But, sometimes, a freighter, eager to earn extra pay for a quick trip, or wishing to drive ahead of the cloud of dust that enveloped each large convoy, would push along by himself. Possibly the next day, the train would come to the embers of what had been wagons and their contents. Nearby would be the bodies of the tortured and murdered teamsters. So the careful ones united, remaining at the railroad until at least a score of wagons had accumulated, and then made their way northward, relatively safe through united vigilance. In 1899 the Gila Valley, Globe & Northern railroad was completed from Bowie, through the Gila Valley towns, to Globe, a distance of 124 miles, though the loss to the freighters was more than balanced by the general good to the community of bettered transportation facilities. Right-of-way through the reservation was accorded by the Indians after a diplomatic distribution to them by a railroad agent of $8000, all in silver coin. Chapter Twenty-three Civic and Church Features Troublesome River Conditions In the memory of Americans still living, the Gila River through the Safford region, was a relatively narrow stream, over which in places a stone could be tossed. There were occasional lagoons, some of them created by beaver dams--picturesque, but breeding places for mosquitoes and sources of malaria. Camp Goodwin was abandoned because of malarial conditions in 1869-70, troops being transferred to the new post of Camp Ord (Apache). The river situation of later years has been very different indeed from that known to the pioneers. The lagoons drained and the underbrush, grass and trees cut away, the river floods have had full sweep and, as a result, there has been tremendous loss in the washing away of the lower lying land. The farms have been pushed back toward the mesas. Now under consideration is a comprehensive irrigation system that will cost several millions of dollars, with a great concrete diversion dam above Solomonville and with two head canals that economically will serve both sides of the river. But in the early days the colonists did what they could, not what economically was advisable. They did not have such trouble as was known along the Little Colorado and their water supply was much larger and somewhat more regular. They took out little canals at different points, with headworks that were easily replaced when washed away.