The Arizona sentinel., 1879-05-31
Casa Grxnde.

| Casa Grande, 1.-THE new" consists Of
| numerous temporary structures NOW
stu uding ON the plain half way between
Maricopa and Picscho. The most OF them
Including the stores Of Siss0n Wallace 4
Co., j. N. Barney;Dxvid Neahr, aidpothers
and the railroad and stage offices, are on
wheels, ready to move on rs soon as op-
portunity presents. The line from point
little distance this side Of Asricopa,
takes straight course for the center Of
PicachO pass. Thence, by slight curve
southwark, it makes for Tucson. The
company has tnishe, Ave switches and y
with plenty OF water at sixty feet A new
engine aud tank are On the ground, and
will be ready for business in few days.
Two carloads Of water are brought up
from Maricopa each day. The main line
IL down about mile beyond the station,
and everything is there ready for the
resumption OF work. Tue telegraph 10
flush VI 10 the end Of the track. Mater.
ialr Keep coming, aud are piled up along
tile tracks. Cords Of rails and tirs, aud
heaps VI solts, bars. spikes and coils Of
wire strew the ground, the earnest Of
future activity. From twenty to forty
carloads arrive every day. Other
freights come also: but AL engineer re.
marked that there were forty cars filled
with stuff which they could not haul up.
4 dozen trains are waiting for loads. A
full rugged Tufts soda-watcr apparatus
lies on The platform for Tucson. Not u
Chinaman ID to be seen--well, hardly
any. But the scattered heaps If old
clothes aud abandoned provisions, with
the croakiny of ravens aud snarling Of
coyotes, mark their last camp very dis.
tirctly. The new road to Casa Grands
leaves the Picarho and Hue Wafer ruad
about three uiles frOm tile former station
and runs thence in straight line to the
depot, about twenty miles, through the
brush. Travel is necessarily very slow.
Both ON this roao and at Gasa Grand. the
dust prevails. Passengers from Florence
take stage ut about s. ven p. m. to Picacho
where they wait lor the up stage from
Tucson. Distance FROM Florence 10 Cas-
Grsnde. by stage, forty seven miles; NC.
tuai distance, twenty three miles. Dis.
lance from Tucson 10 Casa Grsnde. sew.
enty five miles. 1t il q tedious matter
getting FROM Tuc.on 10 Florence or vice
versa, ~ ollie must wait ~ picacho from
three to four hours. The trains coming
east are uniformly late, by from four tc
six hours. The card time Of arrival stCa {
Grsnde il about 9 y. m.-Citisen.
The railroad has now reached into .
,and Of absorbing interest. A little way
from the station on the road to Florence
is the ancient prehistoric ediice Of Csss
. Grande, which gives the name to til.
station. This remarkable ruin WAS dis
covered bv the Spaniards in 1435. and
infinitely described y few years later by
the Mission fs:h-rs Kino aud Mango
whose elaborate account in manuscript |.
still preserved In the Monastery Dolores
ut Zacatecas. The main ruin WAS ther
fOuI stories high, and numerous othe,
ruined buildings, extending over . dis
trict nf two leagues in circumference
surrounded It. There was also seer
the well.defned channel Of cana
, that came from the Gila river and sur
rounded this ancient city. The canal wat
then about thirty feet wide and eleven
feet deep, and doubtless served the inhab
itants as a means Of defense and fol
irrigation. Here was once y great city
more ancient than Rome, and contempt
rary with Damascus and other cities IN
. the younger days Of time. Many Of ou
-eaders will now visit what il left Of these
interesting ruins, which are fast wasting
away, and ponder over To. origin Of Cass
iraude.-L. 4. Commercial.