Mr. MCGILL. Yuma Indian Reservation, Calif. Mr. BOWDEN. How many Indians have you on that reservation? Mr. MCGILL. Between eight and nine hundred. Mr. BOWDEN. How large an area is that reservation? Mr. MCGILL. Why, when it was first set aside there were over 45.000 acres of it. Mr. BOWDEN. How many are there now; do you know? Mr. MCGILL. Well, I think there are about 8,000 acres set aside for settlement; that is, for the white settlement, and about that much set aside for the Indians. Mr. BOWDEN. About 8,000 acres? Mr. MCGILL. Yes: about. Mr. BOWDEN. How about the balance of it? Mr. MCGILL. The balance of it is desert; that is, mesa land. Mr. BOWDEN. Now, this 8,000 acres, is that agricultural lands? Mr. BOWDEN. Has the land been allotted to the Indians, or is it still tribal? Mr. MCGILL. It is allotted to the Indians; that is, about 8,000 acres of it. Mr. BOWDEN. In what tracts; what sized tracts? Mr. MCGILL. Ten-acre tracts. Mr. BOWDEN. Are you speaking here for yourself or for others to-day? Mr. MCGILL. For the whole tribe. Mr. BOWDEN. Were you designated to come here? Mr. MCGILL. Yes, sir. Mr. BOWDEN. Do you hold any position with the tribe? Mr. MCGILL. As secretary of the Indian advisory board, which consists of the educated Indians of the tribe. Mr. BOWDEN. You were delegated to come here to express their views? Mr. MCGILL. Yes, sir. Mr. BOWDEN. What have you to offer to the committee? Mr. MCGILL. Why, we have come here to see this committee especially about the water charges which the Indians are supposed to pay the Government for the use of water on that project. There is an agreement between the Yuma Indians and the United States Government in 1893. The agreement had about eight articles in it, which the Indians don't know nothing about. At the time the agreement was made we had only one man who could speak the English language, and he was away part of the time. The Indians had to depand on an interpreter who was entirely incompetent, and then they had an Indian who could speak the Spanish language, but, of course, he could not do justice to the work, either. Well, now, when this other man went back he gave the Indians some idea as to what the agreement was, and this agreement was, for Some reason or sudden a man by the name of Meade went to the reservation and told other, held up for about 10 years; and then all of a the Indians that he had been sent there to take the census of the Indians. Well, the Indians could not see any objection to it, and so they the family history, and everything, and after he got through he told them that the Government intended to renew that agreement and that he was sent out there for that purpose, and he read the agreement to them and told them who signed the agreement. Only one man signed the agreement for the Indians, and that was this interpreter we had there. He was a Mohave Indian and does not belong to that tribe, but he was there doing the interpreting for the Yuma Indians, and he signed that agreement, him and others. We don't know who the others are, and later on we found out that they were Indians who did not reside on the reservation, but they were homesteaders over on the Arizona side; and so the project was continued at any rate without the Indians knowing what they were to get, and the only thing that they were able to say was that the Government wanted to allot the reservation in 5-acre tracts and give it to them, and that the Government was to have control over everything for 25 years; that is, they were to have a 25-year trust period, and that they were to receive free the water for that period of time. Mr. BOWDEN. For the 25 years? Mr. MCGILL. For the 25 years, and, of course, the Indians were helpless. They could not do anything, and they just simply let the matter slide along until last fall or last summer we began to get information that the Yuma Indians were expected to pay for the water that they had been using; that they had been charged up with the use of water ever since 1910, I believe it was, or 1911, but the Indians did not know a thing about it. They were surprised, and they began taking the matter up with the Indian Commissioner. Why is it that this thing had been hanging on to us for all of these years and we have never been able to find out-nobody has ever told us that we must pay for the water that we had been using. We had some correspondence with him, and the Indian Commissioner never answered that letter, and we had taken the matter up with the Woman's Clubs of California, thinking that they would help us in the matter, but they haven't so far done anything for us. Mr. BOWDEN. Now, what is your complaint; that you are paying out for water when you should not be charged for it? Mr. MCGILL. When we should not be; that is, according to our understanding that that agreement we have provided that we were to get free water for 25 years. Mr. BOWDEN. Have you a copy of the agreement? Mr. MCGILL. I have got only extracts. Mr. BOWDEN. You haven't the agreement itself? Mr. MCGILL. Not in whole; no. Mr. BOWDEN. Has your Indian agent the agreement? Mr. MCGILL. No; he is not here to-day. Mr. BOWDEN. What is his name? Mr. MCGILL. Mr. Sharpe-Byron Sharpe. Mr. BOWDEN. This is the complete agreement, isn't it? Mr. MCGILL. Not all of it; no. Some parts of it left out, but that is the important portions of it. Mr. BOWDEN. Have you another copy of this? Mr. MCGILL. No; I have not. Mr. BOWDEN. You want to keep this copy, I presume? Mr. MCGILL. Well, it doesn't make any difference to me. We can easily find it in the laws and treaties of Indian affairs, but the whole of it is in there wrong. Mr. BOWDEN. Now, what do you want us to do? Mr. MCGILL. Well, we