Arizona citizen., 1873-06-21
Tucson a Hundred Years Ago.

We met an old lady this week whois sup-i I posed to be over one hundred years oldV and was born in Tucson. Her name is ] Mariana Dias, and from her we obtained several historical items relative to oldf times which were interesting to IS. Sh8 says as long ago as she san remember Tue son consisted ofa military post, surroUndedj by a corral, and that taere were but twf or three houses outside of it. The countryI was covered with horses and cattle and on many of the trails they were so plenty thatl it was quite incouvenient to get through the immense herds. They were only yak uable for tbe hides and tallow, and a good1 sized steer ras only worth 8.
 This country then belonged to the gov ernmeut of Spain and the troops were paid in silver coin, and on all the coin the named of Ferdinand l was engraved, and money was quite plenty. Goods such as they rd- quired were brought from Sonora on pack animals. They had ip those days 10 carts or wagons. Eha fields ii front and below Tucson were itTated and considerable grain was also -aised on tue San Pedro. and with a1 abundance of beef and tie grain hey raised, they always had an ample supply.
 They AeJ no commuricaji0n with Cah- fornia. aL sue never knew there was such country until she had become an old vol man. San Xavier was built as long go as she can remember, and toe church n tic valley in front of town, and there was afso Q church on Courthouse square, Whichjhas gone to ruin and DO trace is left of it
 The priests were generally in good eir- cumstances and were supported by receIE- ing a portion of the annual products, but for marriages, bUrials, baptisms and othdr church duties, they did not ask or recei9e
 any pay.
 Among the leading and wcalthiest men
 who lived here al that time. she D 3ntio4ed i the names of Epumuseno Correles, Santa
 Cruz. Ygnaoio Pacheco, Rita Sosa, Padhe
 Pedro and Juan Dias.
 On inquiry aoout the Apaches she spoke with considerable feeling and said that many efforts had been made for peace with them, but every attempt had resulted tn failure; that whatever promises they made but few days would pass before they l proved treacherous and commenced mCr- , der and robbery again that they m1S-
 dered her husband in the field about two miles below Tucson, and that most of her relatives had gone in the same way; that she was now left alone and would be in
 want but for such men as Samuel Hughes; and then she related the circumstances of one peace that was made about ninety years ago. It seems the Apaches got the worst of fight on the Arivaca ranch. SeE-
 eral were killed and the son of chief wAs
 taken prisoner and brought to Tucson, and
 the Indians opened negotiations to obtain
 lls boy. Colonel Carbon, in command 0f
 the Spanish forces, agreed with them that on certain day the Indians should all collect here, and to prevent traachory and being ovorpowered, he brought in at night and concealed within the walls of the forf all the mon he could get from all the towHs within i5O miles. On the day appointkd the Indians came in vast numbers ali shs plains around were black with them The Colonel then told them if they had come on mission of peace they must lay down
 their arms and meet him as friends. They complied with his request and then all the people inside of the walls went among them unSrmed. The Colonel gave them one hundred head of cattle, and the boy prisoner was brought out and given to lis father and they embraced each other and cried, and an era of reconciliation and peace seemed t0 have arrived. The boy ! told his father that he liked his eaptors %
 well that he desired 10 live with them, and l ln spite OI all the persuasions of the old man he still insisted on remaining, and the Indians were compelled Go return to l their mountain home without him. The 1 boy was great fav0ri55 with the peoplef . a -s ?. t people, out before leaving he saw sverA
 one in the village and bade them good-by,
 and promised and did return in fifteen
 days. A few days subsequent to his re-
 turn he took the small pox and died. and
 very soon afterwaru the Apaches com
 menced to murder and rob the same as be- fore. Our informant then remarked with al good deal of feeling that since her earliest recollection she had heard it frequently
 sad that we were going so have peace
 with the Apaches, but every hope had been
 broken and she did not believe we should ever have peace as long as Gn Apache lived When she was girl they made twol attempts to take Tucson. The first tfme5 tho a5.at1r- and male. were nearly all. away. The APache= found it out and took advantage of their absence and attacked the town and w9r'd have taken and uair- doIed every one in it, but for tbe timely as 5lstance of the Pima and Parsgo Iadians/ "lo came to The rescue in Il-ga numbers and attacking the Apaches on two sides, killed some of them and drove them o&. The next time the sentinel on the hill in front of town discovered them coming and gave the alarm, and after a severe fight the Indians were repulsed.