Salt River Indian Agency (Arizona)

The Salt River Agency is a currently operating agency. Its supervising office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Phoenix Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Maricopa, Pima

History
Salt River Agency was known as Camp McDowell until 1 April 1913 when the name was changed. It was transferred to Phoenix School, 1 July 1927, which carried out the function of an agency until it was transferred to Pima Agency, 1 February 1934.

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

A few administrative records of the Salt River Agency are in the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Los Angeles.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Salt River Indian Reservation, which at that time was under the Pima Agency. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Pima Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 79, Salt River Indian Reservation, in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Salt River Agency, 1913-1927, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 124-125, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their microfilm numbers.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1913 thru 1927. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 460. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.