b'THE OLD STORYTELLERThe Apache WarsBy Hank Sheffer,The Old StorytellerT his go-round Im going toWith all that said about happenstance from so long ago, we address a topic we all know andstill have to wonder when the "modern era of tribes" came loveCowboys and Indians. Iinto being? That is, who was here and who wasnt.want to present it from a historical point of view rather than from theAs late as the 1950s and 60s, all you ever heard about the Hollywood, sensationalize CowboysHohokam was the tired old tale that they were killed off and Indians and Cavalry saber-rattling side of things.by drought and disease. Even most archeologists said the Specifically, we\'re going to explore what is more often thanHohokam and their associated tribes just "disappeared by not labeled the Apache Wars. But before we can do any of1450, yet 80 years after that (1534) we see the Pima fighting that, what we need to know is who was here in Arizona atthe Spaniards. At the outset, the Pima were friendly withNow, the Pima definition for Maricopa is "people toward the the time. This has always been confusing because every timethe Spaniards but then the Spaniards took advantage ofriver." The river they were talking about was the Colorado somebody says Indian it is assumed they mean Apache. their good nature. They became abusive and turned theRiver. The Mojave and Yuma drove the Maricopa out of Indians into slaves; they forced the Indians into the minesthe Colorado River area. The only place to run was up the The Apaches were not indigenous to Arizona. They hadto dig for treasure. However, it didnt take long beforeGila River to where the Pima were. The Mojave ultimately been living on the Great Plains as far back as when thethe Indians said, enough. They revolted and drove thequit fooling with them, but the Yuma kept after them every Spaniards arrived. They were mostly buffalo hunters. EvenSpaniards out. time they tried to establish themselves along the river. The so the Comanche, also living on the plains, were theironly way for them to survive was to establish themselves ongoing mortal enemies. The Comanche acquired horsesIn that same breath, the archeologists tell us the Pima andnear the river. Typically, that same need for water has been a from the Spaniards and were now able to drive the ApachePapago are direct descendants of the Hohokam. Moreover,scenario in Arizona for as long as anyone can remember.off the plains with even greater force than before. They wereboth of those tribes claim to be direct descendants. So, driven into the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. Bywhen we do the math we see 80 years after the HohokamA case in point: In 1934 there was a situation where the 1700s, the Apaches were pretty much completely drivensupposedly had disappeared, their direct descendants are,California built aqueducts from the Colorado River to Los off the plains. in fact, still here. I am convinced that drought and diseaseAngeles. That maneuver was unacceptable to the Arizona did have some effect on theiradministration. The governor of Arizona sent our National The original people of Arizonanumbers. Apache attacks also hadGuard over there to declare war on California. The Guard truly were from Arizona althoughan effect on their numbers, butthen commandeered a paddle-wheel boat and crossed the they were scattered all over thethey didn\'t go anywheretheyriver to stop California from appropriating our Colorado place. However, the main bodydidnt become extinctthey justwater. Bear in mind, the water that supplies the Colorado of those first inhabitants wassimply changed their name. River comes from Arizona, Utah, and ColoradoCalifornia located on the Salt and Gilamakes no such contributionCalifornia was literally rivers between Phoenix and CasaHere is a prime example of howstealing our water!Grande. These Native Americansthat whole scenario took place. were the Hohokam. They wereIn 1963, not 1863, the PapagoEven in modern times, Arizona has seen droughts that truly amazing people. They weredecided to change their name.caused water levels in all the lakes to drop drastically. a close-knit, self-governed peopleThey chose to call themselvesCanyon Lake, Apache Lake, Saguaro Lake, and Roosevelt who cooperated. This is evidencedTohono Oodham. Using the sameLake levels all fell so low that some cities were forced to by one of the greatest canal andformula as before, does that meanorder us not to wash our cars, or water our grass. The irrigation systems ever built. Therethat 500 years from now somerestaurants wouldn\'t even serve a glass of water unless are miles and miles of these canalsarchaeologist is going to put outrequested. That situation eventually prompted the to the extent that research sourcesa paper and say, "Hey, you knowCentral Arizona Project to come to fruition. The canal refer to them as the valley of theback in the 1900s, the Papago justwas constructed to run from the Colorado River through stone hoe. The reason for the nameup and disappeared and nobodyPhoenix to Tucson, affording all of us in Arizona to share was the Indians dug these canalsknows where they went?that water.using their hands and unique pieces of the slate fashioned intoHeres something else that deservesBack to the topic at hand: Finally the Yuma drove the small hand-held stone hoes. Wea hard look. The definition of theMaricopa so close to the Pima that they joined forces to are not talking about a few peopleword Hohokam, which is used bydrive out the Yuma. The Yuma never came back up the river working but thousands workingThe Hohokam were a close-knit, archeologists all the time, meansagain . . . and the Maricopa and Pima have lived peacefully together to accomplish the task.self-governed people who cooperated. those who are used up or thoseever since.As the centuries passed and theirwho disappeared but the direct population grew, the Hohokam expanded out from theirdescendants, the Pima, who are still here today, use theIronically, the war-like nature of Indians that is so often original location. Most of that expansion moved up theword Huhugam, which means the loved ones who haveportrayed in the movies is not entirely true. More often Salado and Gila rivers. They eventually established quite agone on before. It doesnt take much to see that there is athan not, fighting was mostly for self-defense. All except large village at the west end of the Superstition Mountains. conspicuous difference there. the Apache, of course, who seemed to hate everybody. They even destroyed each other with impunity. However, we are These people were called flatlanders because there weren\'tI introduced this story by saying Cowboys and Indians,about to see that change.any mountains involved with the Garden Valley area. It wasbut so far all I\'ve seen is Indians fighting Indians. Crazy as a valley that was flat with only a bit of a slope where waterit might sound, 25 years after the Pima and Papago rebelledIt was still during the Mexican War era in 1847 when the could run down through the irrigation system theyd set up.against the Spaniards, they switched sides and joined withMormon Battalion left Council Bluffs, Iowa, and came to They were able to grow just about anything they wanted. the Spaniards to fight the fierce Apaches. The Apache hadSanta Fe. This was a uniformed military unit outfitted with moved down into old Mexico. During that time, hardlyweapons and wagons. Included were 500 men, along with A little further east were the Salado Indians. The Saladoa village or hamlet escaped the wrath of the marauding34 women and children. Unfortunately, as they left Santa were cliff dwellers and lived up in the canyons between renegades. They attacked everybody as far north as the GilaFe some of the people became terribly ill. It was especially the Superstition Mountains and Roosevelt Lake. ThereRiver. That included wiping out several Pima villages andtough for the women. Only one woman and one child made are over 140 major documented Indian ruins in thethings were heating up in other locations as well. it to their destination, San Diego. And it wasnt that they Superstition Mountains. died. The trip was so rigorous that they were forced to drop 8 November 2020'