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Show COMMISSIONEJt OF INDIAN AFFAIBB. 99 November 27, 1901, the Department answered that it had directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office 'Lto reserve for Indian purposes the lands of the Camp McDowell Indian Reservation, in -4rizona, which by the act of 1894 are reserved from settlement, and also the north half of the said abandoned military reservation, until action thereon can be had from Congress; " and this Office was directed to prepare a report for transmission to Congress L'looking to the acquiring of these lands for allotment to the Mohave-Apache now living on said lands and to those living in the Verde Valley, Arizona." December 12, 1901, the draft of a bill was transmitted to the De-partment providing for the allotment in severalty to the Indians of the lands which included the Government improvements on the aban-doned military post, consisting of (1) the immediate site of the old camp, with its good artesian well; (2) the post garden; (3) the United States Government farm; (4) the lands lying north of the old camp and containing the old Government irrigating ditch; (5) the target-practice grounds, and any other land reserved from entry by the act of August 23,1894. The bill was introduced in Congress, but was not passed. When it became known that the Department was trying to secure those lands, containing about 400 acres, as homes for the Indians, it raused much bitter feeling on the part of the whites, who had for-merly maltreated and misrepresented the Indians and had used every means at command to drive them off the military reservation. In Office letter to the Department of September 2, 1902, it was earnestly recommended that the matter be brought again to the attenion of Congress at its next session, which was done, but no action was taken by Congress. In the summer of 1903 the President sent Mr. Frank Mead to Camp McDowell to investigate the serious trouble threatened between the whites and Indians there. His report of September 4, 1903, showed that the Mohave-Apache Indians, numbering between 500 and 600, were scattered in small bands from Camp McDowell to the head of the Verde River, and on adjacent creeks, railroad, and mining camps, the largest bands being at Fort McDowell, where there were about 184 persons, and at Camp Verde, where there were about 216. The Indian agent at San Carlos said that there were from 800 to 1,000 Indians off the reservation, who thought the Government approved of their seeking homes in the Verde Valley, as they leftqsan Carlos for that purpose by permission of their agent. The Verde Valley was their old home, where they had lived for generations. About twenty-nine years ago, against their wish but at the request of General Crook, whom they liked and respected, they left the Vei-de Valley and went to live on the reservation at San |
