THE 1RRIGA T10N A GE. 223 



lished and cities were built. On one of my earliest trips in that region 

 crossing frcm north to scutb, I passed several old ditches higher up 

 than any now used. I spent seme time trying to gratify my curiosity. 

 We found the ruins of these old cities, with pottery there and every 

 evidence of an advanced civilization. It is a remarkably fertile region 

 with water. Without water, of course, it is a desert. Along the river 

 there are several tribes of Indians the Pimas, Papagoes, and Mari- 

 copas who carried on their industries. They were a good people. 

 They were irrigators and farmers before the white people went into 

 the country. They remained friendly to the people of the United 

 States during all the Indian wars. 



Their villages were a refuge for the pioneers of that Territory 

 when a white man's life was hardly safe anywhere else in the Terri- 

 tory from the murderous Apaches. Now we are taking care of the 

 Apaches. They are fat and sleek. But the friendly Indians must 

 starve because they could not protect themselves. They are the 

 wards of the Government. If they had been white men they would 

 have gone into court and prevented the diversion of their water. "But 

 the Government did not protect them, and now their water is gone 

 and we are told we can not build this reservoir because we might, in 

 addition to doing justice to the Indians, reclaim some desert Govern- 

 ment land and provide a few homes for white men. 



These Indians were never dependent on the Government until 

 their water was taken from them. They are not roving Indians; they 

 are farmers. They cultivated their little farms and made a living for 

 themselves, and they will do it again if we give them back their water. 

 If we do not, they must starve or be fed, and to feed them makes beg 

 gars and mendicants of them. But some people would seem to prefer 

 that Indians should starve or beg or be made paupers, if necessary, to 

 prevent the Government getting back the cost of the reservoir from 

 settlers on Government land. What is their wrong about the Govern- 

 ment getting its money back? What is there wrong about irrigating 

 some desert land so white settlers can cultivate it? Will a few more 

 white men's homes do any harm? 



The Government report (Storage of Water on Gila River, Arizona, 

 by Lippincott, House Document No. 351, Fifty-sixth Congress, first 

 session) tells all about these Indians and the way they have been 

 neglected. Here is what it says on page 9: 



The Gila River Indian reservation is occupied chiefly by the Pima and Maricopa 

 Indians and a limited number of Papagoes. The first knowledge we have of these 

 Indians is obtained from a narrative of Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer, who 

 visited this region about the year 1536, after an adventurous journey overland from 

 Florida. This traveler describes them very much as they are to-day. They occupied 

 the same lands as at present, and have evidently long been industrious and success- 

 ful farmers and irrigators, as they continued to be for many years after the acquisi- 



