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Forced to Abandon Our Fields

Name: Forced to Abandon Our Fields
Brand: UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PRESS
SKU: 9781607810957
Price: 57.99 AUD
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UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PRESSISBN: 9781607810957

The 1914 Clay Southworth Gila River Pima Interviews

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By David H. DeJong
Imprint: UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PRESS
Release Date: June 28, 2011
Format: PAPERBACK
Dimensions: 229 x 152 mm
Weight: 280 g
Pages: 192

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During the nineteenth century, upstream diversions from the Gila River decreased the arable land on the Gila River Indian Reservation to only a few thousand acres. As a result the Pima Indians, primarily an agricultural people, fell into poverty. Many Pima farmers and leaders lamented this suffering and in 1914 the United States Indian Irrigation Service assigned a 33-year-old engineer named Clay ""Charles"" Southworth to oversee the Gila River adjudication. As part of that process, Southworth interviewed 34 Pima elders, thus putting a face on the depth of hardships facing many Indians in the late nineteenth century. Southworth's interviews fell into obscurity until recently, when they were rediscovered by David DeJong. The interviews cover decades of Pima history and reveal the nexus between upstream diversions and Pima economy, agriculture, water use, and water rights. In Forced to Abandon Our Fields, DeJong provides the historical context for these interviews; transcripts of the interviews provide first-hand descriptions of both the once-successful Pima agricultural economy and its decline by the early twentieth century. These interviews suggest that it was not the triumph of Western civilization that displaced the Pima agricultural economy but the application of a philosophy of economic liberalism that prevented the Pima from building on their previous successes.

Contents List of Illustrations and TablesPrefaceIntroduction. "Indians Starving to Death"1. "High and Dry"2. "Forced to Abandon Our Fields"3. The Southworth Interviews4. Friends of the Pima Speak Out5. Two Pima Calendar Sticks6. Epilogue: Pima Water Rights, 1914-2007NotesBibliographyIndex

"DeJong's presentation of the oral interview transcripts is excellent. These interviews are a rich source of cultural and historical information about the Pimas."-David Rich Lewis, Utah State University "The interviews and other original sources, including photographs and translations of two calendar sticks as well as DeJong's overview of federal policies regarding Pima water, provide a historical context that continues to have vital relevance into the twenty-first century. DeJong presents a valuable contribution to the scholarship on American Indian history and encourages future research on natural resources and Indian communities."-Western Historical Quarterly "The interviews and other original sources, including photographs and translations of two calendar sticks as well as DeJong's overview of federal policies regarding Pima water, provide a historical context that continues to have vital relevance into the twenty-first century. DeJong presents a valuable contribution to the scholarship on American Indian history and encourages future research on natural resources and Indian communities." -Western Historical Quarterly

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