SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 229 
bimonthly stage line between San Antonio and San Diego was estab- 
lished in 1857. The area under cultivation was small, but it was 
increased somewhat in the early seventies, and continued intermittently 
until 1905, when a heavy flood destroyed most of the canals. Some of 
these canals have since been restored and new ones developed, but 
the principal enterprise now in operation is the utilization of water 
held by the Gillespie Dam, 20 miles north of Gila Bend. (See p. 219.) 
The lower Gila River Valley figures prominently in the chronicles 
of many of the early explorers of Pimeria Alta. When Kino explored 
this valley in 1699 and 1700 and Garcés in 1771 and later, they found 
many Indian rancherias and some irrigation, but the adjoining region 
was so inhospitable that it supported only a meager population. The 
Pimas and some Papagos dwelt on the banks of the Gila near the 
mouth of the Salt River, and these streams furnished water for con- 
siderable irrigation. The Maricopas, who were of Yuman stock, 
moved gradually up the Gila Valley, pausing at Gila Bend in Garcés’ 
time and finally reaching the Phoenix region, where many now reside 
with the Pimas. The Yavapais or Apache-Mojaves lived in part in 
the region between the Colorado and Gila Rivers. In early days 
they were friendly to the whites, but after suffering various injustices 
they went on the warpath in 1868 and were troublesome for several 
years. Oatman Flat, on the Gila River a few miles northwest of 
Gila Bend, was the scene of an Apache attack in 1851, in which an 
emigrant named Oatman and his family were killed, except a young 
son who escaped and two daughters who were carried off. The girls 
were sold as slaves to some Mojave Indians, and one who survived 
was ransomed seven years later. This case attracted much attention 
and was the subject of a narrative ® that had a large circulation. 
North and northwest of Gila Bend the Gila Riverresumes its westerly 
course. The steep Gila Bend Mountains, which are in sight from the 
railroad for many miles, consist largely of granite with a thick succession 
of Tertiary volcanic rocks overlapping it on the west. These younger 
rocks are thick in Woolsey Peak in the center of the range, which is 
made up of light-colored lavas and some fragmental volcanic rocks. 
On the western extension of the range these rocks are capped by a 
thick sheet of dark-colored basalt, constituting prominent mesas. 
One of the highest and most extensive of these mesas is called Yellow 
Medicine Butte. About 14 miles north of Piedra station a large 
basalt-covered cuesta extends with a long slope to the Gila River, 
which swings north in order to pass between it and the north end of 
the Painted Rock Mountains. The railroad, on the other hand, passes 
near the south end of these mountains, near Piedra and Tartron 
sidings. The Painted Rock Mountains consist of lavas of Tertiary 
® Stratton, R. B., Captivity of the | massacre of the Oatman family in 1851, 
Oatman girls and an account of the | San Francisco, 1857; New York, 1858. 
~ 
