Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-25

T VERY foot of the Santa Cruz,
X Ariz., valley is historic and every
~ rail and every tie of the new ROAD
has been placed on historic ground.
IT was the one great highway oe-
tween the state of Sonora ana Iuc-
son, the Mecca of the north for
900 miles to the south, Tucson was
better known and more talAeu 1 o+ ~
than the City of Mexico, and not
to have seen and known Tucson was
to have lived and. died in ignorance
of the great wide world, the Unlted
States. San Diego, Los Angeles anu
San Francisco were known only IN
name. and so far as the people OF
northern Mexico were concerned san
Francisco was but little known ana
was as distant as the north pole Is
today R11t to have known Tue
son was to know all that was
worth knowing. To the great feast OF
San Augustine thousands annually
came. 80
If was said that no sooner was one
fiesta ended than families would COM
mence to save for the next. II II
was only "cinco centavos' that couiu
be spared from the daily or Weekly a!,
allowance it was carefully put away
to be drawn out only when the cara
van was ready to move. People IN
those days were obliged to travel IN
narties and the larger the party the
more secure it was against attack and
despoilment by the Apaches.
The writer has seen as many as d
thousand people in one caravan OF car
re+as that would stretch a mile IN
length as they wound their slow and
toIIsome way UP the valley. Those
carretas, or two wheeled carts, were
great clumsy, wooden affairs without
scran of iron about them. Inc
wheels were made from the trunks
of great cottonwoods, and were from
12 to IS inches thick at the pase OF
the hub, the periphery of the Wneel pe-
ing graduated down to ABOUT elsht vi
ten inches.
ANTIQUE CARTS
The axels were logs in themselves,
trimmed to fit the holes in the Wheeis,
which were frequently SIX TO elshl
inches in diameter, and to support the
base of the frame or body, Whlch eA-
tended from three to four rect LOT,
ward and back, and which was lashed
sacureIv with rawhide to the tongue
or mole of the cart. This pole was
dashed and pinned to the great axe
under the body of the cart and was
the means by which the clumsy venice
was drawn. The forward end was
hound to the yoke and this IN turn
was dashed to the horns OF the oxen
bv which carts were invariably Drawn
Even the box or body which forIneI
the cart bed was put together WIN
rawhide thongs.
II tha manufacture of those carts
NOT a nail or scrap of iron of any KIND
found a place. 1t was no uncommon
thing to see from one to three women
and perhaps four or five chlldren
souatted in the body of one OF these th
carts while the grown male menpers
of the family walked alongside ano
9rova ~ the cattle. The squeaking
ebrielxing and groaning of mile ol
those carts could be heard for a grea'
distance. But in number there Is
strength. and as time was no consld-
Grafton OK train was the faVorlte way
of family travel. In this manner theS
came and went UP and down the san
ta, cruz valley for almost endless gen
erations. They knew nothing OF lnt
hior outside world and cared less 1Or ltS
doinps Befor the days of the Gadsder
nurchase, which, to be plain, was
sort of stand and deliver proposition
Tucson was a preside, garrlsoneq pS
soldiers. In all that vast Stretcn u
American desert it was the one haVeI
of refuge. a mud walled fort that pau'
defiance to the only hostile world i
knew. the dread Apache lndlah' "h'
slew all and spared none.
CALABAsAs ONCE A GARRISON
Calabasas. seventy miles to tn
south and the point of junction witt
the Tucson road, was formerly sup,
ported by a garrison of troops, Pul
later these were withdrawn and th'
only respite given to the people from
indian forays was when portion OF
the Tucson garrison marched to thell
relief. o,.,
on the Santa Cruz, between Calaba,
cos and Tucson, the first mission II
Arizona was established, but so LONG
ago has that been that even its loca'
tion has been forgotten. Later the