Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-09-27
THE P0MPEII OF AMERICA

region formerly forsaken by whites
ana little frequented by Indians. lie
the traces of an ancient city, buried by
desert sands Many tumbled walls
smoothed fiat with the burning sands
arc marked, ve-like by the stin rem
nants of a building. In the ella valley.
Arizona, this lone ruin christened the
Casa Grande by the Spaniards of the
territory has since October been the
subject of investigation under n speclal
appropriation Of Congress, by an arche1.
logical expedition of the Smithsonian IN
stitution.
The Casa Grande is 70 miles from the
Santa Fe system of railroad, and IS
miles from the Southern Pacifc-an easy
Trip across the desert from Florence
Arizona. 1t has furnished material for
mucE surprise and recently scientific in
Vestlgation-surmise dating back to the
gold-seeking invasion Of Coronado in
1910.
The ruin has been brought three times
ID the attention of our national legs-
lature. 1t lies upon public land and is
therefore under national control Early,
however, 1t paid the price Of many valu-
able relics by suffering from the too
devoted attention of souvenir hunters.
About Is years ago congress recognized
us Importance by appropriating $4,000
for It's repair and preserva tion-following
upon private investigation which at the
time aroused much interest. Victor
Mindelleff, Archaeological, was sent
to superintend the construction Of n
guard against the wear of the elements,
and a custodian was appointed to pro-
tect 1t from curious sightseers. Last
year Casa Grande again brought an
appropriation this time Of SO, 900; and
for the fiscal year ending June so, 1908,
a like sum has been granted.
As provided by the terms of the more
recent appropriations. the work was
placed under the supervision of the
secretary of the Smithsonian institution,
and DR.. j. w. Walter Fewkes of the bu-
reau of American ethnology was chosen
as the most available member Of the
Smithsonian staff to undertake the ex-
csvatons He set out on October H. ar
irving on the scene on October "a, and
since then has accomplished appreciable
results.
A live description of the spot is given
by one Of the predecessors of DIR.
Fewkes. He says:
THE Casa Grande ruin (the single
standing building) is located near the
southwestern corner of the group and
the ground surface for miles around
II is in every direction so fiat that from
the summit OF the walls an immense
stretch OF country is brought under view
On the east is the broad valley of the
ella river, rising in a great plain to a
distant range of mountains. About a
mile and a half to the north a fringe Of
cottonwood trees marks the course OF the
river, beyond which the plain continues
broken somewhat by hills and buttes.
until the view is closed by the Euper-
sittition- mountain. On the northwest
the valley of the ella runs into the hori-
zon, with a few buttes here and there.
On the west lies a range of mountains
closing the valley in that direction, while
towards the southwest and south 1t ex-
tends until in some places 1t is crossed
by ranges of mountains blue and misty
III the distance"
The accounts of visitors to this par
tcular ancient town on the banks of the
ella river trickle along the course OF
time>ever since the white men landed in
this new world
When the adventurous members of
Coronado's expedition in 1910 braved the
scorching sands Of the north Mexican
desert, they halted in Amusement at the
ruins of a long deserted, sand topped city
hiding the secrets Of a people older than
the Indians Castenada, the scribe OF
the invasion, wrote with appreciation of
the relic of a supposed fortress which
had been destroyed long before by bar
barous tribes perhaps ancestors of the
Apaches. In 1894, a Jesuit father wan
dering penance chanted a mass within
parted chiefs OF whom we are left no
written record. While the white colon
lists OF New England were struggling in
1875 to throw off n yoke binding them to
Europe, an ecclesiast, Pare Fent, was
living in a room of the Casa Grande,
writing deeds of a nation whose prestige
had already waned at the approach Of
mighter tribe.
In 1916, an Army Of the West" OF
thus advancing mightier tribe, conquered
those tottering walls and the territory
surrounding them. Lieutenant Emory
and Lieutenant Johnson of this army
saw and wrote OF the ruins, and Major
John Russell Bartlett later described
them with admiration. Mr.. A. F. Ban
dalier, travelling for the Archaeological
Institute of America, was the next to
mention them in notes on a trip as far
south as Central America. These ac-
counts are followed by n partial report
IN 1888 by Frank Hamilton Gushing OF
the Hemenway Southwestern Archae-
logical expedition. from which the party
returned laden with many carved stone
implements highly decorated pottery and
burial urns, but above all with a vivid
description of the customs of the eX-
tinct people of that region. In settling
the affairs OF this expedition, DR.. Fewkes
came into actual touch with the ar
chaelogy OF Arizona.
The Hemenway explorations were gen
eral. Inc Work OF Ut. teWkeS Is llIHlNtu
to the buried city about Casa Grande,
which he firmly believes, as he has writ
ten to the Smithsonian, will be one Of
the greatest spectacles OF the region
IAN ancient Pompeii for sightseers as
well as an object lesson for students OF
American archaeology and history"
1.-The Casa Grande group of mounds"
he says, sis composed OF three walled
clusters of buildings or compounds now
for the most part buried In the earth"
In his reports he has labeled them
mounds A, B and c. Compound he
is excavating Compound is close at
hand. He describes 1t, writing from his
tent upon the grounds:
at is a noble ruin, and as I see II
now looming among the mesquite trees
I fancy the stately building that some
one some day will uncover there"
Dr. Fewkes has already unearthed
much of the first group OF structures
In which stand the walls of the great
house" AS the sand is dug out the mys-
terry OF its meaning gradually clears.
It can hardly oe a massive temple OF
sun -worshippers, as a former traveller
surmised but 1t is more probably place
of refuge, a stronghold in which there
may have resided powerful chieftains
| of bygone days who exacted homage
from their vassals. The group proper
is slightly over four hundred feet long
by two hundred feet WIDE surrounded
by a solid wall of pressed earth yard
OF more thick and now from eight to 10
I 49, IL