want to get relief of some kind. Mr. BOWDEN. You want to get relief from paying for that water? Mr. MCGILL. Yes. If some scheme had been made whereby the Indians were to pay for all this debt, you know something could have been done long ago, see. Mr. BOWDEN. Now, have you taken this thing up with the Indian superintendent? Mr. MCGILL. We have. Mr. BOWDEN. What does he say? Mr. MCGILL. He said that there was but one thing to do, and that was to go to Congress and see if we could not get Congress to give us some relief. Mr. BOWDEN. Who do you owe this money to for this water, the United States Government? Mr. MCGILL. The United States Government, yes; for construction charges, for maintenance and operation, and for water that we used, and we understand that we had to pay for that highway bridge also and developments of Picacho Wash. They are trying to make a big reservoir in there to control the flood; that is, the rain water. Now, we understand that we are going to be charged with this also, and they are going to put a power plant at what is called the Drop. That is up above the reservation. They are going to put a power plant in there, and we are going to be charged for that. Mr. BOWDEN. You don't want to be charged? Mr. MCGILL. We don't want to be charged for it. We have no use for it at all. It does not benefit the Indians in any way. We never asked for it. We can't see why we should be charged for it. Senator CAMERON. Do you know that you are going to be charged for it? Mr. MCGILL. What is that? Senator CAMERON. Do you know that the department is going to charge you? Mr. MCGILL. I think we do. Senator CAMERON. Now, have you any other matter other than these charges that you refer to? Mr. MCGILL. Well, we would like to appeal on this right and debt. Mr. BOWDEN. This is a question of further investigation, and you may be sure that we will look this matter for up you. Senator CAMERON. Upon motion, therefore, duly carried, it is ordered that the following letter be made a part of the record of this day's proceedings. As there are no other witnesses to come before the committee, we will recess to meet in Prescott to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock, thanking you reporters and gentlemen for your many kindnesses. PHOENIX, ARIZ., June 11, 1925. Hon. RALPH H. CAMERON, Chairman Special Committee for Purpose of Investigating All Public Domains, Phoenix, Ariz. DEAR SENATOR: You will recall my appearance before you on Thursday, June 10, 1925, when I appeared in connection with Mr. Bernard Jackson and others as a committee from the Yuma Indian Reservation and, of course, representing the Yuma Indians in the troubles they are having with respect to their lands, water, and water charges on the same. We are aggrieved in several respects, and in view of the limited time we were allowed before you we were to no extent able to intelligently present our matters. Briefly, our grievances are as follows: I. We call your attention to an agreement entered into on the 14th day of December, 1893, at Fort Yuma, Calif., by Washington J. Houston, John A. Gorman, and Peter R. Brady, commissioners representing the United States Government, and signed by one Bill Mohave and others on behalf of the Yuma Indians. This agreement was confirmed by act of Congress, as we are advised. and we here make reference to pages 542 to 544 of part 2 of Laws Governing Various Tribes, and Volume I, second edition, by Charles J. Coppler, whom, I believe, at the time was clerk of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. These publications were compiled December 1, 1902. At the time this agreement was entered into there was not an educated Indian on the reservation, and it was many years after 1893 when we first obtained a copy of this agreement and were able to understand its terms, regardless of the terms of the agreement. I have lived on this Indian reservation for 45 years, and I know of the representations made by the commissioners aforesaid to the Indians at the time, and I therefore know the obligations assumed by the Government and the duties that the Indians expect the Government to fulfill. These duties to be fulfilled on the part of the Government are well fixed in the minds of every Yuma Indian and are about as follows: The Government was to make allotments of 5 acres of irrigible land to every Yuma Indian; the Government was to furnish upon these 5-acre tracts free water for the use of the Indians, and the Indians fully understood at the time that there was no limitation of time as to this water; the Government was to send expert agriculturists to the reservation and teach the Indians the art of modern farming and assist in this connection; that this water was to be absolutely free to the Indians and to be and become perpetual. In consideration of the above outlined undertakings on the part of the United States Government the Yuma Indians agreed to allow the Government to sell off or otherwise dispose of some parts of their lands adjacent to the irrigable lands for the purpose of homesteading, and with the understanding that such lands might be homesteaded by the whites, but with a further consideration to the Indians that the Indians were to receive the sum of $10 per acre for the relinquishment of such lands, and this $10 per acre to be used by the Indians in developing their 5-acre allotments of land. About 10 years subsequent to 1893, or in about 1903 or 1904, a representative of this Government, by the name of Meade, called upon the Yuma Indians and requested that they renew with the Government their agreement of 1893. Meade first asked for permission to take census of the Indians upon the