, is proud of the Registered Herd's record. But, as he casts a hopeful eye on the future, he is worried over the shortage of good cowboys. And the cattle associations are worried, too. In a recent meeting they discussed ways and means of encouraging young men to train and qualify for this work. They are studying some pertinent facts that point up the reason for this shortage. Not many Apache families can afford to keep horses for their children. Range land is too valuable for cattle-raising to spare much of it for pleasure horses. Actually, few people need a horse since autos and tractors have taken over. Much of the glamor of cowboy life has faded and most other trades offer better wages for less work. And, worst of all, it is only short, seasonal work twice a year. As one young cowboy put it, "Cowboy life is care-free and rugged. Wages are poor. You buy a pair of Levis and that's your day's pay!" Another said, "Young boys should think highly about this cattle work but they don't. Why, we have one cowboy in this outfit who's about sixty years old." And another said, "I'm just learn-ing cowboy life. It's hard to learn and it's rough but I try to stay with it and learn more about it." Such young men raised in settlements do have it tough since they usually are in their teens before they have a chance to get acquainted with a horse or cow. They have to start from scratch, climb aboard a horse and learn as they go-on top or on the ground. There are fewer old-timers left to show the way and there's no time for teaching while on a roundup.

The rest of the way to San Carlos was through more range country, desert and canyons. Just beyond Warm Springs Junction, we appreciated the smooth, wide 18mile cutoff to U.S. 70 where Calvin turned off for home. We reached headquarters in time to attend, and pic-ture, a Ladies' Aid meeting presided over by Mrs. Hamp-ton Haozous. Reports were made on care and comfort for the sick, housing, lessons in good grooming, talent shows, layettes and girls' summer work projects. Volunteers were called for to help us locate and stage scenes of Apache crafts. Then refreshments were served.

We spent three days working with different groups gathering walnuts, acorns, mesquite beans, cactus fruit, agave stalks and building a wickiup. The women wore bright-colored traditional dresses and knew just where to get the best pictures. And they coached us on proper methods. They asked many questions and had a lot of fun making jokes. Before lunch, beside a stream of running water, they asked a blessing. One group asked to be home in time to "Sing Along With Mitch."

Mrs. Mary Bell King of the Bureau's Extension Service arranged pictures of garden crops, bead work, art and a quilting bee over at the Assembly of God Church. The quilting bee was a success with a full house crowding around the quilt, as Reverend and Mrs. Oliver Treece directed the quilting.

The Treeces also helped us get models to stage a Tribal Voting scene. This was planned for Sunday so we went over in time to attend church and pick up the volunteers right afterward. The service, conducted partly by Reverend Treece, in English, and partly by his Apache assistant in his native tongue, was listened to by an attentive congregation. Hymns were sung enthusiastically. Testimony and individual prayers of members were inspiring.

In the afternoon a group of young girls from the church re-enacted one of the summer work projects. They put on jeans, took paint brushes, paint, rakes, shovels and brooms and went to work cleaning up the yard and painting the house. This project, initiated by the Bureau's Extension Service and sponsored by the Women's Hospital Auxiliary, uses a grant from the "Save The Children" plan, plus some Bureau money. This past summer five houses were done over inside and out by the girls. They spent the mornings cleaning, painting, making curtains, refinishing furniture and planting flowers and trees. Regular carpenters were hired to do the remodeling and repairs. The girls received $2.50 a day for their work and attended afternoon classes where they were schooled in first aid, cooking, sewing, good grooming, baby sitting and motherhood.

We wanted pictures of typical Apache types, so Trudy Ann Modless, 1962 Apache beauty queen candidate at the Arizona State Fair, came down from East Fork Mission. Another day, Mrs. Haazons prettied up her three little girls, Praline Mull sent her daughter in a new red dress, especially made for the picture, and Era Black pot on her Sunday best for us.

Bags and notebooks bulging with pictures and data, we sorted for Tucson. Stopping off at Byiss, Mrs. Helen Talbot suggested a picture of two women making Apache dolls, so we couldn't resist "just another shot as photographing goes.

Chairman Mall says, "The council and leading Apaches know that education is the main key to open for them the doors to success." To be sure that every Apache child takes advantage of the schooling which is available, they have fortified their Tribal laws with this amendment:

FAILURE TO SEND CHILDREN TO SCHOOL

Any Indian who shall, without good reason, neglect or refuse to send his children or any children under his care to school shall be deemed guilty of an offense and upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period not to exceed 30 days or to a fine not to exceed $100.00 or to both such imprisonment and fine, with costs for the first offense and the Court may double the first fine for such additional offense.

To enforce this law Juvenile Officers check every school bus going to Globe and Ft. Thomas each morning and get a list of any absentees from the drivers, then call at the Reservation schools for their attendance reports. They investigate each child absent from school and take action against the parents when justified, Sharing the burden of responsibility, the Tribal Council has a special education committee presided over by vice-chairman Harrison Porter. The committee buys clothes and school supplies, for children of needy families, with foods raised by dances, weekly motion picture shows, rodeos and basketball tournaments they sponsor. They also administer a revolving scholarship fund which is loaned, $400.00 at a time, for a semester. When a semester is successfully completed, another $400.00 is loaned. Students pay back the loan through summer employment or after graduation. There are nine Apaches in college today and the Tribe intends to increase the number each year. Much emphasis is being placed on vocational training offered by the Bureau at off-reservation locations. These boarding schools were established to equip Indians for jobs in business and industry, especially those who did not or could not take advantage of regular schooling when they were younger.

For those who need to work while they learn, the on-the-job training program is raising the Apaches' capacity for skilled work. The Education Committee works continually to encourage Apaches to take full advantage of both of these programs. Sizing up: The Tribe's overall objective has been geared to this pattern-Conserve and Utilize Resources, Educate All Apaches, Expand Enterprises, Finance Small Business, Attract Industry and Tourists. The San Carlos Apaches have made a good start on their hard, up-hill climb. Their Tribal leaders know where they are going and what they need to help them get there. They are a proud people with plenty of fight still left in them so there's little doubt but that they will reach their goal.

Yesterdays in the Land of the San Carlos Apaches

The San Carlos Indian Reservation was established by Executive Order on November 9, 1871. The reservation was established to be a catch-all for various bands of Apaches as well as other Indians during the Apache wars. General George Crook protested against herding so many different tribes onto a single reservation, and the Indians themselves resented it, since their various tribes were not united in any way, but rather in many instances were openly suspicious and hostile toward each other. Nevertheless, the yesterdays in the land of the San Carlos Apaches are colorful pages in the history of the West.