Page:Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, Adopted by the First Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona.djvu/85

Rh the field shall be applied to the care of such of the Indians as shall go upon a reservation; the whole fund to be placed in the hands of the commissioners already appointed by the Territorial Legislature to conduct the war upon the Apache now in progress, and to which the whole power of the Territory is to be applied.

The remoteness of this Territory, the expense of sustaining a large military force here, and the necessity of the overthrow of the Apache to our existence, embolden us to believe that our request will be received as proper, and our plan of operations as likely to prove the most successful and economical that can be devised; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. November 7, 1864,

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:—

Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully represent, that the Colorado River is the only navigable water in this Territory, and is the channel through which nearly all our imports and exports must pass to supply and accommodate the middle and northern portions of the Territory; that it is navigable, in high stages of water, five hundred miles; that, by the expenditure of a small amount of money, it may be rendered navigable much higher up; that portion of the river between Fort Yuma and Fort Mojave has a changeable channel, and is obstructed by boulders that render the navigation of it difficult and dangerous; that the removal of said rocks would greatly facilitate the navigation of this part of the river; that the river above Fort Mojave is rendered difficult and dangerous by boulders and ledges or dykes that shoot out into and across the channel of the river; that, by the expenditure of a small amount of money, these obstacles may be removed and the river rendered navigable as far up as Virgin River, from which point there is a fine natural wagon road a distance of only three hundred and fifty miles to Salt Lake City; that by this route government as well as private transportation can be furnished in a much shorter time, and at less cost, than by any other route; that if the navigation of said river is improved, it will accommodate the general government, and greatly increase and hasten the development of the vast mineral and other resources of this Territory; therefore

Your memorialists most respectfully ask, that your honorable body make an appropriation, for the purposes above specified, of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be expended in the following manner, to wit: Fifty thousand dollars in the improvement of the river between Fort Yuma and Fort Mojave, and one hundred thousand dollars in improving the river about Fort Mojave; and that, to the furtherance of this our petition,

Resolved, by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, that our delegate in Congress, the Honorable Charles D. Poston, is requested to use all honorable means to secure the attention of Congress.

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Territory is hereby requested to forward a copy of this memorial to the Honorable Charles D. Poston. November 9, 1864.