Girl Scouts in Arizona and New Mexico

by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

From Wagon Mound the trail ran through beautiful hills and valleys, passing through Optimo, a small farming settlement, and then to Valmora, where a large Sanatorium for tuberculosis is located. At Watrous the junction of the Mora and Sapello rivers supply water for many industries and also give the country around ample moisture to grow such verdure as other sections lack. The Ranger considered the pueblo ruins near the town worthy of a visit, and also the ruins of Fort Barkley near by. After visiting the Shoemaker (Mora) Canyon the scouts continued on to Las Vegas.

It had been a long ride that day, and they were thankful to find a hotel where every convenience as well as luxury was to be had. They lost no time in going to their rooms at the Castañeda and enjoying the delight of warm baths. It was rather late for dinner when they all met again in the dining-room, hence the usual crowds had dined, and that left the place more private.

Sandy, as he had come to be called by the scouts, was not to be seen when Mr. Gilroy led his friends to dinner, but later he hurried in and excused himself for being tardy.

“I saw Tally and learned that he has stabled his burros in a good place, so I let him take our mounts there as well. Then I sent word to Mr. Burt, who was in the billiard-room, and made an appointment to meet him in the lounge after dinner. I should like to know if you wish to meet him?” Sandy gazed at Julie, but he had meant his words for every one in the party.

“Later will be just as well, Sandy. You ought to say your say with him on the business matter for which he came west. That off the slate, you can mention us. We will be the ‘refreshments after the meat course,’” laughed Mr. Gilroy.

But it happened later, that Sandy and Burt were discovered in the reading-room of the hotel. It had been vacated by the guests who sought outdoor diversions, and the two men considered they would find the place quiet enough for them.

Sandy was cracking his closed hand upon the solid table beside him as Mr. Gilroy came to the door to peep within the room. This conversation sounded very good to him, so Mr. Gilroy tip-toed across to an armchair and listened silently. An illustrated newspaper, open upon a table back of Sanderson, caught his eye, and he leaned over to take it. He saw the date—November 29, 1922—and he wondered that such an old paper should be found upon such a modern hotel’s reading-table. He soon understood how it came there. Mr. Burt had had it in his script case and had shown it to the Ranger. It was a full-page article on the Pueblo Indians, and the illustrations were excellent.

Sanderson seemed to know his subject from A to Z, and the newspaper correspondent soon realized that fact. Both men were so interested in the debate that neither one had noticed the entrance of Mr. Gilroy. Mr. Burt took up the discussion and asked his companion many questions bearing upon the work before them, and Mr. Gilroy, glancing down at the paper upon his knees, saw a line that seemed to answer a question that Burt had just asked. Thereupon he became so intent upon reading the article that he never heard the girls come in quietly and take chairs near the door.

The Ranger was declaring vehemently at the time in defense of the Indians. “I tell you, Mr. Burt, that these United States owe the red Indians more than we citizens can estimate. If that Bursum Bill goes into effect it will be a lasting disgrace to this nation. How is it possible that our Senate can be so misinformed as to pass a bill which will take from the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico thousands of acres of land upon which they depend for a living—land which was bestowed upon them by patented land grants and subsequently confirmed by the Republic of Mexico, and later by the American Government in 1858.

“Should this bill pass the House, the Indians will be deprived not only of their land rights, but also of legal redress. Why, these guileless Pueblos will become the target of so many unscrupulous lawyers who will induce them to sue to recover their land, that the courts of New Mexico will be congested with their claims.