FEB, 24, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 


Yumas and Mariopas. 
In my thirty-four years of territorial life I 
have seen many things to be remembered as well 
as things to be forgotten, First it was the naked 
frontier with its Indian troubles, then the brawl- 
ing mining camps, and later that peace and safety 
of life and property incident to the westward 
march of law and order. It is not of these things 
I care to write. Cabio Blanco has exploited his 
frontier experiences most entertainingly. Many 
others have furrowed the same field. Largely 
this has been of white man against Indian and 
Indian against white man, but the following little 
story is of a scrap between the reds. It was 
fought somewhere near the west end of the 
Pima-Maricopa villages, about 175 miles, in a 
direct line, east of here, and much further if fol- 
lowing the various windings of the Gila along 
which the attacking party marched. 
In 1854, when the California gold fever was 
at white heat, the Government established Fort 
Yuma, the first post of its kind in the Southwest. 
It was located on an igneous bluff overlooking 
the Colorado River. It was built for the sup- 
pression of lawlessness at that particular place. 
It was at this point the old Yuma trail crossed 
the river. Robbery and murder were of com- 
mon occurrence. In this work the hostile Indian 
had but little advantage over some of his white 
brethren who infested*the crossing of the Colo- 
rado, Life was held lightly in those days by the 
men who rough-hewed the way civilization was 
to follow in the Southwest. Shortly after the 
location of the post an effort was made to chas- 
tise the Indians and thus put an end to their 
continuous deviltry. The post is on the Califor- 
nia side of the river and the Indians to be pun- 
ished were in Arizona—then New Mexico. The 
- troops crossed the river and made a campaign of 
five days without seeing so much as a hostile 
Indian, but no sooner had they returned to quar- 
ters than the Indians showed up on the opposite 
side of the river and went into camp in full view 
of their would-be pursuers. It was later learned 
that the hostiles had fallen in behind the troops, 
marched when they marched and camped when 
they camped without the soldiers being aware of 
it. The principal rancheria of the Yuma Indians, 
then, as: now, was on the Arizona side of the 
river, about 100 miles to the north of the post. 
As depredations continued to go on it became 
necessary to teach them a salutary lesson in good 
manners. This was done at the upper rancheria 
in the way of burned villages, wasted crops and 
dead Indians. It was hitting them where they 
lived and was too much for paint and feathers. 
A peace with the white man was made and never 
broken. 
At the time when the post was established the 
Yuma Indians—sometimes known as Cuchans— 
were under the command of a noted war chief 
known as Caballo y Pelo (Horse and Hair). He 
is said to have been one of the greatest war 
chiefs the Yumas ever had. He died in 1856 and 
was succeeded by Pasqual. 
Then as now the Indians on the Colorado 
burned their dead, and with the body all personal 
belongings of the dead and such articles in the 
way of weapons, food and finery as friends and 
relatives contributed to comfort the departed one 
in his fateful journey to the spirit land. Horses 
were stolen from the whites and sacrificed over 
the ashes of the dead chief, then roasted and 
eaten. 
and wild outbursts of wild barbaric grief the 
assembled people recalled his parting admonition 
to the head men of his tribe to “never make 
peace with the Maricopas.” 
The upper river men were their friends, but 
the men of the desert were their enemies, and 
among them the Maricopas were never to be 
trusted. The dead chief had been a man of much 
authority in his day and his parting injunction 
sank deep into the hearts of the fighting men of 
his tribe. Councils of war were held and it was 
decided to destroy the Maricopas. To this end 
assistance was asked of the Chimehuevas, Mo- 
javes and Yavapais, friendly tribes livine to the 
north and northeast of the Yumas. The two 
former were river Indians, but the Yavapais were 
one of the hill tribes that did much to make the 
name of Arizona a synonym for blood and mur- 
With much feasting, loud lamentations” 

~ CHIMNEY POND, SOUTH BASIN, MT. KATAHDIN. 
der. The most noted fighting men of these tribes 
offered themselves for the occasion, and to this 
force of several hundred men, the pick and pride 
of these several peoples, was assigned the de- 
struction of the Maricopas. They rendezvoused 
at the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers, 
within the limits of the present town of Yuma. 
From that point they began their fateful march 
against the Maricopas. 
The Pima and Maricopa Indians lived in scat- 
tered villages along the Gila River, the nearest 
village being distant about 175 miles east of the 
place of rendezvous. To the south and southeast 
of them lived the Papagos, a tribe of desert In- 
dians to whom they were closely allied by blood 
and marriage. Collectively the three tribes could 
gather together a fighting force of about 1,000 
men, but the Yumas and their allies had no 
thought of meeting such combination, The Pima- 
Maricopas were to be surprised and slaughtered 
in full settlement of centuries of accumulated 
grievances. Bie with expectation of easy victory 
the allies left the Colorado and followed the Gila 
till they reached the first Maricopa village. This 
is believed to have been near where the Phoenix 
& Maricopa Railroad now crosses the river. 
in the gray dawn of early morning they struck 
the west end of the village with terrible shock. 
To their surprise they found only a few old 
squaws whom they ruthlessly butchered, and 
still a few others a little further in, an additional 
whet to their thirst for blood. Suddenly in 
front and on both sides the allies were attacked 
by an overwhelming force. With terrific yells 
they closed in on the invaders and then began 
one of the most desperate and bloody battles ever 
fought by Indians in the Southwest. Finding 
themselves trapped, the allies faced about and 
heroically struggled to extricate themselves. The 
overlapping flanks of the Maricopas and their 
allies, the Pimas and Papagos, darkened the way 
with flights of arrows, spears and stones, but in 
the agony of desperation the Colorado Indians 
succeeded in breaking through only to be clubbed, 
speared or shot in the running fight that fol- 
lowed. This is known to have continued for 
forty miles. Of all that left the Colorado River 
with such high hopes, but few lived to return, 
and those to die of exhaustion and wounds. They 
had pvt up a hard fight. but went down under 
the weight of numbers. The fatal trap had been 
barbarously baited with a few old squaws. ‘The 
