The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-07-01
Hlstor, and Antiquities Of Arizona.

History and Antiquities OF Arizona.
The early history of Arizona has still,
4 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
70 the same civilization as that under
. which Mexico rose to so comparatively
. high grade long before Cortes landed
i on itSshores, is usually conceded, but
4 whether the bulk of the people re-
nOFed southwark toward the CONSOLE
4 dated empire of the AZtecS before the
conquest of Mexico by the Spauiards;
/ whether they remained and were swept
4 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 canens, and
finally eXtinguished all the few pue5ios
! 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 Inc 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 a
! few miles from the station of that
| name. while numerous other ruins ex-
! list IN the districts around Florence and
I Phoenix. r. ...... I'D. .. .-
/ 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 lis supply of water from the
river near the mountains, twenty miles
distant. In this neighbOrhOod are also
the ruins Of building occupying Il par
alelogram of twenty feet by one hun
dred and thirty. with walls still over
ten feet high. At from twelve to four
! teen miles Of Phoenix, at La Tempe are
IremHins of what must have been 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
f, lev, on Pueblo Greek and at Aztec Pass.
Casa Grande, discovered by Father
KinO, three hundred years ago, is stu
ted near the ella, few miles from
, Florence. The main building is about
fifty-liye feet square and four stories in
height with traces of two more stories.
Each story contains five rooms, two
thirty-tiye by ten feet, the other three
twenty-four by nine feet and all Of them
nine feet in height. The openisgs which
once served for doors are three feet and
kOne-half high, two and One-half feet
wide at the base and two feet wide at
I top. The whole of the interior is neatly
plastered, the plaster perfect as when
first put on. This building is surrounded
by a wall, which, when perfect, was
perhaps fifteen feet high and six feet
thick at the base, and within this are
several smaller apartments, besides
sort of watch tower at the southeast and
southwest corners.
The towns of the MOqui and Zuni,
the former in the north of Arizona, and
the latter lust over the border in New
Mexico, are in SO many respects similar
to the ruins scattered on plain and
canon, that they evidently belong to
the same civilization; but whether the
Indians are the remains Of a separate
tribe, or the remnants Of many tribes,
is one of the problems of the history of
America. ... . E..r.... ...
In the ella 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
are squares, circles, crosses, triangles,
snakes, loads and vermin, men without
heads and dogs without tails. The
sketches show considerable similarity
to the Aztec Calendar Stone in Mexico.
1t is a tradition with the Indians that
those stones were put there in the time
of MOntczuma to record treaties be-
tween different tribes.
The " Indians" of Arizona evidently
belong to several very different stocks.
The wild Apache, formidable for his
stealthiness and IeacheTy more than
from his numbers; the peaceful not
easily provoked, yet brave Pimo; the in
dustrious Papago, and the town-dwell-
ing, family-loying, orderly. clean and
self-cOntained Moqui, have. little in
common. .r.rs .srr.~-f... ......I
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 Sibe-
ria and the cultivated Japanese.
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 MISUNDERSTANDING Amer-
icGD . ...
Pnfting tie Eyes 10 Use.