Farish, Thomas Edwin.
History Of Arizona
Vol. VIII. pp. 309—317.
The Report of C.B. Genung.
-“In July, 1871, I concluded to build a wagon road from
Wickenburg, via Antelope Creek and Peeples’ Valley to connect
with the road leading from the Colorado River at Ehrenberg to
Prescott. There was a road that could be travelled by light rigs
and empty teams but no load could be handled over it. My
neighbors agreed to help me, as Wickenburg and Phoenix were our
best markets and to haul a load to either of these places we had
to travel about sixty miles, whereas it was only twenty—seven
miles by the road that I proposed to build from Peeples’ Valley
to Wickenburg which was on the Phoenix road. I employed a few
white men at $75.00 per month, a few Mexicans at $65.00 and
board, and started to work. There was quite a number of Yavapai
Indians in and around Peeples’ Valley at the time, and when they
learned what I was doing they asked for work; and, as they were
willing to work for fifty cents per day, the same as I had paid
them when they worked for me on the Colorado River Reservation, I
put a lot of them to work. My neighbors did not approve of my
working Indians, but, as the Indians would do about as much work
with pick and shovel as the average white man or Mexican, I put
them on; gave them flour, beans, sugar, and coffee and venison. I
gave one of the Indians fifty cents per day and furnished him
with cartridges, and he kept the camps well supplied with fresh
meat and his squaw dressed the skins, which made it a good job
for the hunter. I thought it better to work the Indians and have
them where I could watch them, than to be uncertain of their
whereabouts. Then again, the white man had occupied their lands
and hunting grounds, crowded them back so that they were too glad
to go onto the reservation. Then after they were all on the
reservation the agent starved them until they had to go back to
the mountains to get something to eat.
“I built the road from Wickenburg to Kirkland Valley for $4,765,
and without the Indian labor I could not have built it for less
than seven or eight thousand dollars.
“When I started work on the road a man named George H. Wilson,
commonly called Yackey Wilson, moved from his ranch three and a
half miles below Wickenburg up to Antelope Creek and put up a
seven room house and started a station. Wilson was a good station
keeper and did a good business with the placer miners as well as
with the travel that came that way as soon as the road was
possible for teams. While I was working on the road I received
one day a letter from General Crook who had been at Fort Whipple
but a short time; he having arrived in the Territory in June of
the same year. In the letter Crook asked me if I could go with
some of the head men of the Yavapais and see him at Whipple. I
wrote to Crook that I would try to locate some of the captains
and go with them as soon as I could. Crook did not tell me in his
The Report of C.B. Genung— Continued.
letter what he wanted, but from the talk that I had with the
three soldiers that brought me the letter, I inferred that he
wanted to enlist some of the Yavapais to help fight the Hualapais
and Tonto Apaches. I sent an Indian to Camp Date Creek to talk
with some of the Indians which I supposed were there, but my
Indian returned that night and told me that nearly all the
Indians had gone out into the mountains and only came into the
post once a week to draw rations. The doctor at the post had
advised this move as the Indians were having chills and fever at
their camp near the post. As I was very busy I concluded to take
one Indian and go see Crook, knowing that I could induce the
Indians to do anything that I thought was for their good. The
next day I took an Indian that I knew well, and with two white
men drove to Prescott. It took five days the way the road ran at
that time to make the trip- two to go and two to come, and one
day in town. I went to see Crook and took my friend, Herbert
Bowers, who was post trader at the time, to introduce me, and my
Indian, Tom. I found Crook much different from other commanding
officers that I had met in Arizona. He was more like a pioneer
miner or prospector to meet- just a common plain gentleman. He
told me that Mr. Bowers had told him of my efforts to get the
other commanders to employ the Yavapais as scouts and trailers,
and asked me if the Indians would like to do it. I assured him
that he could enlist every Yavapai that was able to go. He then
asked me how long it would take to get the Indians together so
that he could have a talk with them at Date Creek. I told him
that a week would give them plenty of time. That was a good talk
for me, for I had been trying for several years to do just what
Crook proposed, but there never was a man in command before that
who had sense enough to do it. When I told Tom what Crook wanted,
he was highly elated.
“On my return to my ranch I killed an Indian in Kirkland Valley
by Tom’s advice, and when Tom knew he was dead he said General
Crook had commenced to kill Tontos, which was true, for if Crook
had not sent for me when he did, I should not have found the
Indian at the station in Kirkland Valley.
“It was more than a month before I heard from Crook again. Then
he wrote me asking me if I could get the Indians in to Date Creek
by a certain day. I wrote and told him that I could get all of
the ablebodied men in by the appointed time. This correspondence
was done by couriers.
