Arizona weekly enterprise., 1889-09-28
CASA GRANDE RUINS.
Report of Special Agent Morrison to the
 Secretary oi the InterIor.

CASA GRAHDE RUlNS'
 Report of Special Agent Morrison to the
 Secretary oI the 1nterlor.
 Special Agent Morrison, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, came to Florence several months ago to inspect the ruins of Casa Grande for the purpose of applying in the most economical manner the government appropriation made for their preservation. In com pany with Rev. I. T. Nhittemore he | visited the ruins and the result of his l investigation is embodied in his report, which is given by press dispatch as follows:
 Secretary Noble has transmitted to the director of the geological survey q report by Special Agent Morrison on the Casa Gran le great house ruins Tn Pinal county, Arizona, with lnstruc- l tions to take necessary steps to repair and protect the ruins under authority granted in an act of March 2, 1859, appropriating 1000 for that purpose, The ruins are regarded as one of the most interesting remains of the pre- historic age found on this continent. l front of the main building measures 60 feet and 43 feet wide. The first story is 13 feet high, the second 9 feet, third and fourth feet. The greater
 part of the upper story has disappear
 ed. The walls are between four and five feet thick and the material of which they are constructed Is almost
 indestructable concrete made of fine
 gravel, sand and cement, closely re-
 sembling granoliJhe now used in Washington. The walls both inside
 and outside are plastered with cement,
 which clings to them with wonderful : tenacity, on the inside being as smooth T and glossy as the best hard finished n interiors of the present day.
 "The lower story Is nearly filled by
 crumbling debris and drifting sand oi l. the plains. The holes in which the y ceiling timbers were placed, are plain $ ly visible, but every particle has beer n carried away by relic hunters and thu disintegration of the walls has been s' u rapid of late years that if measure d are not immediately taken to strength n en them, the whole structure will fal H. into shapeless ruin."
 The report says that for mile
 around the mysterious Casa Grandt n- mounds, now hardly distinguishahl d from the desert sands, bear lndl nv putable evidence of having been { ro some remote period, adobe structure
 Morrison says he is convinced thf 'ss the old Casa Grande was not used ft re either religious or War ike purpose ds Ihe superiority of architecture ot ro- has outhved all other structures
 which it was surrounded. The sma I'o apartments into which it was divide IFS. and the elegance of the interior tinls be all point to the conclusion that It W rtv the palace of the king or chief, WI
 governed the primitive American WI IA inhabited these vast domains ages ng fore the Aztecs or TOllecs. The me
 ancient tradition of the Pimas al
 Papagos, who yet live here where tn has athers lived for centuries, alluded in them as the ruins" The earli ,or- historic record we have of the Ci
 Grande was given by the fanC "h Spanish cavalier and explorer, Cabt To- de Baca, who discovered it during He journey across the continent, abe or 1537. A few years later the fam'
 explorer Don Francisco de Corona 'nS Governor of New Galicia, who led an expedition into New Mexico, sta ton that the Pima Indians, then 32O ye lars ago, had no knowledge of the ori ,,ro or history of the town which they p- lieved had existed there. It had IL oi ways been ruins to them, and to Il ata- ancestors. Kilo and Mange, who lern tied there in l694, also gave an nv. count of twelve other ruins in
 vicinity. Father Pedro Faut, In l SoI- found them in much the same { rom dition. He describes the main bu S of ing as an oblong square, facing com cardinal points of the compass, exterior wall extending from nortl INV south 430 feet, and from east to lstly 320 feet. "We thus see" says Mo
 on, what the storm of no years m
 and the necessity of immediate ac eged to save the remnant from coml oc- destruction.