# The Pima Indians/History/Villages

Name - Villages - Prehistoric Ruins - Contact with Spaniards - Relations with Americans - Annals
HISTORY
Villages
​The villages known to the oldest Pimas are as follows:
| 1. | Petâʼĭkuk, Where the Petai (ash tree?) Stands. |
| 2. | Tcupatäk, Mortar Stone. |
| 3. | Tcuʼwutukawutûk, Earth Hill. |
| 4. | Os Kâʼkûmûk Tcoʼtcikäm, Arrow-bush Standing. |
| 5. | Koʼ-okûp Vanʼsĭk, Medicine Paraphernalia. |
| 6. | Kâʼmĭt, Back. |
| 7. | Tcoʼûtĭk Wuʼtcĭk, Charcoal Laying. |
| 8 and 9. Akûtcĭny, Creek Mouth. One 5 miles west of Picacho and another southwest of Maricopa station. Both depended upon flood waters. ||
Fig. 1. Map of Pima reservation.
​The Pimas have a tradition relating the circumstances of the coming of the band of Sobaipuris, whom they call Rsaʼrsavinâ, Spotted, from the San Pedro. They are said to have drunk naʼvait or cactus liquor together with a village of Pimas of forgotten name, on the north side of the Gila, near the present Blackwater and the Picacho village of Akûtcĭny, before the time when the Apaches forced them to leave their homes on the San Pedro.
Since the settlement of the Gila and Salt river valleys by the whites and the establishment of peace with the Apaches, the Pimas have again manifested a disposition to extend their settlements, principally owing, however, to the scarcity of water on the Gila River reservation. The present villages are as follows:
* Os Kuk, Tree Standing, known as Blackwater.
* Weʼtcu(r)t, Opposite, North Blackwater.
* Haʼrsanykuk, Saguaro Standing, Sacaton Flats.
* Sʽaʼopuk, Many Trees, The Cottonwoods.
* Tatʼsĭtûkʽ, Place of Fright, the settlement about Cruz's store.
* Kuʼ-u Ki, Big House, Sacaton.
* Ʌoʼpohiûm, (?), Santan.
* Huʼtcĭlttcĭk, Round Clearing, village below Santan on north bank of river.
* Vaʼ-aki, Ruin or Ancient House, Casa Blanca.
* Stâʼtânnyĭk, Many Ants, a village between the two last preceding, on south bank of Gila.
* Pe-epʼtcĭltʽkʽ, Concave (from a family with noses of that shape), northeast of Casa Blanca.
* Rsoʼtûkʽ, Water Standing, northwest of Casa Blanca.
* Skâʼkâĭk, Many Rattlesnakes, on north side of Gila, opposite Rsoʼtûkʽ.
* Rsâʼnûk, Beginning, about a mile east of Sacaton station on Maricopa and Phoenix railroad.
* Kaʼwoltûkʽ Wutca, Hill Below, west of railroad.
* Hiʼatam, Sea Sand Place, from Hiʼakatcĭk, where the people of this village formerly lived. Hiʼatam was just north of Maricopa station.
* Kâʼmatûk Wuʼtcâ, Kâʼmatûk Below, Gila Crossing. Kâʼmatûk is the Pima name of the Sierra Estrella.
* Hermʼho, Once, or Âʼmu Âʼkimûlt, Salt River, known by last name. This is the settlement on the north side of the river, 3 miles from Mesa.
* ↑ The Rudo Ensayo states that "between these Casas Grandes, the Pimas, called Gileños, inhabit both banks of the river Gila, occupying ranches on beautiful bottom land for 10 leagues farther down, which, as well as some islands, are fruitful and suitable for wheat, Indian corn, etc." Records of the American Catholic Historical Society, v, 128. "The most important of these ranches are, on this side, Tusonimó, and on the other, Sudacson or the Incarnation, where the principal of their chiefs, called Tavanimó, lived, and farther down, Santa Theresa, where there is a very copious spring." (Ibid., 129.) This "spring" was probably above the present Gila Crossing where the river, after running for many miles underground in the dry season, rises with a strong flow of water that supplies extensive irrigating ditches. Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, writing in 1855, enumerate the following Pima villages: San Juan Capistrano, Sutaquison, Atison, Tubuscabor, and San Seferino de Napgub (see Pacific Railroad Reports, III, pt. 3, 123). In 1858 Lieut. A.B. Chapman, First Dragoons, U.S. Army, completed a census of the Pimas and Maricopas. The names of the villages, leaders, and the population of both tribes are here reprinted from S. Ex. Doc. 1, pt. 1, 559, 35th Cong., 2d sess., 1859. The number of Maricopas is included that the comparatively small importance of that tribe may be appreciated. MARICOPAS[Head chief, Juan Chevereah.] Villages. Chiefs. Warriors. Women and children. Total. El Juez Tarado $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$Juan Jose $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ 116 198 314 Sacaton 76 128 204 192 326 518 PIMAS[Head chief, Antonio Soule [Azul].] Buen Llano Ojo de Buro and Yiela del Arispe 132 259 391 Ormejera No.1 Miguel and Xavier 140 503 643 Ormejera No. 2 Cabeza del Aquila 37 175 212 Casa Blanca Chelan 110 425 535 Chemisez Tabacaro 102 210 312 El Juez Tarado Cadrillo del Mundo and Ariba Aqua Bolando 105 158 263 Arizo del Aqua Francisco 235 535 770 Aranca No. 1 La Mano del Mundo 291 700 991 Aranca No. 2 Boca Dulce 1,152 2,965 4,117 Mr Browne, a member of Commissioner Poston’s party that visited the villages in January, 1864, wrote: "The number of Pima villages is 10; Maricopas, 2; separate inclosures, 1,000." (J. Ross Browne, Adventures in the Apache Country, 110.) On a later page (290) he gives the population by villages, of which he names but seven: Aqua Baiz 533 Herringuen 514 Cerrito 259 Llano 392 Arenal 616 ——— Cachunilia 438 Total 3,067 Casa Blanca 315 "There are 1,200 laboring Pimas and 1,000 warriors." James F. Rueling (The Great West and the Pacific Coast, 369), who visited the Pimas in 1867, also states that there were then ten Pima villages.
* ↑ Font mentions a Pima-Papago village in this vicinity, called "Cuitoa." Manuscript Diary, 35.
* ↑ "The most warlike among all the Pimas are those we call the Sobiarpuris, for they are born and reared on the border of the Apaches; but they have become tired of living in constant warfare, and have, during the present year of 1762, abandoned their beautiful and fertile valley, retiring, some to Santa Maria Soanca, and some to San Xavier del Bac and to Tucson, thus leaving to the enemies a free entrance to the high region of the Pimas." Rudo Ensayo, translated by Eusebio Guitéras, Records of the American Catholic Historical Society, v, 192.