54 THE PIMA INDIANS [eth. axn. 26 



daylight. The Apaches ran confusedly about without their weapons ; 



fifteen were killed and many guns, bows, and quivers were captured. 



Blaclwatcr. At the hill, Ka'raatftk, somewhat detaclied 



from the Sacatons on the northeast, a man was bitten by a 



rattlesnake and died. 



At about the same time the Pimas killed an Apache who was known 



as Vakoa, Canteen, near the Superstition mountains. 



1872 V3 



Gila Crossing, Salt River. For several years the Pinaas had had little 

 water to irrigate their fields and were beginning to siifi'er from actual 

 want when the settlers on Salt river mvited them to come to that val- 

 ley. During this year a large party of Rso't<ik Pimas accepted the 

 invitation and cleared fields along the river bottom south of their 

 present location. Water was pientifid in the Salt and the first year's 

 crop was the best that they had ever known. The motive of the Mor- 

 mons on the Salt was not wholh' disinterested, as they desired the 

 Pimas to act as a buffer against the assaults of the Apaches, who were 

 masters of the country to the north and east." 



Salt River. It was during this winter that the United States sol- 

 diers and the Pima, Maricopa, and Apache scouts surrounded the 

 Superstition Mountain Apaches at the "Tanks" and rained bullets 

 into their ranks imtil not a single man remamed alive. "It was a 

 sight long to be remembered," said Owl Ear, in narratmg the cir- 

 cumstances.* 



1873 74 



Vj« Gila Crossing. Ku-ukamCikam, the Apache chief, and his band 

 ^ were killed by the soldiers and Pima scouts. 



KamClk Wutca A-atam, People-under-Ka'matftk, or the village at 

 Gila Crossing, was settled durmg this year.'' 



"'Tp=jpjpr==- Gila Crossing, Salt Riwr. The telegraph line was 

 " w I » run through from west to east during the winter.'' 



a By Executive order of June 14, 1879, the land occupied by the Pimas on Salt river was set apart as 

 the Salt River reservation. It embraces about three townships on the north side of the river about 

 30 miles north of the original Pima villages. There are several largo ruins and at least one large 

 canal upon the reservation that were built by the Hohokam. By an arrangement with the canal com- 

 panies the I'imas have insured for themselves a constant supply of water, and the Salt Rivercommanity 

 is regarded as the most prosperous among the Pimas. 



i> This sharp engagement took place on the 28th of December, 1872, in the canyon of the Salt river, 

 south of the Mazatzal mountains. It has been graphically described by C'apt. John G. Bourke in his 

 On the Border with Crook, 191-200. He states that 70 Apaches were kiUed and 18 captured. One 

 wounded man was overiooked and made his escape. "Lead poured in l)y the bucketful" and an 

 avalanche of liowlders was hurled down hundreds of feet from above upon the enemy. 



c There is an unfailing supply of water at this place; the Gila, after flowing 75 miles Ijeneath the sur- 

 face, rises to fonn a stream large enough to irrigate several hundred acn>s. 



d This was a military telegraph l)uilt from funds obtained l)y special appropriations from Congress. 

 Arizona was fairly well provided with telegraph lines by the time the railroad reached Yuma, in 1877, 

 as then; wen^ more than 1,000 miles in operation in the Territory. 



