JA

J Edited by Wassaja (Dr. Montezuma' 3 Indian nan,e;,meani~g ':Si,gnaling" ) an Apache India_n

Vol. 6, No. 2 ISSUED MONTHLY May, 1921

THE ONLY WAY TO GET THE INDIANS OUT OF THE CONTROL OF THE INDIAN BUREAU, IS TO GET THEM OUT OF THI;: . CONTROL OF THE INDIAN BUREAU

EXPOSURE AND INJUSTICES ON McDOWELL AGENCY, ARIZONA

340 O 'Fa!'rell Street, San Francisco, Ca lif .. 'April 2, 1921.

HON. CHA~KES H . BURKE, Commissioner of Indiah Affa irs,

W ashington, D. C .

:h.~ai'.iii1{ w ... ~- had. (See printed report of headng.s, particularly numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, and : 9 ; from June 9 to June 15, 1915, both _inclusive.)

; . At the conclusion of the hearings Chair­man Graham gave the writer; who had acted ,tli,roughout t~e hearing as examini'ns attor­ney, permission to ,lay thecfacts as adduced at the heari~g, befo!e the then Secretary of

A ·the Interior/Mr. Fisher, with. ·th'e view of DE R SI-R:-We deem it ess!>ntial to ask , pbtaini~g the relief sought, n _amely, full your immediate action on the situation at

Camp McDowell, Arizona, in order to avert allotment on McDowell ,;and. the building of what to us in accordance with the- records an irrigation dam thereon, without further

- in your and_the_ Interior Departmeo.b'Jiles, ~ trouble to -~ongress. would be a wantonly unjust act toward 1;- i;;tt.;r11 - by . the writer under da-tes oT these McDowell Indians. June 28, and June 30, 1911, a full ·brief or

Dr. Carlos Montezuma, as the authorized representative of the Mohave-Apache ln­

_dians, Camp McDowell, Arizona, interested the writer in their behalf in 1910; and there

.then followed an extended ·correspondence with the then Commissioner Valentine and then Secretary of thP. Interior, Walter L.

· Fisher, relative to an attempted allotm.,.nt 0 of these Indians on irrigable land in the Salt . River District, amo.unting · in, effect to the , attempted removal of these Indians, against their wishes, to thi_s ;ew location. - .

Nothing bein·g accomplish·ed from corres­, pondence, the entire, matter was taken up in · Jun.,, 1911, by the House Committee ~n Ex­penditures, lntHior Department, Hon. Jam.;• M. Graham, Chairman, and an extended

resume of facts based "exclusively upon the sworn testimony of Indian. CDmmissioner Valenti.!le and the letters and reports from his ·office files" were sent Secret.ary :fisher.

.(See Interior Department files, as well as •copies in files of Indian Department.)

For more complete information, I would also refer you you to letters from me · to

_ Secretary Fi,her under date of Februgry 22, 1912; same to same, June 29, 1912; same to same, July :n, 1912.

On August 10, 1912, Secretary Fisher wrote an exhaustivr letter addressed to the writer attaching a report of a specially engaged expert irrigation engineer, W . H. 'Rosecrans, which in effect granted the entire relief sought by these Indians, namely, full allC'tment to them

2 WA 'SSAJA

WASSAJA Vol. 6, No. 2 MAY, 1921

SUBSCRIPTION ONE DOLLAR PFR YEAR

SINGLE COPIES, 10c 100 COPIES FOR $4.00

ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO

CARLOS MONTEZUMA, M. D .

3135 South P ark Ave. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

on McDowell and decision to build them a dam for irrigation-the feasibility of which was shown by reports introduced in Congreseional hearing from previous engineers and Indian De­partment, and upheld by said report of Engineer Ro,ccrans, attac hed to this s aid lett er of Mr. Fisher. To quickly bring the gist of this lette r of August 10, 1912, to your attention, I will quote what Secretary Fisher wrote, being the third paragraph of such letter:

"'It may clear Lhe grou nd somewhat of misundershnding to state at the start that both the D epartment and (n. dian Office consider the idea, in any form it may have taken e ithe r of p lan or of action, of genc1al allotmeut for the Camp McDowell Indians on the Salt River R eservation or on land adjacent to it rather than on the C amp McDowell R eservatio n, to have been a mis­take. The Department now proposes to allot the In­dians of the C amp McDowell Reservat ion on that res~ ervation, and it believes that this should be done even before a ll the questions incide nt to the water situation are solved. A report has been made by an expert en~ g ineer favorable to a permanent water supply for these Indians on the reservat ion , and it is belieyed that the water question can be worked out either along the lines of this engineer's re port or on some still better basis . It seems best not t<o decide permanently on this plan until the new Ch ief En2ineer of the Indian Irrigation Service, who will have the carrying out of this plan is appointed . Sin ce the res tg:nation of Mr. Code last October the D e p artmen t h ap; been endeavoring to fi nd the right man for Ch ief En gineer. but owing to the difficulty of finding a man of the calibre needed at the sald.rY placed by Congress for this work, it has so far not found just the man. It ha:s now reasonable hopes of shortiy do,ng so.:•

