American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-02-13
Ancient Arizona.

The route and trip through Arizona
grows more and more interesting ~,
every stage of my journcy-con,inued
evidences of an ancient civilization and
OF former dense and agricultural popu-
la1on increase and multiply on every
nand- During my stay here of five
days have visited many old ruins of
houses, waier-ditches, etc, on the plains
around Florence, and for many miles
around the country, all of which have
been wonderfully interesting to me. The
ruins called =" Casa Grande" are some ten
or twelve miles south of west from Flor
ence, and are the most noted of any in
this region, solely on account of their
better preservation. There are others
very much larger, but more decsyed.
Casa Grande" is on the south side of
Inc Gala River, and on the great plain
or valley OF the Gala, and distant from
the river between two and three miles
West OF the ruins some eight miles is a
spur of the Sacatone Mountains; south,
II is thirty miles to the " Picacho" Peak !;
TO the Mouth rise several detached, iso-
lated mountain peaks, distant ten to tif-
teen miles, while far off to the north
sixty miles distant, are the Four Peaks"
and to The east extends the great Gala
Valley as far rs the eye can reach. Here,
IN the center of this great valley, stands
Casa Grande," grim sen'inel of the
past, OF whose history nothing is known.
From the ealiest histories of the
country, going back to the account
given by the Jesuit Fathers of the
Indian war OF 1853, and also away back
to the Spanish expedition about the
middle of the sixteenth century, we can
learn but little of this and the other old
and extensive ruins scattered all over
Arizona. All of these earlier accounts
speak of these ruins and also describe
them almost exactly as the visitor finds
them. casa Grande' stands exactly
with the points of the compass, the long
est way being north and south 1t is
Ihe walls are standing to the sixth story,
and it was from appearance seven
stories high. 1t is not built of common
adobe, but of kind of concrete or grout
1t Is very hard and as difficult to be
broken as stone. The bases of the walls
are rive feet thick. The walls were evil
IDENTIFY laid up the same as concrete
houses are now built in the Eastern
States, in tiers or blocks of thirty inches
in height, as the seams between the tiers
can be plainly seen extending across the
whole building. The inside walls were
plastered over with peculiar hard
cement of dark orange color, and this
cement or plaster is as perfect as when
II was first put on, in the unknown ages
of the past. There were five rooms on
the ground floor, one of which, in walk
ing over 1t, seems to be hollow below;
yet OF this we can only conjecture as the
debris from the roof and falling walls
have niied in these rooms to a depth of
five feet or more. The opening or door
ways between the rooms on the ground
= floor and the stories above were uniform
and about two feet wide and four high
On the west side of the building there
man II \
gateway three stories high, but this had
subsequently been filed in above the
first story with like material to the orig
insl walls. On the north side were four
portfolios about fifteen inches liz diane
ter On the south side, near the south
west corner, there was evidently at first
an open door or gateway six feet in
width running up to the second or third
story, but this had evidently been filled
In at q later date, as me joint or scam
can be plainly seen. Why these open
lngs were first left and aftcrward filled
in is only q subject of conjecture. To
me it seems that they were filled in by
the occpPanfs in order to more SUCCESS
fully rcpel and keep out enemies in time
of war. This idea would also seem to
convey the impression that this ancient,
civilized and agricultural people were
driven out by an armed Eoe.s IF So there
must have been ahterrible war and de-
struction, as ruins of like character as
this are TO be found for hun
dreds of miles around But to re-
turn to my description. The east side of
the building had an opening above the
nrst fOOr to the fourth story. This
opening. window, or doorway was two
feet wide On the north end there was
an opening above the first floor six feet
high and less than two feet wide. The
noors above and the roof were upheld
and supported by" vigas"-beams or
rafters of pine, six inches or more in di-
smeter, and they seem to have been de-
stroyed by fire. The ends of these
v!gas" yet remain in the walls, one of
winch got out for examination. The
ends of them were cut off by stone axes,
the dull, blunt cuts being plainly seen
These stone axes are found in and around
the old ruins and at other places, and
are quite similar to those found in the
old workings of the copper mines of
Lake Superior. To the east of the
Casa Grande" fifty feet portion of the
walls OF another building are yet stand
ing. and to the south 100 feet portions of
another large building, the walls of
which are in places over twenty feet
high. All over the plain for mile or
more are mounds, being the debris of
other large buildings now gone to decay,
yet in places the form and extent of them
0iC Casby tIaCcu broken pOttcry Is
scattered all over the country, but more
profuscly in and around the old ruins.
A great irrigation ditch ran few hun
dred yR0 from Casa Grande," which
in places is entirely obliterated by the
washings of water and the changes of
ages, but where it was cut through n
gravelly soil is yet plain to the sight.
This ditch can be traced for forty to fifty
miles up and down the river, and is from
one to four miles from it, Hundreds of
Thousands of acres of land must have
been watered by it, and untold amounts
OF grain and vegetables, etc, raised, suf-
fcient-tc have supplied the wants of a
very numerous people. At different
places and miles apart / measured these
great bitches where they had been cut
through pebbly ridges, and found them
from thirty to fifty feet wide, and in few
places over ten feet deep. have as yet |
found no iron or metal instruments and |
no bones OF large animals in or around |
these ruins, but a few Shells stone in !
struments, and large amounts of broken |
pottery. The poftery-ware was, much of |
it, painted in colors of red, black, orange |
and other cOlors, and some of it is as |
bright and perfect as when put on hun |
dreds and perhaps thousands of years |
since Government ought to appoint a |
few active, energetic and untiring men |
with instructions to explore these old |
ruins of ancient civilization. And it |
should be done at once, for with the |
building of a southern trans-continental |
railroad the influx of an immense min !
n % IxfI or, n 81. ..f