“I had a young Indian captain named Waw ba Yuma, working for me,
and most of the twenty-five working Indians that I had were of
his band. I told him that General Crook wanted all the strong
young men of his tribe to go with the soldiers and fight the
Tontos. The Indian said to me: ‘You tell General Crook that, when
I am done work here I will go and so will all of my young men.’ I
said to him, ‘You had better go and see the General and tell him
yourself.’ ‘You can talk for me and for my people,’ said Waw ba
Yuma. I sent out Indian runners and had all of the young men of
The Report of C.B. Genung- Continued.
the tribe at Date Creek on the appointed day. I met General Crook
there and we called the meeting in front of the officers’
quarters on the south side of the parade ground. I was a little
surprised to meet Irataba, the head chief of the Mohaves there,
but thought nothing of it at the time. The white men were seated
with backs against the buildings, Irataba just in front of us and
the Yavapais sitting on the benches and standing before us. Crook
had brought a man named Charles Spencer from Mohave County to
interpret for him. Spencer had done a little talking for Crook
when Irataba got up and began to pass pieces of tobacco to some
of the Indians, and in a few seconds had passed out eight or ten
pieces, when some soldiers who had been standing among the
Indians began to grab the ones to whom the tobacco had been
given, at the same time drawing their revolvers. The Indians,
being surprised and scared, struggled desperately and several of
the arrested ones escaped; the soldiers began shooting, and those
that had no revolvers ran to their quarters and got their rifles
and began shooting at every Indian that they could see. Crook,
myself and Col. 3as. M. Barney were the only ones present who did
not take an active part in some way in the fracas. We just stood
by and looked on. The Indians had left their guns at their camp
with the women and children and some of the soldiers ran to the
camp which was about one half mile from the post, and secured all
the guns and bows.
“When I realized what had been done I went and got my arms and
hunted up Crook and asked him what he meant by inducing me to get
the Indians into the post under pretense of friendship and then
killing a lot of them- eight I believe were found. He said that
Irataba had told the agent at the Colorado Reservation that the
Yavapais had murdered the Loring party, a short time before,
while in route by stage from Wickenburg to Ehrenberg, and that
the pieces of tobacco were handed to the ones that Irataba had
learned were of the party who attacked the stage and killed six
people. I told Crook that it was a lie; that I knew it was
Mexicans who had done the killing and robbing of the stage. I was
getting madder every minute and told Crook that if anything
happened to my family through this treachery that I should hold
him personally responsible; that I was living in the midst of the
Indians and that I could expect nothing but that they would blame
me for all the trouble. He said in reply to my talk that he would
see that I had protection. I mounted my horse and rode as fast as
I could to the camp on the road. I told the Indians what had
happened and told them that I could not keep them at work any
longer and that they must go into the mountains and stay until I
made a signal smoke at a certain high place on my ranch. Waw ba
Yuma did not like the idea of going but I made him understand
that all the people would be afraid and that I should have to
stop work anyhow until I had a chance to see and talk to all the
Yavapais.
“It was nearly a month later when Lieut. Trout, the quartermaster
The Report of C.B. Genung- Continued.
at Camp Date Creek, Frank Murray, the butcher at the post, and a
soldier came to my ranch about noon. Trout asked me if I had seen
any Indians since they left my camp, which I had not, nor had
there been one seen at or near the post. He said he wanted to get
them back, if possible. I went out to the place agreed upon and
raised a big black smoke. In a very short time my friend Tom, his
squaw, and one more Indian came to the ranch. I told Tom what
Trout said and told him that Trout would issue rations to all who
went for them.. I had a lot of talking to do and told the Indians
that they could come and camp near my house if they wanted to.
Tom asked me what all the soldiers were doing there, Crook having
sent a company of cavalry to my ranch as soon as he could get
them there after the affair at Date Creek. I explained the matter
as well as I could, and after Trout and his party had left I had
a lot of talk and explained the matter, placing all of the blame
on Irataba, and he was the one to blame for the whole trouble.
Irataba was jealous because the Yavapais were getting better
treatment from the officers at Date Creek than his people were
receiving from the Indian Department, hence the jealousy.
“I had to do a lot of talking to get the Indians to go back to
Date Creek to meet Crook the second time, he having promised to
return their guns and other things that the soldiers had taken
from their camp. Finally I told them that if they would come and
meet Crook that I would be there and see that they got their guns
and that I would be right beside Crook, and if the soldiers tried
to bother them that I would have my pistol in my belt and would
shoot Crook three times. A few, those who had lost their guns,
went in to the post on the appointed day. I was there and told
Crook that we would do our business with the Indians in front of
the sutler’s store instead of going onto the parade ground as on
the other occasion. There were no seats provided but Crook had
ordered all the stolen property to be brought out and placed on
the ground near where we stood. I told the Indian, Tom, to get
his gun. When he picked it up and examined it, I asked him if it
was all right. His reply was ‘Kely-eppy,’ meaning ‘no good.’ I
told another one to get his gun, and that was ‘Kely-eppy’ also. I
showed Crook that there had been screws taken out of the locks.
He at once ordered the commander of the post to bring out some
guns that were there and twenty rounds of ammunition for each
gun. They were turned over to those who had lost their guns
without any ceremony. When the old guns that the soldiers had
taken were examined, it was found that there was not one but what
had been ruined for the use of the Indians. If a screw was taken
out the Indian had no possible means of replacing it. Twenty
rounds of ammunition was a great prize. The only way that an
Indian could get ammunition was to go to La Paz or Yuma and get
some white man to buy it for him. That act restored confidence in
General Crook. He enlisted a lot of these Indians, agreeing to
take care of all who were left in camp, i.e., the women, children
and old men. The first thing he did with the new soldiers was to
go out and thrash the Hualapais; then enlisted some Hualapais to
help clean up the Indians of the country east of Prescott.”
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