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Show 34 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. occupy a fine country, with many beautiful mountains, streams, and rich, fertile valleys for cultivation. This division numbers two thousand five hundred souls, o whom six hundred are warriors. In all their intercourse with the Government, their deportment toward travelers and traders, they have shown themselves to he the most reliable of all the hands of the Apaches." In 1867 he had a peace talk with the chiefs of the Finals, and reports: " The result of these meetings was very satisfactory, and, up to the present time, no well- authen-ticated robbery lias been committed by them. Many attempts have been made by interested and dishonest parties to create the impression the Finals are stealing, with the hope of inducing the department commander to send more troops to their territory. I know, however, that the country has never been so safe as at present." Of fcheir in-dustry and intelligence, in 1H68, lie writes: " The Final and White Mountain Coyoteros cultivate the soil extensively, raise wheat, corn, beans, and pumpkins in abundance. In this particular they are far in advance of all the other Apaches. They have some game, mescal, and tuna to subsist on, and, as no settlements yet encroach upon their country, all they will need fur a few years will be a liberal distribution of presents yearly, and some hoes and spades, to enable them to cultivate the soil more ex-tensively." John Walker, who was appointed agent for the Pimos and Maricopas, in 1859, reports on the Final Apaches thus : " It might here be proper also to report the disposition, as near as possible, of the Finals, who visit me frequently, professing great love for the American people, and say they will not violate the treaty made last March with Agent M. Steck, which I am disposed to credit, as they have been visiting Tucson ever since, and I have no recollection of any animal being stolen which the Indians have been charged with. * * I had along talk with them; they appeared very candid. As they tell the same consistent tale every time, I am compelled to give them credit; for they have frequently met Americans," and not interrupted them in any way, when there were but two or three together, and the number of Indians was large. The Mexican government, formerly in possession of this Territory, di tiered widely from ours in its policy and views in relation to the rights of the Indians in the soil. That government held that the Indian had no rights, as original. possessors of the land, which it was in any manner bound to respect, and to this policy is due the unceasing war which has been waged by this brave people against the Mexicans. When the Americans first came among them bringing the better traditions of their country with them, and treating them as a people whose rights to the soil not having yet been extinguished by treaty or otherwise, were entitled to some respect, and so treated them kindly, the Apaches received them as friends. But with the natural gravitation toward barbarism which seems inherent in human nature when left unre-strained, as in the life on the border, the Americans soon learned to follow the example of the Mexicans, and adopting their anti Christian law of " might makes right," began to treat the Apaches as incurnbrances to be exterminated. They reaped the bloody fruits of that policy ia a war which has cost us a thousand livos and forty millions of doilars." CRUELTIES OF WHITE PEOPLE TOWARD THE APACHES. * Mr. J. H. Lyraan, of Northampton, who spent a year in 1840 and 1841 among the Apaches of Arizona, relates an incident which occurred among the Apaches at a time when they treated Americans with the most cordial hospitality. " The Indians were then, as now, hostile to the Mexicans of Sonora, and they were constantly making raids into that State, and driving off the cattle. The Mexicans feared them, and were unable to meet them man to man. At that time American trap-pers found the beaver very abundant about the headwaters of the Gila river, among those rich mountain valleys where the Apachas had, and still have, their secure re-treats. At the time I speak of there were two companies of trappers in that region. One of the companies, about seventeen men. was under a captain named Johnson. The other company consisted of thirty men, I think. I was trapping on another head of the Gila, several miles north. The valleys were full of Apachea, but all peaceful toward the white men, both Indians and whites visiting each other's camps constantly and fearlessly, with no thought of treachery or evil. Besides the Mexicans, the only enemies of the Apachs were the Fi- Utes and Navajoes on the northwest. But here in their fastness, they felt themselves sate from all foes. " One day Johnson concluded to go down into Sonora on a spree, as was occasionally the way with mountain men. He there saw the governor of the department, who. knowing that he had the confidence of the Indians, offered him an ounce of gold for every Apache scalp he would bring him. The bargain was struck. Johnson procured a small mountain howitzer, and then, with supplies for his party, returned to his camp. Previous to entering it, he loaded his howitzer with a quantity of bullets. On ap-proaching the valley, he was mat by the Indians, who joyfully welcomed him back, and proceeded at once to prepare the usual feast. While they were boiling and roasting their venison and bear meat, and were gathered in a dense group around the fire |
