Bisbee daily review., 1906-02-09
|OLD.TlME GLORIES
 OF ANCIENT PUEBLO
Tucson and Some of its Features as Seen By Spec
 iaI Correspondent
(Concluded from Page 1.)

Concluded from Page 1.) Ithoroughfare, was laid out by cattle going to and from the corrals, in the
 days of the Indian
 | The celebrated mission of San xa-
 vier del Bac, is one of the most inter testing landmarks in this part of Ari- zona. The nine mile drive to the mis- sion from Tucson in the warm, sweet
 scented air of Arizona is delight to tourists.
 The road jays through the Mexican
 or adobe portion of the old pueblo,
 and then creeps away through the winding valley of the Santa Cruz.
 Mountains are on all sides, some near and green and wooded, others far
 away in the blue distance-all rich
 with the rare coloring of Arizona's
 sun and shadow. Four miles out the Igreat white towers of the mission tlcom up as you follow the turn in the
 road. They seem but mile away in stead of five, so clear is the Arizona
 atmosphere.
 | AS you near the Pima Indian reser- 'ation, the novel site of the aged
 mission, the greasewood and sahuaros | LSISdSS III AullbCly 1LSAAAll4S otSAS the twisting, dusty road like sign
 posts. A brush wickiup is passed and then you are in the Indian village.
 Whole families sit along the sunny
 side of the rows of brush houses,
 smoking and dozing. For a two
 bit" piece any Indian will show you
 through the mysterious passages and rooms of the mission.
 The exterior of the structure is pat
 termed after the typical Spanish mis-
 sion, two great towers extending from the main structure. One of the tow
 CTS has crumbled considerably, as
 have many of the outer walls. The interior of the church is tre-
 foil shaped, an altar being in each apex and the main entrance being at the end of the room.
 Directly opposite the main entrance
 is the principal altar, in front of which ! is the figure of Our Sayious on the cross. To the right is the altar of | the Virgin Mary and on the left is another which I did not recognize. | The walls are one mass of mural dec orations, in a fairly good state of preservation A railing separates
 the main altar from the body of the lchurch, and on either side of the gate is a griffin, crouched as if guard ing the altar. Inside the chancel noted a wooden wheel, in a heavy hardwood frame, and apparently it had at one time eight bells fastened 1 on the circumference. Only two re- mained. In the courtyard to the east of the mission is a small pile of rocks, with an open place in the upper portion, ! in which light is sometimes burned. This, was told, is the Corona de Ia capili," where yespers were sung when the mission was occupied. In ! the wing extending to the right Of the mission, two Sisters conduct a school for young Indians.
 On the west of the mission building | is a small brick chapel. The wall that once connected the two is in ruins now. The interior of the chapel is Idome-shaped. and the home Of hun dreds of bats. Between the mission and chapel is grave with cross still standing at the head. It bears the in- scri. ton "A la Memoria de Nicolas Martinez, Nacio Enero 5, 1S4S, Falle-
 cio de Mayo 19, 1885. Requiescat in
 Pace" Scores of bodies were buried ir the enclosure between the two
 buildings, but only the one grave is visible.
 The mission was founded in. the year 1700 by a Jesuit father, Eusebia Francisco Mino. In 1750 the mission was plundered, during the revolt of the Pima Indian tribes, the padre es- caping to Tucson. In 1752 peace was restored, but things were practically at a standstill until 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled, all mission property confscated and the mission entrusted to royal comisarios. In 1858 the Franciscans took charge, find ing everything in confusion, the mis- sion having been plundered by rowing bands of Apaches. At that time the mission was built of adobe, straw and wood.
 The present mission building was finished in 1797. and is supposed to have been built by two brothers of the name of Gaena, who were fourteen years at the work.
 Neither church nor mission has any later recorded history and seems to have been practically abandoned since about 1928.