A history of the Tonto Apache In May 1926, the director of the
State Museum on the campus of the University of Arizona, Tucson,
answered a letter of inquiry from a Mrs. Matthews in San
Francisco about the Tonto Apaches. In his reply was this
comment, "Regarding the Tonto Apaches, I fear I can be of very
little help to you. I know of nothing that has been written upon
this group. They are now mixed into the other groups in the
White Mountain's tribe at Fort Apache and at San Carlos. But I
know of no one who has traced their history." If I were to
answer Mrs. Matthews I would have to give the same answer today.
Much research has been done on the war waged by Euro-Americans
against the Apaches, and there have been numerous studies of
prehistoric settlement in the territory later occupied by the
Tonto Apache. But no one has gathered the available information
and provided us with a written history of the small tribe called
Tonto Apache. The reason so little has been written about this
fascinating subject can be re