Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-04-07
OLD TIMERS TALES

"When did / come here, eh? Young
man, do you see those hills over there!
Well, when l came here they were holes
in the ground" Judge Meyer had been
asked as to the age In which he came
to Tucson. He finally admitted that il
was A. ID. 1857, and that he was one OF
the 49ers of California. He remembers
thu old walls of Tucson, when Tucson,
true to the characteristics of all old
towns, was walled village guarded by
day and by night armed soldiers, sent
by the Mexican government. Indians
named the plains then at will. They
shot the freighters and ran away with
their horses. The rancher's beef made
happy their gaunt paunches. Tie. set
tiers and their little ones made amuse-
ment for them in the agonies of any
death they choose to inf ct. Soft came
that Tucson was walled about by an
adobe wall two to four feet thick, and
ten feet high. Within it was compare
tive safety. Such was Tucson in 1857.
The village had 800 inhabitants, fami-
lies of r8nchers or employees of the
Overland Stage company; or merchants
aud contractors who lived off the SOL
diery. Old Tucson is located about the
present site of the gregational
church. The plaza thereaOOuts was 10
those days huge court, and around 1t
was the city walls. Urder these walls,
on every side, opening into the great
patio, were the houses. There lived the
early denizens of Tucson. The city lim-
its then were Washington street To the
north, Pennington to the south, Church
to the east and Main to the west. One
well supplied the town. 1t was in the
rear of where Mrs. Hiram Stevens now
resides.
The torreor, or lookout, was where
sentinels sat and smoked corn hpsk
cigarettes and viewed the land. 1t was
a two-story building near the present
ice works. 1t was torn down five years
ago, the last relic of the presidio Of
Tucson. The reduction of the walls
began with the arrival of American
troops in 1858. Major Hunter started
tteir downfall. Bit by bit 1t went
down, the town extended, new houses
went up, the railroad came and Tucson
bscame the thriving commercial city it
is today.
The old judge tells with pride of one
early institution, the Overland Stage
company. "They used to bet on the
arrival of the stage within five minutes" ("
said be. "The stage minded not God
or man; its only aim was TO get through
on time. 1t never failed to come but
once, and that was when the driver tried
to ford the R;llIto at food height and
was washed down stream. The stare
ran from San Diego to st. Louis. The
stations were about fifteen miles apart.
At each station six horses were In
harness, ready to be put in. The stops
were five minutes, except for meal
stations; then it was twent minutes. 1t
was grand sight to first near the far
away toot of the bugle, then hear the
rumble of the coach ard the rattle of
the horses hoofs coming in at their best
gait. All would get off and eat and be
away again, in twenty minutes. Several
tines l saw men who would go off to
get new hat or cigar or something,
when the stage was due to start. The
next would be the toot of the horn as
the stage started out and the man would
rush out and request that the stage
tarry. wait two days for the next
stage was the only consolation he got,
and there was nothing else for it."
The stage company got 100000 a
year from the government besides what
1T could make. 1t was compelled to
cease when the rebellion broke out, the
stages being stopped in Texas.