Montezuma urges Mike Burns and the McDowell Indians to keep McDowell land and Verde River water; NOT to move to Salt River Reservation as proposed.

Mike Burns and the leaders of the McDowell community entreat Montezuma to help them stay on their land and help them go to Washington D.C. to request a dam for the irrigation of their land. They also ask him for advice about allotment.

In the letter, Montezuma defends the water rights of the Fort McDowell community and the construction of a proposed dam, and states emphatically that "it is not their wish to move."