“An almost equally urgent situation exists on the Papago Reservation itself. The Indian population on the reservation is mostly centered about the Agency at San Xavier. This is the only part of the reservation where there is water. The remainder is arid and uninhabitable. These Indians are also self-supporting and well governed by their own tribal laws and chiefs. Their farms are productive, wherever water can be secured, and they have good habits, so long as they remain beyond the evil influences of the neighboring city. Their continued welfare is obviously dependent upon the supply of water. The Tucson Farms Company has acquired practically all the land between the Agency and the City of Tucson, and is opening this land for cultivation. The Farms Company also owns the land bordering the reservation on the east and a considerable tract to the south of the reservation. There is naturally some conflict as to the water rights between the Farms Company and the Indians. The welfare of the City of Tucson can evidently be promoted by increasing the agricultural productiveness of the land held by the Farms Company and the plans by which the Farms Company hopes to encourage settlement are well-devised, but it must be borne in mind that the Indians, who have lived at San Xavier for many generations, have the prior claim upon the water supply. It is hoped and expected that there is in the Santa Cruz Valley enough water for both the Indians and the incoming white settlers, but the utmost vigilance will be necessary to protect the rights of the Indians to the water which is absolutely essential to their well-being.
“The trust patents under which most of the Indians near the Agency hold their allotments will expire in the course of the next two or three years. The officers of the Farms Company evidently expect at that time to acquire title to the Indian lands together with any improvements which the Indians or the Indian Service may have made. It is much to be feared that the Indians will too readily yield to this temptation to sell their lands. We earnestly recommend that these trust patents be extended and the Indians thus protected. It appears that the lines of the original allotments were badly surveyed, and the present fences or boundaries of the Indian allotments do not conform to the survey. If, therefore, an Indian should sell his allotment, he will very probably be selling the land occupied by the homestead of another Indian. We recommend, therefore, that new allotments be made to the Papago Indians living at San Xavier, and that trust patents be dated from the time of the new allotment. By the adoption of this plan not only the lines of the allotments will be correctly adjusted, but also the Indians will be protected in the possession of their lands.