Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/59

54 daylight. The Apaches ran confusedly about without their weapons; fifteen were killed and many guns, bows, and quivers were captured.

Blackwater. At the hill, Kâ’matûk, somewhat detached from the Sacatons on the northeast, a man was bitten by a rattlesnake and died.

At about the same time the Pimas killed an Apache who was known as Vakoa, Canteen, near the Superstition mountains.

Gila Crossing, Salt River. For several years the Pimas had had little water to irrigate their fields and were beginning to suffer from actual want when the settlers on Salt river invited them to come to that valley. During this year a large party of Rso’tûk Pimas accepted the invitation and cleared fields along the river bottom south of their present location. Water was plentiful in the Salt and the first year's crop was the best that they had ever known. The motive of the Mormons on the Salt was not wholly disinterested, as they desired the Pimas to act as a buffer against the assaults of the Apaches, who were masters of the country to the north and east.

Salt River. It was during this winter that the United States soldiers and the Pima, Maricopa, and Apache scouts surrounded the Superstition Mountain Apaches at the "Tanks" and rained bullets into their ranks until not a single man remained alive. "It was a sight long to be remembered," said Owl Ear, in narrating the circumstances.

Gila Crossing. K-kâmûkam, the Apache chief, and his band were killed by the soldiers and Pima scouts.

Kâmûk Wutcâ Â-âtam, People-under-Kâ’matûk, or the village at Gila Crossing, was settled during this year.

Gila Crossing, Salt River. The telegraph line was run through from west to east during the winter.