Vincent Randall, the Apache Cultural Director for the Yavapai-Apache Nation, gave a presentation on the history of the peoples of the Verde Valley during an Indigenous Peoples’ Day event at the Verde Valley Archaeology Center on Oct. 9.
After introducing himself in Apache, Randall discussed matrilineality in Apache culture and his band’s former range from Flagstaff to Show Low. A full-blooded Apache, he was given a baby name meaning “little baby with the big round head,” which Randall said he was glad was changed when he reached adulthood. His adult name translates as “old man hunter.”
Born and raised in Clarkdale, Randall attended Mingus Union High School and Arizona State University before teaching at Clarkdale-Jerome Elementary School for 28 years. He was also elected tribal chairman and vice chairman for the YavapaiApache Nation.
Randall said that Apache storytelling time traditionally begins in the winter with the first frost, and retold a creation story shared by the Yavapai and Apache in which the first humans emerged from Montezuma Well.
The Apache were hunters, gatherers and farmers growing crops such as corn and “sugarcane,” or Apache red sorghum. Farms were located near springs, not rivers, which Randall said were undependable due to summer floods that would wash out gardens. Older people tended the plots while younger people gathered food, such as sumac berries and wild grains.
Pointing out that his ancestors would relocate during the winter to spend the season with relatives in warmer areas, Randall joked that they were the first snowbirds.
The first Europeans to arrive in the region were the Spanish in 1583 CE, who were looking for gold, found none and moved on. Little further exploration occurred until the 1820s, when trappers started hunting beaver on the Verde River and its tributaries.
Conflict between Americans and the residents of the Verde Valley began in 1849, when the gold rush in California sent people westwards into Yavapai territory and the U.S. Army founded Fort Whipple to protect miners and prospectors from natives.
Farmers and ranchers began claiming pieces of the land and dug an irrigation ditch, which Randall compared to bringing a Dollar General into an area in modern times. The Apache and Yavapai started raiding farms, stealing crops such as watermelon. Randall noted that the Apache word for watermelon, meaning “you eat it at night,” must have originated at this time. Fort Lincoln was built when the farmers asked for additional protection; it was later moved and became Fort Verde.
The Indian Wars followed after the U.S. Army established a stronger presence in Prescott and the Verde Valley. U.S. Army Gen. George Crook’s philosophy was said to be “it takes an Indian to catch an Indian” and he actively recruited Apaches from eastern Arizona to work as scouts. Randall said that Crook had another philosophy, “search and destroy,” sending out troops every day to attack the Apache. For about a decade, Apaches stood their ground and used guerilla tactics against the U.S. military.
In 1871, the U.S. government set up the Rio Verde Reservation for the Apache as part of a deal to end combat operations in the Verde Valley. It was 45 miles long and 20 miles wide along both banks of the Verde River. Two years later, the Yavapai’s reservation was abolished by presidential executive order and the Yavapai combined on one reservation with the Apache, their traditional enemies.
A group known as the Tucson ring supplied the reservation with crops and goods such as flour. Randall said that the Apache didn’t know what to do with the flour, assuming it was to be used for painting themselves, until Mexicans taught them how to make tortillas with it. After the Indians began farming and supplying their own food, the contractors complained about their falling profits.
As a result, in 1875, the Rio Verde Reservation was abolished and both tribes marched 180 miles to San Carlos in February, which is now commemorated with a ceremony on what is known as Exodus Day. About 1,200 people made the march; many died from starvation and exhaustion.
Randall referred to a famous statue at the YAN of a man carrying his wife in a basket on his back, which depicts an event from the march. An older man and his wife were walking to San Carlos and she was too weak to continue, but he carried her on his back for the rest of the journey.
“We’re a people that never give up,” Randall said. “We honor our spouses and we’re a people that takes care of each other.”
Randall likened San Carlos to a concentration camp, adding that anyone who tried to leave would be hunted down.
By 1889, Randall said that a few hundred people had begun returning north, only to find that ranchers and farmers had settled their land. Around 300 to 500 of them camped by the salt mine in Camp Verde. Many become Army scouts because they were given a horse, rifle and the freedom to move around. They were also promised that if they brought in renegade Indians that they could go home. Crook never honored that promise.
The Apache and Yavapai also wanted their children to go to school, but the Camp Verde residents wouldn’t let them into their school, resulting in the establishment of an Indian school in the old barracks at the fort in 1907. The teacher helped them buy their first piece of land, beginning the reestablishment of the old reservation.
Randall said that it was not until the 1960s that the Yavapai and Apache began to build their own houses, and many continued to live in poverty until 1996, when Cliff Castle Casino opened and provided jobs for workers and revenue for both the tribe and its members.
Randall also recalled a joke told by another Indian. When asked if he still ate buffalo, the Indian replied, “Just the wings.”