reservation, which permission was granted him. After having taken the census, Mr. Meade produced the agreement of 1893 and at that time there were a few educated Indians on the reservation who were able to read and understand the agreement. This was the first intimation that the Yuma Indians ever had that the written agreement varied from the representations made by the Unied States commissioners at the time the agreement was obtained. One of the salient discrepancies noticed by the Indians at the immediate time in the agreement was the fact that the written agreement called for 5-acre allotments and it was explained to Mr. Meade that it was a physical impossibility for the Indians to earn their livelihood on such a small tract. Immediately the Indians set themselves about to secure an enlargement of these allotments and by their efforts through various organizations, and by the help given by the good white citizens near our reservation, we were able to secure an enlargement of these allotments to one 10-acre tract for each Indian. The aforementioned agreement of 1893 was signed on behalf of the Indians, as stated above, by Bill Mohave, and Bill Mohave was not a Yuma Indian but a Mohave Indian, employed by the Indian agents. The other Indians who signed the agreement were Yuma Indians living across the Colorado River in Arizona, and not living in the Yuma Reservation. II. Our second grievance grows directly out of the misunderstanding of the matters treated under the foregoing grievance, No. 1, and relates to water assessments, which we are now being called upon to pay. Under date of June 20, 1924, Charles H. Burk, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, issued his circular styled "Supervising and Project Engineers." (Regulations under relief act of May 9, 1924, Publication No. 115, 68th Cong., 1st sess., 43 Stat. -) This circular gave intimation that we would be called on to pay certain water assessments and we gathered from the information given us through the agency that it would be something like $7.50 per acre. We also gathered from the circular that these charges had been accummulating since about 1911, this being our first information that we were not to receive absolutely free water perpetually in accordance with our understanding of the agreement of 1893. Later, and in about September or October, the Indian agent made demand upon us for water assessments to the extent of $8.25 per acre. Again we were painfully surprised, this being approximately 75 cents per acre more than was intimated to us in the circular that we would be required to pay. Under this second cause of grievance we wish to here present a subgrievance on behalf of, roughly speaking, 50 Indians representing 500 acres of land. This land is not fit for cultivation on account of sloughs and sand dunes, yet it is allotted. A survey of the reservation on file will give you definite information as to this matter. The allottees of these lands are required to live upon the allotments of their relatives, working a hardship upon them for that reason, and yet demand has been made upon them for payment of water assessments on their lands in the amount of $8.25 per acre. Again, many of the 10-acre allotments are deprived of from 1 to 2 acres of land by reason of Government ditches, public roads and highways, and the Southern Pacific Railroad traversing their tracts. No deduction in the water assessments has been allowed these Indians on account of their acreage being reduced in these respects. III. We are advised that the Government is holding a charge against us of $25,000 for one-third of the construction cost of the ocean-to-ocean highway bridge and that the Indian Department will shortly make assessments against This is not in accordance with any agreement or understanding the Yuma Indians ever had with the United States Government, and the Indians are very resentful over this fact. our lands for this amount. IV. It has been intimated to us that we will be assessed something like $5 per acre for the construction of a flood-control system along the Colorado River and along the Picacho wash, and for the construction of a power plant some 11⁄2 miles west of Picacho wash. As to the power plant, it is our information that power developed by the installation of the plant will be used for the purposes of operating the head gates of the Laguna Dam and the pumps of the reclamation service upon the Yuma mesa in Arizona. If this information is correct, the Yuma Indians will receive no benefits from it, and our people are alarmed at the thought that an assessment will be placed against us in this connection. V. As a fifth cause of grievance, we are alarmed by receipt of the information that the Government contemplates depriving us of a large acreage of mesa land. Every Yuma Indian has always cherished the thought that some day rich bodies of ore and possibly oil will be forthcoming from these lands, and in fact this is a tradition that has come down to us from our ancestors. We all know the benefits derived by the Oklahoma Indians from their mineral lands and we have also held the thought that such good fortune might come to us. The Yuma Tribe is seriously alarmed over this situation. SUMMARY In summarizing the situations this committee has outlined to you above, we state that by reason of the foregoing facts and conditions that we are so oppressed that it is next to impossible to earn our livelihood upon the Yuma Reservation. We are told by the friendly whites, our neighbors, and the representative business men of our community that it is a physical impossibility for us to ever meet these vast charges that our Government is bringing against us. |