People of the Sun: the Yavapai
Whenever any untoward even occurred between Settlers and Natives in Arizona, the Apaches were almost universally blamed. However, there were other tribes who didn't appreciate trespassers and who did their level best to protect their home and hunting ranges. The Yavapai are a Yuman-speaking people who divide themselves into four independent divisions, Western Yavapai, Northwestern Yavapai, Southeastern Yavapai, and Verde Valley or Southwestern Yavapai. A band of Yavapai, known as the Desert Yavapai were eventually absorbed into the Mohave and Quechan people. The Yavapai range was traditionally the San Francisco Peaks to the north, the Pinaleno and Mazatzal Mountains to the Southeast, and nearly to the Gila and Salt Rivers in the South. The pre-contact Yavapai were hunters and gatherers. Some practiced subsistence farming of the three staples, corn, squash and beans. They also traded with other groups, animals skins and baskets for items of food....