Subsequently on Augu1t 17, 1912, the th en Assistant Secretarry of the Interior. Samuel Ada ms, addressed to tbe writer the following letter : ' DEAR SJ R·--The Department is in receipt of your letter

o f Augusi: 13, 191 2, with reference to preparing a roll shov.ing the Indians of C amp McDoweli Reservation e ntitled to all tmen ts. The Indian Ofrice advises me that the let ter is no w being prepared directing the Supe rintendent in cha rge of the Camp McDowell Indians to prepare a roll showing the Indians of th is b and entitled to enrollment and allotme n t tht:.rein, and that this roll will be based prim a rily on the last census showing the members ol this band taken by the Sup~rintendent in cha rge of the reservation. The Indians in council asse m bled will be given an opportunity to say whe the r all persons whose names appea r on such Cens u s are actually members of the b a nd, and als .:> to p e ss o n the right of any a dditional applica tions for mem­b e rship with this tribe , in order to procure a llot­ments. The findings of the tr ibal council as to the

r ight of m e mbe rs hip in the tribe w ill be subject, of course , to re v iew by the Indi a n Office a nd tnis De­partme nt . As soop as this roll is a pproved a llot­ment will begin. Your lette r in d icate s tha t you conte mplate submitting in the n ear future sugges­t ions a s the y may occur to you w ith refe rence to the a llotment ot the India ns be longing to this b a nd. The India n Office a nd the De p a rtment will be gla d to receive a nd consider a ny idea s you may care to offer alonQ; the l ines indica ted a nd the a ssura nce is made n.t this time tha t any suggestions you o r Dr. Montezuma may submit will b e given careful con-s idera tion. (Signed! SAMUEL ADAMS,

First Ass ista nt Secreta ry."

In November, 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected President, and in due course of t ime Cato Sells was appointed commissioner of Indian Affairs; and later about I 9 I 5, Commissioner Sells expressed himself to Dr. Montezuma and the writer in an interview in Chicago, as personally believing that these Indians should be alloted on Salt River irrespective of the orders of Secretary Fisher.

(The true reason behind all these moves · to allot these Indians on Salt River and in effect surrender Mc , Dowell, have never been officially discussed. although so far as these Indians are concerned, we are ready to meet, if given a chance, any issue that your depart­ment may consider material, to once and for all settle this McDowell question. The writer has full knowl­edge that the "reasons!' for this desire to allot these Indians on Salt River and the conditions existing are identically the same today as they were during the regime of Secretary Fisher.

It being futile during the past exc1tmg years, to again interest Congress in the McDowell situation, and resting secure in the knowledge that these Indians could only be allotted on Salt River in three ways, namely. (]) by their consent: (2) removal order by the President; or (3) removal order by Congress- we have bided our time; although the writer, while in Washington, D. C., in December of last year, called upon· Assistant Secretary Merrit in" re McDowell, and followed this with a letter to him, to which Mr. Merrit wrote a reply in January, I 921. (See letter in Indian Office fil es. Merrit to Latimer, January, I 92 I.)

Accidentally discovered by Dr. Montezuma and only just brought to the writer's attention, it appears now that an Executive Order (the purport is unknown to writer) was obtained from President Wilson in the sum­mer of I 920, directing the removal of these Indians from McDowell to Salt River ; yet not a word of this was int imated to the writer in discussing the situation with Mr. Merrit in December, I 920, nor m his subse­quent letter to me of January, I 92 I.

We have also just learned that an agent is now on McDowell alloting these Indians in the Salt River Dis­trict, but also we are informed is endeavoring to obtain the Indians' written consent thereto. It is further alleged that the Indians in signing t he papers offered them by this agent of the Indian Department do not know they are signing a consent to move. The present plan as outlined in Assistant Commissioner Merrit's said letter to the writer, January. 1921, is only "another way around" of what was attempted by former Commissioner Valentine and described by Mr.

WASSAJA 3 Fisher in his letter to me (quoted herein) in no misun­derstood terms as being "a mistake." If it was "a mis­take" then, it is a mistake now. Therefore, we urge

your immediate suspension of further activities of your Department Agent at McDowell until you can give this matter a full and complete hearing.

