The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-07-15
History and Antiquities Of Arizona.

History and Antiquities Of Arizona.
The early history of Arizona has still
to be written, but it is in most respects
Identical with that Of Southern Califor-
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 Cortes landed
on its shores, is usually conceded, but
/ whether the bulk of the people re-
moved southwark toward the console
| dated empire of the Aztecs before the
conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards;
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 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 depopulation 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
few miles from the station of that
name. while numerous other ruins ,exs4
ist in the. districts around Florence and
Phoenix. @ &fssaA t591Aa83
L.
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 It's supply ofwater from the
river near. the mountains, twenty miles
distant. In this neighborhood are also
the ruins of building occupying para
allelogram of twenty feet BY one hum
dred and thirty, with walls still over
ten feet high. At from twelve to four
teen miles of Phoenix, at La Tempe, are :
remains of what must have been a pop
ulous city and also another system Of
canals and reservoirs. Ruins of a SINH
lar description to those of Casa Grande.
have been found in the Rio Verde Val-
ley, on Pueblo Creek and at Aztec Pass.
Casa Grande, discovered by Father
KinO, three hundred years ago, is situ-
ted near the Gila, q. few miles from
Florence The main building is about,
fifty five feet square and four Stories III
height, with traces of two more stories.
Each story contains five rooms, two
thirty-fve by ten feet, the other three
twenty-fourby 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 as when
first put on. This building is surrounded
by q 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 tower at the southeast and
southwest corners. as s.gg
Il The towns of the Moqui and Zuni,.
the former in the north Of Arizona, and
the latter just over the border in New0
Mexico, 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 separate
tribe, or the remnants Of many tribes,
is one of the problems of the history of
America. n
In the Gila Valley, 12O miles from
Tucson, are the famous Piedras Pin
tadas. A heap of rocks, about fifty feet
high, is covered with rude figures,
geometric, comic, anatomical. Here i
are squares circles, crosses. triangles,
snakes, tOads and vermin, men without
heads and dogs without tails. The
sketches show considerable similarity
to the Aztec Calendar Stone in Mexico.
1t is q tradition with the Indians that
those stones were put there in the time
Of Montezuma to record treaties be-
tween different tribes.
The g 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 Pimo; the in
dustrious Papago, and the town-dwellEg
ing, family loving, orderly, clean and.
self-contained Moqui, have little in
common. te fAss sFssg
The distance which separates the rude
Apache from the Moqlii, with his old
and respectable civilization, IL As great !
as that between the rude tribes Of Sibe-t.
ria and the cultivated Japanese.
q The ruins in the canons, on almost (
inaccessible terraces, are believed, by
Major Powell, to be more recent than
those Of the plains. He believes the
people took refuge there to escape the
Spanish incursions.--Scientifc Amer-
lean.