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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 47 made up from the Indians fed at this post. I have every reason to believe, that had they been unmolested, they would have remained and would have gradually increased in numbers, as they constantly had been doing up to the time I left the post." And Air. F. L. Austin, the post trader, a gentleman well known and respected, not only " fully indorses Lieutenant Whitman's statement throughout," but says, " the In-dians, whi'le here, seemed to be under perfect control, and in all my business with them, in paying for some one hundred and fifty tons of hay for the contractor, never had any trouble or difficulty of any kind. They very readily learn any little customs of trade, &. c. It is my opinion they would have remained and increased in numbers, had they not been attacked." Mr. Miles L. Wood, the beef contractor for the military, testifies that ho" was not absent one day, and personally issued every pound of beef drawn by them. They brought, ticket's to me, on which I issued. After completing the issue, I took the tickets to acting commissary of subsistence, and verified them by the official count of that day. I never had any trouble in my delivery. Lieutenant Whitman selected an Indian for policeman, gave him his orders, and good order was always preserved. I have lived in California, and have seen a great deal of Indians. Have heard a good deal of the Apaches, and was much surprised at the general intelligence and good be-havior of those I saw at this post." William Kness, the mail- carrier at the post, swears that though he has lived on the Pacific coast for twenty- six years, familiar with Indians, and prejudiced against the Apaches, yet " made it a point to study the character and habits of the Apache Indians at Camp Grant, before the massacre, and the result was that I was convinced that they were acting in good faith and earnestly desired peace. They were industrious, the women particularly so. Among all the Indians I have ever seen I have never met with as great a regard for virtue and chastity as I have found among these Apache women. In regard to the charge that after they were fed they went out on raiding parties, I have to say that I do not believe it. They were contented under our super-vision, being in every three days for rations, and their faces familiar, and their number constantly increasing. I have read the statement of Oscar Huttou in regard to this point, and I have no doubt that he is correct, that no raiding parties were ever made by the Indians from this post. I also believe that if the massacre had not occurred we should have had from eight hundred to one thousand Apache Indians on this reserva-tion before this time." ( See Appendix A b, No. 3.) On the day of my arrival at Camp Grant, finding that no copy of the orders of the War Department dated Washington, July 18, 1871, and of July 31, 1871, had yet been received here from General Crook, I took the liberty of inclosing copies, and also a copy of the instructions of the Interior Department, to him for his information. In our interviews with the chiefs of the Aravapa and Filial Apaches at Camp Grant we found that, notwithstanding so many of their people had been killed at Camp Grant, they still clung to the Aravapa and San Pedro Valleys as their home, and would not listen to our proposal to remove them over to the White Mountains. Believ-ing it better, for the sake of peace, that their wishes should be acceded to for the pres-ent, in consultation with the officers of the post, we concluded to fix the limits of their reservation as follows : Bounded north by the Gila River ; west by a line ten miles from and parallel to the general course of the San Pedro River; south by a line at right angles to the western boundary, crossing the San Pedro ten miles from Camp Grant ; east by a line at right angles to the southern boundary, touching the western base of Mount Trumbull, terminating at the Gila River, the northern boundary. ( See Appendix No. 15.) We carefully instructed the chiefs about these boundaries, impressing it upon their minds that they must not go beyond them ; that while within these limits they would be protected and fed ; if they went beyond they would become objects of suspicion, and liable to be punished by both citizens and soldiers. They said they understood it. Our first intention was to limit the boundaries of the reservation to a distance of ten miles square on each side of the post ; but as the Gila river on the north did not much exceed that distance, and formed a good natural boundary which the India/ us could easily remember, and the country on the east was a barren waste, yielding nothing that the white man cared for, but considerable food, such as mescal, mesquite beans, and cactus fruit, of which the Apaches were very fond, we concluded to extend the limits to the Gila river on the north, and the westerly base of Mount Trumbulioiithe east. The assurances given to us by the officers and citizens most familiar with the habits of the Indians before referred to, and found in Appendix A b, No. 3, that they would not leave the reservations if properly fed and cared for, dismissed all doubts from our mind con-cerning this point. Should the Government approve my action in locating this reservation, there are Rome improvements made by several settlers, ou the San Pedro, which should be ap-praised by Government officers and the owners paid for them. Several of the ranches are good adobe buildiugs, which will be of value for the use of the Indian department. |