We contend emphatically that if this allotment on Salt River was " a mistake" to Mr. Fisher in his official capacity and after a most thorough and ex­haustive inquiry, then it is absolutely a mistake now. We contend further that in fairness and honesty, the representatives of the Indians should have been fur­nished some knowledge of the application for this Ex­ecutive Oder in I 920; considering the position we occupied with your department on this question; to say nothing of the withholding from us such informa­tion at a personal interview and in a subsequent letter.

We ask for knowledge of your position in this mat­ter, and again urge in the interests of justice that fur­ther attempt to allot these Indians as now progressing on McDowell be, by you, immediately suspended, until at least you may have the time to give this matter your careful attention.

This we urge to avoid an irreparable injury to these Mohave-Apaches, who were .given this beau­

. tiful reservation as a reward for their loyalty and services to the Government.

As this present action of the Indian Bureau, ap­peals to us as a violati,m of the orders of a former Secretary of the Interior. I .am sending a copy of this letter to the Hon. Albert B. Fall, the present Secretary of the Interior, for his inform;,tion.

An early reply is most earnestly requested.

Respectfully,

J03EPH W. LATIMER.

S an Francisco, Ca lif., April 22, 1921. HON. CHARLES H. BURKE,

Commissioner of Indi an Affairs, Washington, D. C .

DEAR SIR:- Supplementing my letter to you of April 2, last, receipt of which, in your absence, being kindly acknowledged by Mr. Merritt, I would call to your attention other facts in this subject matter which have just been brought to brought to my attention, and my observation thereon, You will plea,e note the foliowing; (1.) That your agent, Mr. Braum, is and has been actively at work on Camp McDowell, allot­ting the Camp McDowell Indians five acres of so­called irrigable land in the Salt River District,

' and also aHotini;: them on McDowell, its many acres, pro rata among the tribe, for grazing pur­poses only. (A g rirn joke.) All of this, without th" consent ot the Indians and after their most extended and strenuous objections and allowance of their claims by former Secretary Fisher.

(2.) · That the fact which has for twelve years been back of ·their m ovement to deprive these Indians of their water rights and irrigable land,

- --- - - ----------- -----and which has heretofore been offi ·, ially passed over, is now fast becoming a reality, in that a pipe line is being laid at this immediate time on their reservation which is to tap the river at some thirty feet depth, at point also on the reservation about midway and where springs and a moun­tain stream are especially noticeable. That this is for the purpose of, and in fact does act to de­stroy any irrigable water which by right belongs, and under a former decision of former Secre­tary Fisher was to accrue, to these McDowell Indians. Further this extremely valuable water supply thus tapped, is at the instance of and to accrue to the benefit of an A rizona water company.

Aside from the statement in paragraph num­ber 2, the entire question of allotting these In­dians in the Salt River District was the identi­cal question fought out before the Congres­sional Investigating Committee as outlined in my said letter of April 2nd. and the identical fact which then Secretary of the Interior in his le tter to the writer under date of August 10, 1912, declared to be a "mistake," and followed by his reversing the Indian Departments' de­cision to a llot these Indians on S alt River and further ordered their allotment, water rights and all, on Camp McDowell.

Until you have an opportunity to investigate the fact.;; in my letter to you of April 2nd, and as further herein set forth, and until, in order to correct this unjust action of the Indian Bureau in its again endeavoring to despoil the.;;e , Indians of their adjudicated rights on McDowell, you .. signify a willingness to hear our argument on the record I have clearly des­ignated to you as existing in your own files­I will hold in abeyan ce further comment.

That our position may be clear, however, I will state that w e contend that the orders given by Secretary Fisher as _indicated in his said letter of August 10, 1912, should in all fairness, justice and honesty be considered an a djudica­tion of the rights of these Indians to McDowell, and steps should be immediately taken to carry his former d ecision and instructions issued thereon to the Indian Bureau, into effect. That in no effect sho~1ld such an inadequate , u seless and to these Indians a " death warrant" order of an allotment of a paltry five acres in the Salt River Dis trict tie permitted. (Ten acres was the suggestion of the India n Bureau at the tims Secretary Fi.;;her declared it a "mistake.")

Pending your investigation of this matter, we again u rge in all fairness and equity that you order further a tte mpts to force these In­dians on S alt River, to be stopped ; as well as that you £hould stop the pipe laying and dig­ging now progressing on the reservation for the benefit of this Arizona water company. I contend th a t more than a prima facie case has

4 WASSAJA been · made out against the Indian Department and until settled all matters should stand in status quo. Respectfully,

(Signed) JOSEPH W. LATIMER.

Li\ND ALLOTMENT, No. 67,496.17

MR. JOHN BAUM,

Specia l Alloting A ge nt. Sa ca ton. Ari zona .

MY DEAR MR. BRAUM :

JUNE 22, 1920.

