most remarkable region known as the Painted Desert, or as the Indians, who carefully avoid the spot, call it, "the country of departed spirits." It is a perfect picture of desolation, being entirely destitute of water and vegetation, and with its entire surface covered with isolated peaks and buttes fashioned by the floods of ages into the most fantastic and grotesque shapes. The air is wonderfully clear, and shows marvelous mirages in the form of temples, fountains, fortifications, beautiful landscapes, companies of people, and all painted by the atmosphere in such a way that it seems impossible to doubt their reality.

The Colorado River, which crosses the northwest corner and forms part of the western boundary of Arizona, ranks among the great rivers of the continent. The Grand Cañon of the Colorado is one of the wonders of nature, the duplicate of which can nowhere be found. This tremendous gorge, from one thousand to seven thousand feet in depth, cuts its way through the solid rock for more than four hundred miles, and though its beauty is of a dark and gloomy character, it is superbly grand. Standing beside its rushing waters it gives one a strange sensation to realize that he is over a mile below the crust of the earth. The Colorado is one of the principal tributaries of the Pacific Ocean on the American continent, and down its course there flows a volume of water rivaling that of the Nile, and capable of irrigating a territory several times the extent of Egypt.

The first miners in Arizona were the old Jesuit fathers. Their success encouraged others, and many rich discoveries were made. The largest

piece of silver ever found, and which weighed twenty-seven hundred pounds, was taken from an Arizona mine. Philip V. of Spain confiscated this nugget on the ground that it was a curiosity and, therefore, belonged to the crown. The first mining by Americans was undertaken in the Santa Rita Mountains by a company organized in 1855. Naturally, mining was carried on with considerable difficulty, as all supplies had to be brought overland from St. Louis or from the Gulf of California, and the terrible Apaches were ever alert to destroy any white man that came within their power.

At the time of the Civil War, mining, like everything else in Arizona, came to a standstill, but in spite of all drawbacks the Territory soon took rank with the foremost mining localities in its output of silver. The placing of the hostile Apaches on reservations, and the entrance of two of the great railroads into the country, largely contributed to this result. The closing of some of the silver mines caused by the low price of silver in these recent times has resulted in a marked increase of the gold production, and the prospects are that Arizona will soon be prominent among the States and Territories in the production of that metal. The gold output of 1894 was valued at $2,080,250, and the silver at $1,700,800, and, besides this, 48,270,500 pounds of copper were mined. One of the most valuable products of the Territory is copper, and in this, Arizona rivals the great deposits of Lake Superior and western Montana.

In 1890 the census returns gave the population of Arizona as 59,620. Phoenix, the present capital of the Territory, is pleasantly situated in the Salt River Valley. In this region much has been done by irrigation, and large orange groves and fine vineyards are the result. Tucson is the largest city.

While in command of the Department of the Columbia, in the spring of 1882, I visited San Francisco, and there met General W. T. Sherman, commanding the army. He had just passed through the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. The condition of affairs at that time, especially in Arizona, was not satisfactory, and in fact was very serious. The Apache Indians were on the warpath, and were committing depredations in various sections of the Territory. It had been decided to make a change in the command of that department, and General Sherman suggested that I should be assigned to the command, but said the change would not be made unless it was agreeable to me. I replied that I did not desire to go there; that other officers had had experience in that part of the country and I thought it better to give them an opportunity of restoring peace,

subjugating the Indians and eventually bringing them under control; that I had been but recently assigned to the command of the Department of the Columbia and was much interested in the cares and responsibilities of that command and in the development and progress of that great northwest country. This ended the conversation, and the subject of my going to that part of the United States was at that time dismissed.

Still I watched with great interest the reports from that section of country; all that was published regarding the depredations of the Indians, the movements of troops, and the various phases incident to hostilities of that nature were carefully noted. I traced on the best maps that I could obtain of that country the movements of the Indians according to the dates as they were reported, observed where and when hostilities were committed, where and when certain bands of warriors appeared, from whence they came and in what direction they were reported to have gone, comparing one report with another, and thereby tracing as far as practicable the habits and actions of the hostile Indians. I thus became somewhat familiar with the raids of the Indians and the routes of travel they most frequently pursued along certain ranges of mountains the topographical features of which were given on the official maps. I kept trace of these to a certain extent while in command of the Department of the Columbia, and when afterwards transferred to the Department of the Missouri, with headquarters at Leavenworth, Kansas, continued to follow the course of events with more or less interest.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE APACHE AND THE SOLDIER.

GENERAL CROOK AND HIS EXPERIENCES-CHARACTER OF THESE INDIANS-ILLUSTRATIVE INSTANCES A WILDERNESS CEMETERY-MOUNTAIN FASTNESSES OF ARIZONARESOURCES OF THE APACHE IN WAR A FORMER CAMPAIGN.

ENERAL CROOK had been trying for years to bring the Apaches to terms, and on several occasions within thirty years they had pretended to surrender and had accepted the terms given them by the government. They would then go back to their agencies with their plunder, stolen stock, and for a fresh supply of the munitions of war, and after remaining quiet for some time would suddenly break out again with renewed ferocity. There were various bands of Apaches-Yuma, Mohave, White Mountain, Chiricahua and other branches. The Chiricahuas were the worst, wildest and strongest of all. The Apache regarded himself as the first man; the "superior man," as the word Apache indicates. In some respects they really were superior. They excelled in strength, activity, endurance, and also in cruelty. They were cruel to everything that came within their power. If the young Apache could capture a bird or a mouse or any living thing, he took the keenest delight in torturing it, and this species of cruelty did not disappear even when they grew to be: stalwart men. They took pleasure in tormenting any living creature from a bird to a horse. Their atrocities are simply too horrible and shocking to write out in words.

There is an Indian by the name of Schimizene still living in that Territory who, for a number of years was in the habit of traveling past a certain white man's dwelling, and on these occasions was always treated kindly, given food, and made comfortable whenever he cared to tarry. One morning after having stayed there long enough to secure a good breakfast, he picked up his rifle and killed his benefactor, and then went away boasting of what a strong heart he had. "Why," he remarked, "a weak man or a coward could kill his enemy or any one who had done him an injury; but it takes a man of a strong heart to kill a friend or one who has always treated him kindly." This is a specimen of Apache reasoning.

At another time during Indian hostilities he captured an unfortunate white man and buried him, all but his head, in close proximity to a large black ant hill such as are found in that country, sometimes two feet high and

APACHE CRUELTY.

from one to three feet in diameter. The unhappy victim lived for two days, suffering the most excruciating torture while the ants slowly ate away the flesh from his head.

Another incident showing the heartlessness of this people was related to me by one personally cognizant of the facts, and of undoubted trustworthiness. A renegade, or outlaw Indian, had committed several murders and was wanted to answer for his numerous

crimes, but the official at the agency had found it impossible to arrest him, as he rarely appeared there, and kept himself concealed in some safe mountain retreat. Seeing no other way of securing the criminal the officer in charge called up a dissolute Indian, a cousin of the outlaw, and told him that if he would go out into the mountains and bring in the culprit alive, or if that was impossible, a proof of his death, he would give him a certain horse, which was pointed out to him. One morning not long afterward, the officer was in his quarters seated at the breakfast table, when this Indian appeared before him carrying a sack over his shoulder. He advanced to where the officer was sitting and remarked with much apparent satisfaction that he had come for the horse, at the same time shaking the head of his relative from the sack to the floor at the officer's feet; and the Indian received his fat gray horse.

A short time after this, as the officer was going about the agency, the same Indian motioned to him to come round the corner of the agency building that he might speak to him in private. The officer naturally not