The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-06-10
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF
ARIZONA.

The early history Of Arizona has still to be writ.
ten, but 1t is in most respects Identical with that
Of Southern California, New Mexico, and North.
ern Mexico, That the original inhabitants be-
longed to the same civilization as that under
which Mexico rose to so comparatively high a
grade long before Cortes landed on Its shores, is
usually conceded, but whether the bulk OF the
people removed southwark toward the consoli.
dated empire of the Aztecs before the conquest
OF Mexico by the Spaniards; whether they re-
manned aud were swept away by the Spanish in
vasion from the South; or whether the Apache
from the north drove them out Of the open lands
into the recess Of the canons, and finally extin'
guished all but the few pueblos still remaining,
is not certainly proven.
Probably the truth lies between the three opln-
ions, and all the causes may have contributed to
the depopulation of the country and to the ruin
Of the extensive cities, dwellings, canals, ETC.,
which strew the plains and line the sides of the
canons. To the student Of history nothing in Ar
izona equals in interest these architectural re.
mains. Now that the railway is finished, many
Of these are comparatively acCessible-the ia.
nous Casa Grande being only a few miles from
hhN luhAO VI hlRh hhAAN "hAAO hhAuGlOhp OhhN
ruins exist in the districts around Florence and
Phoenix.
A few miles from Phoenix are the ruins Of two
or three towns and the remains of two stipend.
Gus canals, one Of which is 40 feet wide, and In
former times drew its supply Of water from the
river near the mountains, twenty miles distant.
In the neighborhOOd ale also the ruins OF a build.
ing 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 PEGnix, at La Tempe, are remains Of what
must have been a p%opulous city, and also anOth.
err system of canals and reservoirs. Ruins Of a
similar description to those OF Casa Grande have
been found in the Rio Verde valley, on Pueblo
creek and at Aztec pass.
Casa GraEde, discovered by Father KinO, three
undred years ago, Is situated near the Gila, a
few miles from Florence. The main building is
about ~ffty-aVe feet square, and four stories in
height, with traces Of two more stories. Each
story contains five rooms, two, thirty.fve 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 the top, The whole
Of the interior is neatly plastered the plaster per,
feet as when first put on. The building is sur
rounded by a wall, which when perfect, was per,
haps fifteen feet high, and six feet thick at the
base, and within this are several smaller apart
ments, besides a sort of watch tower at the south,
east and southwest corners.
The W of the. Moqui and Zuni, the former
in the north of Arizona, and the latter just ovel
the border in New Mexico, are in so many re
Fpects similar to the ruins scattered on plain and
canon, that they evidently belong to the SAINT
civilization; but whether the Indians are the re-
mains Of a separate tribe, or the remnants o
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 famou Pledras Pin
tades, A heap of rocks, about fifty feet high, /
covered with rude figures, geometric, comic
anatomical. Here are squares, circles, crosses
t~riangles, snakes, toads, and vermin; men with
out heads and dogs without tails. The sketche
show considerable similarity to the Aztec CalGn
dar Stone in Mexico 1t is a tradition with th
Indians that those stones were put there in tn
time Of Montezuma to record treaties between
different tribes.
The "lndians' of Arizona evidently belong t
several very different stocks. The wild Apache
formidable for his Stealthiness and treacher
more than from his numbers; the peaceful, &c
easily provoked, yet brave Pine; the industrIou
Papago, and the ~town'dwelling, family .lovini
orderly, clean, and self contained Moqui, hay
little In common.
? The distance which separates the rude Apach
from the Moqui, with his old and respectabl
T civilization, is as great as that between the rud
tribes Of Siberia and the cultivated Japanese,
3 The ruins in the canons, on almost Inaccessible
terraces, are believed, by Major Powell, to b
3 more recent than those OF the plains. He bC
! lieveS the people took refuge there to escape th
I Spanish incursons.