On May 25, 1920, the President auth.orizt:d allotments in severalty, prorata, to the Indians entitled thereto, for grazing purposes o'}ly. all the lands of the Camp McDowell Indian Reservdtion, Arizona, and to each of these Indians a tract of five acres of irrigable land on the Salt River R-,s. ervation. A copy of the authority in question is enclosed.

it is highly important that these lnilians be allotted at the earliest practicable date, and in view of the fact that your work under the Pima jurisdiction is nel\rly complete, it has been de. c:ded to place you in ch,.rge of the work at Camp McDowell and Salt River. You are therefore directed to proceed to the Salt River Reserva­tion, (Scottsdale, Arizona,) immediately upon the completion of the work at Pima, confer with Superintendent Sharp and proceed to allot the Indians in confirmity with the above mentioned authority and instructions hereinafter contained. The Camp M cDowell Reservation contains ap­proximately 25,000 acres and as the last census of the Indians shows a total of 251, there is suf. ·ficient land available to allot each man, woman ·and child 100 acres.

· H the total number of Indians to be alloted does not exceed 240, and if 100 acres is allotted each Indian. as proposed, there will remain a · small surplus ,probably sufficient to meet the needs for · adminisHative and tribal uses. You should therefore . jnclude on the schedule of '.a.Jtotments ~uch .reservations as may be required for administrative and tribal uses from such surplus areas.

The irrigat'e..J lands on the Salt River Reserva­•tion which are to be allotted to these Indians in tracts of · five acres each are located in Sections

' lo, 17, 20, 21, 22. 28 and 29, T. 2 N., R. 6 E., and were reserved Jar this purpose several yean ago when allotments .were 15eing made to the Indians of the Salt River Reservation. The irrigable allotments must therefore be confined to the sections named. As indicated in the inclosed authority the Camp McDowell Indians were given a water right in the Verde River by court decree and necessary arrangements h!?.ve been r:;,ade to transfer said water right to the Salt River Reser­vation for the purpose r;,f irrigating the lands to be allotted. The grazing lands on the Camp Mc­Dowell Reservation should first be selected and scheduled, and the irrigable allotments on the

Salt River made afterwards. All the lands to be allotted have been surveyed, and plats of survey are on file at the agency.

In making allotments to the Indians as herein directed, you will allow adults and heads of fam­ilies t;, make their own selections and parent. for their minor children. In the case of minor orphans you make selections for them, and in the case of any Indians who are qualified to make selections, but who refuse to do so, you will make selections for them, using your best judgment as to the character and location of the tracts selected. The schedule of allotments must be prepar,,d in triplicate on form 5-176 (Forms Redg. 6/29/20; two copies to be transmitted to this offi ~e and one copy retained at the a~ency. On the schedule should be placed the name, relationship, sex, age and description of the land assigned each allottee, and in the column headed remarks, should be indicated apposite each selec­tion, the character of the land, "G'· for grazing, and ") .. for irrigable. On the last page of each copy of the schedule should be. placed a certifi. cate (to be signed by you and the Superinten­dent) as amended by Section 17 of the Act of June 25, 1910, (36 Stat. at L. 855 -69,) and these instructions. The allotments should be num ­bered consecutively, beginning with number I. Certificates of selection, form· 5-201, should be issued to these Indians, as evidence of the fact that the~ have •elected certain lands, and a dupli­cate certificate of each selection retained by you until the allotment work is otherwise complete. No allotments should be scheduled for persons not living at the time such selections are made.

A copy of these instructions will be sent to the Superintendent and he will submit requests for employees, regular and irregular, to assist vou in the work of allotment, on Form 5-262. The ex­pense incident to, will be met from the appropria­tion., ."~urveying and Allotting Indian Re•erva ­tions, ReimbursablP." All neces•ary blanks for use in this work will be sent to the Superinten-

1 dent at Salt River. Acknowledge rec.,ipt of these instructions and notify the office when vou will

I le~ve for Salt River, after completing_ the work ' ' at Pima. Very truly your,,

E. B. MERRITT, Assistant. Commissioner.

June 28, '1020. (Approved.] . S. G. HOPKINS,

Assistant Secretary. (W. C . P.

"L E T M Y P E 9. P L E G O " - ---AND

"ABOLISH THE INDIAN BUREAU ..

'•LET MY PEOPLE GO. " per copy . ........ . .. . . . .. lOc

··ABOLISH THE lNDlAN BUREAU." percop, ... l5c

"ON THE INDIAN TRAlL ., BY DR VAN DYNE

ONE COPY PREPAID .. .... . .. . .. . . : .. . .... . .. . .... $1 35

For information and immediatt delivery of one or all of these publica tions. write the Editor,

3135 South Park Ave. CHICAGO. ILLINOIS