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rest on a base of hand carved, red banded sandstone indigenous to the ancestral lands of the Apache. In 1876, a large "globe" shaped boulder of pure silver was discovered in rich veins running through territory within the San Carlos Reservation. Miners flooded into the area, and began carving away large quantities of minerals in this valuable strip of land. Agitation and pressure was applied to get this section of mineral rich land removed from the reservation. Shortly thereafter, the San Carlos Apaches were forced to relinquish this strip and the land was remanded back to the white settlers, later to be named "Globe, Arizona". This sandstone came from Globe and was part of the last batch ever to be mined there. Like his wolf companions, the Apache had been misunderstood and persecuted by white people. Despite being stripped of their lands, their religion, their language and their pride, they have prevailed: feared, respected, undefeated. This original, one-of-a-kind sculpture stands 53" high X 12" X 12" with its sandstone and stained maple pedestal. A limited edition of twelve patinated, all bronze reproductions are offered. It would seem as if the people known as Apaches have been misunderstood for literally centuries. The word Apache apparently came from the Zuni language translated as "enemy". Their incredible skill as warriors, fighting to protect their lands and people, had been known by other, larger tribes as well as the Spanish, Mexicans and later, the Americans. Although the Apaches regard themselves as one people, calling themselves "Indee", The People, they were subdivided into many different tribes, groups and subgroups, differing slightly in dialect, and more in religious and social practices. Natural boundaries further separated them and differing terrain varied their lifestyles. As a nation, they were more loosely banded than other tribes and had no central leader to speak for them or under which to unite. Generally, there was no political bond between groups. This is a relevant point in understanding their history, a point that was not understood during the war years with the U.S. Army. A peace treaty with one group wasn't necessarily honored by another and caused much confusion in the 19th and early part of the 20th century. Renegade acts of war, led by surprisingly small bands of Apaches laid blame on all Apaches, including peaceful ones. In the case of Geronimo, famous Chiricahua warrior, some 5,000 U.S. Army troops, along with 500 Apache scouts to help them, and hundreds of Mexican soldiers, pursued Geronimo, Naiche, and sixteen warriors through the southwest and deep into Mexico before Geronimo finally signaled for surrender. Meanwhile, over three hundred Chiricahua were living peacefully on the reservation, many serving as scouts for the army. The hostile acts of a few had condemned the many and it wasn't long after Geronimo's surrender that all the remaining Chiricahuas, including the Apache scouts, were shipped to a Florida prison camp. The first white men to encounter the Apaches were Spanish explorers coming in from the South on expeditions. Initially, the Apaches were relatively friendly, but that was not to last long. Early Euro-American anthropologists trace the arrival of the Apaches in the southwestern portion of North America to the early 1400's. By the early 1700's, Spanish settlements extended north, throughout Sonora, Chihuahua and up along the Santa Cruz River in Arizona and the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Apache villages were routinely raided by Spaniards and Mexicans, killing or capturing Indian women and children who were then put to work in mines and fields or sold into slavery or prostitution. The Apaches retaliated in kind and eventually established a pattern of raiding ranches in order to steal horses and cattle to survive the attacks on them that lasted all through the eighteenth century and into the first half of the nineteenth century. The skills of Apache warriors continually frustrated the Mexican government and in 1840, the state of Chihuahua was offering $200 apiece for Apache scalps. Scalping was a practice taught to them by the Spanish. Although many Americans took advantage of these contracts with Chihuahua, the Apaches welcomed the Americans in 1848 when, at the close of the Mexican War, the U.S. government assumed possession of what was then a large part of Apache territory. Later, with the signing of the Gadsden Purchase, the U.S. owned all of it and the Apaches became wards of the United States. The Apaches were glad to see the change, thinking it meant that the Mexicans, whom they considered their enemies, would leave. But the Mexicans didn't leave and when gold was discovered in the 1850's in New Mexico, prospectors, ranchers and settlers crowded close to ancient tribal hunting and camping grounds. When Chief Mangus Coloradas, also of the Chiricahua tribe, approached prospectors, offering that gold was in even greater supply in Mexico and volunteered to lead them to it, and away from sacred grounds, he was paid the highest insult of all. Tied to a tree, he was given a hundred lashes and then let go. This and many more events to follow, precipitated a war between the Chiricahua Apaches and the U.S. that was to last for a quarter of a century. Both the army and civilians participated in an all out effort to exterminate the Apaches. Poisoned cornmeal was distributed to them at the army posts, killing many Western Apaches who were living peacefully apart from the Americans. Reports from Indian agents in the 1870's indicated that the U.S. government spent some thirty-eight million dollars in a period of less than ten years in an effort to wipe out the Apaches. Heavily outnumbered, but never outfought, the Chiricahua Apaches were reduced in number from around 1,000 to 502 by the time of Geronimo's surrender. Having been buffered by the Chiricahuas to the south, the Western Apaches came through the 19th century and into the 20th century with far less problems. Unlike other Apache groups who were primarily hunter-gatherers, agriculture was a vital part of their economic system. In addition, they were the largest in population, being comprised of many clans and operated as more of an extended family than a tribe. They had the largest territory and, unlike the neighboring Chiricahua, their lands did not lie in the direct path of Manifest Destiny's westward expansion. Being farmers from the onset, they acclimated to reservation life and were allowed to remain on their original homelands. A subgroup of the Western Apaches, known as the White Mountain people, occupying the area surrounding Ft. Apache, have succeeded in bringing their culture and traditions into the 20th century. Embracing many of the white man's methods and modern technology, the White Mountain Reservation now profits from major tribal enterprises such as logging and ranching. By sharing their natural resources, they are able to realize profits from fishing lakes, camp sites, hunting grounds and a ski resort. Out of tribal funds, a solar powered hospital was constructed, along with homes, office buildings and a major shopping center. Tribal Chairman Ronnie Lupe has been quoted as having said," Self-sufficiency, that's our main thrust...We have endured as Apache through more than one hundred years of attempts to assimilate us...Some have sought to destroy us. Others have desired to re-create us in their own image, to have us give up our language and culture. Our children were sent to boarding schools, and were punished for speaking in their own tongue. Much of our land was taken when it was discovered to be rich in resources. Yet we have survived. Our Apache language and beliefs are respected by the majority. We hold to our ways so we will know who we are, and to help us feel good about our existence on the earth. We of the White Mountain Tribe...are but one nation of the Apache. Others of us live on reservations scattered throughout Arizona and New Mexico with more in Oklahoma. They, like us, desire to live in harmony with neighbors of all colors. We ask only to be respected and accepted for what we are - a people with conviction and our own unique way of looking at the universe..." Perhaps, if asked, the ancestral Apaches would have requested the same. |
