St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-06-19
History and Antiquities of
Arizona
tScientific American.

scientific American.l
The early history OF Arizona has still
to be written, but it is in most respects
identical with that of Southern Callfor-
MIA, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico,
That the original Inhabitants belonged
to the same civilization as that under
which Mexico rose to so comparatively
high grade long before Cortez landed
on its shores, is usually conceded, but
whether the bulk Of the people removed
southwark toward the consolidated
empire of the Aztccs before the conquest
of Mexico 10y the Spanlards; whether
they remained and were swept away by
the Spanish invasion from the south or
whether the Apache from the north
drove them out Of the open lands into
the recesses of the canons, and finally
extinguished all but the few pueblos
still remaining, is not certainly proven.
Probably the truth lies between the
three opinions, and all the causes may
have contributed to the depopnlation of
the country and to the ruin of the ex-
tensive cities, dwellings, canals, etc,
which strew the plains and line the
sides Of the canons. To the student of
history nothing in Arizona equals in in
terest these architectural remains. Now
that the railway is finished, many of
these are comparatively accessible-the
famous Casa Grande being only Il few
miles from the station of that name,
while numerous other ruins exist in the
districts around Florence and Phoenix.
A few miles from Phoenix are the
ruins of two or three towns and the re-
mains Of two stupendous canals, one of
which is forty-feet wide, and in former
times drew its supply of water from the
river near the mountains, twenty miles
distant. In this neighborhood are also
the ruins of building occupying a
parallelogram of twenty feet by one
hundred and thirty, with walls still
over ten feet high. At from twelve to
fourteen miles of Phoenix, at La Tempe,
are remains of what must have been
populoas city, and also another system of
canals and reservoirs. Ruins Of SINH
lar description to those of Casa Grande
have been found in the Rio Verde
valley, on Pueblo creek and at Aztec
pass.
Casa Grande, discovered by Father
ted near the ella, few miles from
Florence. The main building is about
fifty five feet square, and four stories
in height, with traces of two more
stories. Each story contains five rooms,
two thirty-fve feet by ten feet, the
other three twenty-four by nine feet,
and all of them nine feet in height.
The openings which once served for
doors are three feet and one half high,
two and one half feet wide at the base,
and two feet wide at top. The whole
Of the interior is neatly plastered, the
plaster perfect us when first put on.
This building is surrounded by wall,
which, when perfect, was perhaps fifteen
feet high. and six feet thick at the base,
and within this are several smaller
apartments, besides a sort OF watch tow
er at the southeast and southwest cor
ners.
The towns of MoQui and Zuni, the
former in the north OF Arizona, and the
latter just over the border in New Mex
leo, are in SO many respects similar to
the ruins scattered on plain and canon,
that they evidently belong to the same
civilizations; but whether the Indians
are the remains of a seperate tribe, or
the remains OF many tribes, is one of
the problems of the history of America.
In the ella valley, one hundred and
twenty miles from Tucson, are the
famous Piedras Pintadas. A heap of
rocks, about fifty feet high is covered
with rude figures, geometric, comic,
anatomical, Here are squares, circles,
crosses, triangles, snakes, toads and
vermin men without heads and dogs
without tails, The sketches show con
siderable similarity to the Aztec Calen-
der stone in Mexico. It is a tradition
withthe Indians that those stones We're
put there in the time Of Montezuma
to record treaties between different
tribes.
The Indians" Of Arizona evidently
belong to several very different stocks.
The wild Apache formidable for his
stealthiness and treachery more than
from his numbers; the peaceful, not
easily provoked, yet brave Pine; the
industrious Papago, and the town
dwelling, family loving, orderly, clean,
and self-contained Moqui, have little
in common.
The distance which separates the
rude Apache, from the Moqui, with his
old and respectable civilization, is as
great as that between the rude tribes of
Siberia and the cultivated Japanese,
The ruins in the canons, on almost
inaccessible terraces, are believed by
Major Powell, to be more recent than
those ON the plains. He believes the
people took refuge there to escape
the Spanish incursions.
Mr.. Hayes has made nice little ar
rangement by which he rewards three