to be valuable, may be developed and produce a revenue to the U. S.? Where are the hostile Indian tribes, and who or what class of men are doing most to bring about these great ends? Is it not our ranchmen? Who, more than our farmers, are the sufferers from Indian murders and raids? These questions require no answers at our hands. The wrongs and frauds practiced upon our government are getting too palpable and glaring to be longer concealed. It is time such things were ended. Let every man view the subject in one aspect only. Consider our public enormous national debt, for the payment of which every one is daily taxed, and then answer if the thieving upon our public treasury should not cease?

"We shall resume the discussion of this subject at a future time, and perhaps give some facts the people ought to know, especially in regard to the amount of produce raised in Arizona last year, with the prospects and demand for the crop of 1867.'

Another difficulty was the distribution of supplies to the Indians. While Leihy was Indian Agent, he claimed that all these supplies were held up on the Colorado River for lack of money to pay transportation, and it was on this account, it is said, that the Indians under his charge revolted and murdered him. How it was finally adjusted, there is no record. It is by no means certain that the Indians at that time received any of the merchandise which Congress had voted them to the extent of twenty thousand dollars, and forty-five hundred dollars for freight. I wish to cast no reflection upon Mr.

Leihy. It may have been impossible for him to comply with the requirements of the Indians, but of one thing there is no doubt, that the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, notwithstanding the meagre salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year in greenbacks, was for many years a very lucrative office in Arizona. This will be fully demonstrated in future pages of this history, dealing with this matter.

According to the Fish manuscript, the first Mormon settlers came to Arizona in 1865. They came from Utah in January of that year, and located on the lower Muddy under the care of Thomas S. Smith. They, and others who soon followed, located the town of St. Thomas. The settlements of St. Joseph and Overton were soon after founded. On May 28th, Joseph Warren Foote was appointed to preside at St. Joseph. This place was partially destroyed by fire on August 18th, 1868. When this part of Arizona was cut off and added to Nevada, the assessor of that part of Nevada came to the settlements and demanded all the back taxes that had been paid by the people to Arizona Territory. The people produced their tax 1eceipts, but this made no difference to the collector, who refused to accept them, and stated that all the back taxes should be paid to the State of Nevada, or the property would be sold for them. This, with the excessive amounts levied by the State of Nevada, decided the settlers to abandon the country, rather than fight the matter through the courts, so the settlements of St. Joseph, St. Thomas and Overton were broken up and abandoned. The wholesale exodus of some five hundred families

from the Muddy Valley commenced on the first of February, 1871. They had done a vast amount of work in the construction of irrigation ditches, and were cultivating about three thousand acres of land. A variety of fruit trees had been set out, with quite a large number of shade and timber trees, all of which, with all the buildings they had erected, were abandoned. The settlers scattered, some going to southern Utah, while a few, in a later period, came to Arizona, settling on the Little Colorado River. Mr. Fish states that he secured the above information from David Brinkerhoff, who had been one of the settlers on the Muddy, and he further states that Mr. Ninian Miller, of Snowflake, then a boy, was one of the settlers who abandoned the Muddy.

Other settlements were also made, notably one at Walnut Grove, where, according to the "Miner," for a distance of eight miles down the Creek, about five hundred acres had been placed under cultivation, and another at Postle's Ranch in the valley on the branch of the Verde River, twenty miles northeast from Prescott, three hundred acres were cultivated and a profit of twenty thousand dollars realized during the year 1866.

During this year, also, according to the Fish manuscript a man by the name of Hines took out a ditch about three miles above the present site of Fort Thomas. The government, however, paid for the making of the ditch. Hines took up some land on the bottom near where the post was located. He did this for the purpose of raising corn, hay, and vegetables to fill his

contract at Camp Goodwin. Hines and Hooker had about all the hay, grain, beef and freight contracts in this section. Hines did but little here in the way of farming. Camp Goodwin was vacated about 1870 on account of sickness, and Hines' ditch was abandoned at the same time.

About the year 1862 King S. Woolsey and George Martin bought the Agua Caliente ranch from a man by the name of Jacobson and his partner, for eighteen hundred dollars in gold. Around the springs, for some distance, was a kind of cienega, an oasis in the desert, where the grass grew green and fresh, and it was a favorite camping place for teamsters en route to Tucson and other points in the Territory. Woolsey and Martin were the first to take out a ditch on private account for irrigating purposes. This ditch is still in existence, and was afterward the subject of litigation between the widow of King Woolsey, and Neahr, which litigation will be treated fully further on in this history. The biography of King Woolsey has been given in a previous volume, and from members of his family and others I have been able to secure the following in regard to Mr. Martin:

George Martin was one of the earliest settlers of the Territory and identified to a great extent with its subsequent history. He was born in Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland, on the 4th of July, 1832, and received his education in his native land at the Jesuit schools and through private tuition. He came to America in 1851, and enlisted in the Second United States Infantry in New York, coming to California the following year. He remained in the army un

til 1856, his knowledge of drugs gaining him the position of hospital steward. After his discharge from the army in 1856, Mr. Martin located in Yuma, assuming control of the sutler's store at that place, which position he held until 1859. When the placer mines were discovered at Gila City, he opened a general merchandise store, taking advantage of the need for supplies. After the war between the states broke out he went into partnership with King S. Woolsey on the Agua Caliente ranch, and at the end of three years disposed of his interest in the ranch to Woolsey. He then entered the employ of Hooper & Company at Yuma, having charge of their store there until 1872, when he established a drug business in Yuma, which he transferred to Tucson in January, 1884. He was a resident of that city until the time of his death. He was prominent in local affairs, serving as county supervisor and county treasurer of Yuma County, and also as city treasurer and member of the city council of Yuma.

While a resident of Yuma Mr. Martin married Miss Delfina Redondo, a daughter of Stevan Redondo, one of the leading men of Sonora, Mexico, and a member of an old Spanish family. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin were born eight children; one of them, Andrew, served in the Upper House of the second State Legislature of Ari

zona.

Mr. Martin died in Los Angeles, California, March 30th, 1907, and is buried in Tucson.