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An Oasis Remembered: An Indian Agency Sacaton, Arizona - A Pictorial & Historical Review About the Place and its People

by Robert E. Ramsey

170 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); black and white photographs; catalogue #04-1782; ISBN 1-4120-3975-4; US$18.00, C$20.00, EUR14.50, £10.50

A vivid story about the ingenious Pima Indian Tribe in Southern Arizona and a family's remarkable life among them in the early 20th Century. An enlightening portrayal of that time.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book Rural Arizona in the 1920's offered a harsh environment to those who chose to call it home. Life on an impoverished Indian Reservation further deepened the challenge, but it also was the turning point in my family's life. Rich and lasting friendships were developed among the Indian people, the memories of which are lasting today. This is a historical and pictorial review of the Government Agency located on the Pima Indian Reservation at Sacaton, Arizona, and a review of a number of prominent people who administered the Tribal affairs during the period between 1859-1968, after which the Tribe then became independent and se1f-governing. The book contains 105 pictures dating back into the late 1800s and into the late 1940s. Pima cotton, the worlds finest, was developed at Sacaton, and the history of this development is described. It is a wonderful and enlightening story of another time.

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About the Author Bob Ramsey arrived in Arizona as a small child in 1926, and was raised among the Indians, where his father taught school on the remote Pima Indian Reservation. He later served with the Navy Seabees for three years during WWII, before settling down to a 45-year career in the lumber business. Since his retirement, he has found pleasure in writing. This is his sixth book to be published. He was awarded the distinction of having written the best historical presentation to be published by the Arizona Historical Society during the year 2002. Those stories are incorporated in this writing. PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS Verses From The Heart Arizona Desktop Publishing 1995 Life Has Been A Dandy Cactus Press 1999 Reflections from the Heart Cactus Press 1999 Journal Of Arizona History Arizona Historical Society 2001 High Jinks and Tall Tales Of The Old West Cactus Press 1999

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Excerpts

History tells us of the Indians of the Southwest, and of their varied lifestyles. It tells us that Father Kino makes mention of them in his travels back into the late 1600s. The early Spaniards gave them the name "Atamas", meaning, "river people"; this is a complicated expression derived by an assimilation of more than a few expressions in the native tongue and a derivative of the Papago name for them, "A Kimel o' otam". The Pimas referred to the Papago Indians, as "Tohom O. Otam", which meant, "desert people." This group, once known as the Papagos, now calls themselves the "O'Odham" tribe, but they are still of Pima decent. There were at least seven linguistic groups of aboriginal Indians found in the territory, which were later defined as those who spoke the Pima language; all of these people resided in the area which is now southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. Frank Russell, in his 1904 report, (The Pima Indians), states that the Spanish explorers had ask the Indians what they called themselves. They answered in the negative, "Pimo", meaning, " I don't know", or, "I don't understand you". The repeated use of this Indian expression soon identified them, and they were soon called the "Pimos". The Spaniards later called this the area of the "Pimeria". At any rate, the name was later shortened to "Pimos", and then the Americans corrupted it to the tribal name, "Pima".

These are the people whose ancestors farmed along the great rivers that once flowed through Southern Arizona, namely the Gila, Salt, Santa Cruz, and the Colorado for fourteen centuries. There were other rivers and streams, of course, of less grandeur.

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Catalogue Information

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