RissELL] ANNALS 65 



There was a heavy fall of snow that could be rolled into great balls 

 as it was melting. 



Blackwater. There was no crop this year." 



1899 IQOO 



Gila Crossing. During the summer of 1899 a Catholic 

 mission school was established at Gila Crossing. 



A Papago was killed by lightning at Gila Crossing. 



Barbed wire was issued from the agency at Sacaton.'' 



©The Indian Department established a day school at Gila Cross- 



L 



ing at this time. 



Victor Jackson was struck by lightning as he was returning 

 to Sacaton on the stage road from Casa Grande.' 



Blaclcwater. A woman at Blackwater was fatally bitten 

 by a rattlesnake.'' 



o The water of the Gila had been so far utilized by white settlers above the resen-ation, for the most 

 part more than a hundird miles above, that there was none left for the Pimas. It is difficult to obtain 

 accurate iiifonnationat this tune of the number who perished either directly or indirectly l)y starvation. 

 During this and the following year Ave persons a re known to have died from this cause, and it is probable 

 that there were others. Most of the rimas will not beg, however desperate their need maj'be, so that 

 not all cases were reported. 



In one case a wood chopper tried during the hot season to cut mesquite forsale, but he was too weak 

 to withstand the heat an<l the exertion and was found dead in the chaparral. .-Vn old couple were found 

 dead in their house with no food of any kind in their storehouse, and it is supposed that they preferred 

 to starve rather than l)eg. .V man riding to Salt River was too weak from hunger to keep his saddle 

 and fell and perished. 



<> The agent wisely stipulated that if they received free wire they must leave a lane for a road through 

 the fields. The width was not prescribed and they made the lane so na rrow that two teams can scarcely 

 pass each other in it. and it becomes churni^d into mud when the adjoining land is flooded for pur- 

 poses of irrigation. The Pimas have not manifested any striking road-building instinct that would 

 lead an enthusiastic admirer to rrlnte them to the .\ztecs or Incas. Year after year they plodded 

 through the slough between the agency and the river without making an etfort to put in a bridge or 

 filling. When one of the Government employees was building a bridge for them several passing team- 

 sters preferred risking their teams and wagons in the sea of nmd to assisting for a few minutes to put 

 the bridge in place. 



The soil of the reservation is well adapted for road making, and a little care would make the thorough- 

 fares as hard and smooth as those to be foimd anywhere. However, those upon the tillable lands of 

 river silt readily cut into light dust that rises in clouds when disturbed. In a few places this condition 

 has Ijeen n'lnedied liy resorting to the temporary and shiftless expedient of the whiti> settlers, whoeover 

 the road with straw or corral refuse. The mesa roads, wliich include all those leading any distance 

 from tlK' I'rila, pass alternately over loose soil containing coarsc> sand that gradually aceunuilates in the 

 ruts and renders the road "heavy," and over '■adobo"soil which is hard and firm in dry seasons, and 

 which makes an ideal roadbed. Hill roads are unknown and there are very few traveling sand dunes 

 to be crossed near thi» n?servation. 



c His horse was killed and its bones are certain to be pointed out to the stage traveler by the loqua- 

 cious driver, .lohn McCoy. 



Jit may be presmned that such occurrences are rale or they would not be deemed worthy of rword. 

 This woman had gone fa r out on the desert to search for mesquite beans, as she was without foorl; indet^d 

 the whole community was starving because of the failure of the crops owing to the lack of water in 

 the river for their ditches. Rattlesnakes sometimes make their way into the houses and bite the occu- 

 pants. Repeated inquiries failed to elicit information that would indicate that any remedies weie used 

 for snake bites. .\ common weed (golondrina?) is called snakeweed by a few whites, and is supposed to 

 1)6 used as a remedy by the Pimas, but 1 have not yet found a native whoever heard of Its being so used. 

 26 ETH — 08 7 



