Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-04-19
w. c. SMITH & co.
A School Girls Composition.

school, the place I lived in before I came to Phenix, was a small town, only a railroad station, situated on the Southern Pacific Railroad in the southwestern part of Arizona, called Casa Grande, after the old Casa Grande ruins, fifteen miles north of the station. The word Casa Grande is Spanish, meaning big house. The ruins it was named after, was a large building five stories high, but the wind and rain have crumbled it down, until it is about two stories high, Of this building there still remains four rooms how many here were oli ginally is not known.
 The walls are about four feet thick, at one time they were six feet; they are made of concrete, very hard ce- ment. There is no telling how old these ruins are, the Indians say they were ruins when they first came to the couAtry that was long time be- fore the whites settled here in Amer ica. It is said that race by the name of Zunis built them. The town of Casa Grande is in the Gila desert fifteen miles from the Gila river.
 It is surrounded by mountains in the distance, the nearest being seven miles southeast of town, the teamsters call it the Casa Grande mountain. There are two little Buttes, one two miles and half northwest, and the other one two miles and three quarters south of town; they look just alike. The Gila, shaded by the dropping will low, is a source of delight to the bath CTS and swimmers who frequent its banks during the hot summer months. ! The town consists of some seventy dwelling houses, and has population of five hundred inhabitants, consist ing of Mexicans, Negroes, Chinese, Indians and Americans. l believe there are four saloons.
 Small towns usually have a great many saloons. There are, besides, two stores, one blacksmith shop, three restaurants, one depot, one water tank, and section house. The houses are..made of adobe and lumber. There are now green trees there like there are here, but in the future, there will be great change, and it will be much more pleasant then it is at present.
 People are coming from the east and west and taking up farms on the | Florence canal. The canal is now completed; it has reached two or three miles southeast of town, and brings plenty of water from the Gila river l hoped to see quite an improvement 1 when go back. liked to live in Casa Grande it was a lonesome sleepy lit tie place but We young folks general ly found plenty to amuse ourselves. We would have surprise parties at which we played many kinds of games candy-pullings that were very jolly for the old folks as well as the young. It gets very warm there the same as it does in most all ether places in Ari- zona.
 There is dry lake six miles from the station, it is about one mile in diameter. It was built for reservoir, by the Zuni Indians.
 During vacation We used to go to a mining camp thirty-fve miles south of Casa Grande, and enjoy ourselves climbing the mountains and going through the mines and mill This mine was found by an old Indian who did not know the real value of it. He gave it to wealthy old gentleman who had means to work it. This In dian named it the "Vekol," which means grand mother in Indian. This is one of the richest mines of the kinC in southern Arizona.
 The school in Casa Grande only lasts about six months year. Int school is small, has only about thirty
 five scholars in attendance, the major . ity of them being Mexicans. There
 were only two in my class, the othel being a young girl about my age
 named Bessie English. She and haC
 been schoolmates for a long time , When we went to school we alway. r managed to have the teacher let u 5 sit together; we always talked grea l deal, but we did it on the sly so tha
 the teacher would not check us for it
 It was not a graded school and we di,
 not have examination.
 We were always sorry when shoo 2 closed, although we enjoy summe 1 vacation. On the last day of schoo 2 we would always try and have a clos , ing exercise to entertain our friend and parents, which I asure you wa f appreciated by them. It was anu: ing to hear the lite Mexicans, the !. memorize their parts very quickly, bu : when they get up to the recite the h speak them so rapidly you cannot ur r derstand word. The Mexican girl
 would often sing Tn Spanish and a e their voices are generally sweet, tn
 music was often very pretty At Tt
 cess we used to play base ball, ante d over, ribbon strings and many othe If games that would be useless for m e enumerate, as I am quite sure all yo Il scholars are familiar with them, V l shall always remember the pleasar t. days l spent in Casa Grande, an e hope the day is not far distant whe )f the little town will awake from ht d slumber of inactivity and become tE
 second garden city of the Territory.
 MAGGIE MEGsoN
 PHENIX, Arizona.