THE PAPAGO COUNTRY, ARIZONA By KIRK BRYAN INTRODUCTION Location. The Papago country derives its name from a group of seminomadic Indians belonging to the Pima stock, who were called by the early Spanish explorers the Pimos frijoleros, or bean-eating Pimas. Somewhat later the name Papago (pronounced pa'pago; both a's as in ah) became generally current. These Indians ranged over the desert country west and south of Santa Cruz and Gila valleys and north of Altar Valley in Sonora as far west as the Gulf of California. The Spanish named the whole region inhabited by Indians of the Piman stock the Pimería and later distinguished the portion west of Santa Cruz River as the Papaguería. The Papago country as considered in this report includes the part of the original Papaguería that lies north of the international boundary in southwestern Arizona. (See fig. 1.) It is bounded by Santa Cruz, Gila, and Colorado rivers but includes also the routes from Tucson to Florence, Casa Grande to Florence, and Florence to Phoenix. The Papago country is part of the desert region of Arizona and is included in the Basin and Range province of the United States. Broad alluvium-floored valleys bordered by relatively small steepsided mountains are characteristic of the region. A warm climate, almost constant sunshine, and very little rain set the area apart as a land of small population, both animal and human. The vegetation is, however, remarkable in the great number of trees, bushes, and large cacti, which give an appearance of verdant fertility to an almost waterless land. This strange vegetation, the picturesque, almost fantastic forms of the desolate mountains, the play of color on mountain and cloud, the shadows of morning and evening, and the lambent haze of midday combine to fascinate the traveler who has the hardihood to face the discomforts of desert travel. Maps.-The map of the Papago country is published in three sheets as Plates II, III, and IV (in pocket). The area covered by these sheets in relation to one another and the whole area is shown in Figure 1. The maps are the result of plane-table work done by me, combined with existing published and unpublished data. The most detailed recent work has been done by the United States Indian Service. The larger part of the detail of the Papago villages and 1 ments, and maps of the Mexican Boundary Survey. Geological Survey, plats of the General Land Office, railroad aline terial was derived also from topographic sheets of the United States redrawn from maps of the United States Forest Service. Much ma The roads in their vicinity has been compiled from this source. topography and roads of the Tumacacori Mountains have been FIGURE 1-Map of the Papago country, Arizona, showing principal roads and watering places and areas covered by Plates II III, and IV The topography has been drawn by Mr. John H. Renshawe from the best available data. In the flatter areas the darkest color represents the lowest elevation and lighter colors the higher elevations. The mountains are shown by shading, as if seen under a strong light coming at a low angle from the northwest. The general form, size, and location of the mountains and the general relation of the roads, towns, and watering places to one another and to the topography are correctly shown, but minute exactness can not be expected in work of this type. Many locations are marked as approximate, and perhaps more should be so marked. Much detail is missing, particularly in the parts of the map that were compiled from maps made several years ago. It is thought, however, that all the features shown on the map will be found on the ground. Acknowledgments.-I am indebted to many people for kindness and for information of great value furnished during the course of the field work. Mr. Clyde P. Ross, who was in charge of the work on desert watering places north of Gila River, cooperated heartily in contiguous territory, especially in making and compiling the map. He has furnished logs for about 60 miles of road, as is further noticed in the text. My field assistant, C. G. Puffer, made travel in the desert easy and contributed much local information. He is responsible for the mapping of the northern border of the Sauceda Mountains and for placing the signposts. I am particularly indebted for favors and information to Col. John C. Greenway and Messrs. August de Nave, W. B. Kibbey, Joseph Meneger, Thomas Childs, Manuel L. Corrillo, W. C. Gietz, Charles M. Hindman, C. R. Oldberg, W. D. Tremaine, and Samuel Clark. In the preparation of the manuscript I have had the advice of Mr. O. E. Meinzer, under whose supervision the work was done. Dr. F. V. Coville and his assistants, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, have kindly read and criticized the section on flora. Mr. F. L. Ransome generously furnished the section on history. I take this opportunity of acknowledging the services of the editors and illustrators of the Geological Survey, whose skill and interest have made a finished book of the original manuscript. HISTORICAL SKETCH By FREDERICK LESLIE RANSOME1 The history of Arizona is divisible into three major periods. The first is the era of Spanish exploration and mission planting, extending from 1539 to 1823, a span of 284 years. The second is the This sketch of the history of Arizona, written for another purpose, has, with Mr. Ransome's consent, been condensed and modified by Kirk Bryan for use in this guide. interval of Mexican control, from 1823 to 1848 or 1853, according to locality. This was on the whole a time of social and economic decay, during which much that had been built up by the military and ecclesiastical forces of Spain crumbled to ruin. The third is the epoch of American occupation and development. The story of the earlier periods is interesting in its social and geographic aspects and supplies a picturesque background to the modern development of Arizona, in which the Papago country as yet plays a very minor part. SPANISH EXPLORATION It appears that as early as 1530, only eight years after the conquest of Mexico, Nuño de Guzmán, president of the audiencia, or governing board of New Spain, and the rival and enemy of Cortés, was informed of the existence of seven cities, rich in gold and silver, that lay in the unknown country to the north. De Guzmán organized an expedition for the discovery and conquest of these cities, but, through fear of Cortés, he abandoned his enterprise after founding the frontier town San Miguel de Culiacan, from which most of the later expeditions to the north started. Six years later four strange wanderers reached Culiacan. These were the stout-hearted Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, one of them a Moroccan negro known as Estevan or Stephen. These men had been members of Narváez's ill-fated Florida expedition, which had been wrecked off the coast of Texas in 1528, and after devious and perilous wanderings they at last reached the Spanish outposts in Mexico. They related their amazing adventures and, among other things, told of reports that had reached them at various times concerning powerful villages to the north, with many-storied houses, inhabited by a superior race of Indians. When, in 1538, Don Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was appointed Governor of Culiacan, the negro, Estevan, retold the story to the new governor. Coronado on March 7, 1539, sent out from Culiacan an expedition under Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan friar, with Estevan as guide, to find these cities. There has been much difference of opinion concerning the route followed by this expedition; the records are vague, and the actual itinerary may never be known with certainty. Bancroft and others have supposed that it lay down the Santa Cruz, past the sites of Tucson and Florence, and then northeastward over the mountains. Some eminent modern authorities, however, believe that Estevan, followed by Marcos, entered what is now Arizona by way of the San Pedro and descended that stream to the vicinity of the modern Benson, and thence traveled northeastward through Dragoon and Railroad passes to the Gila near the point where Solomonsville now stands. The ruined red adobe structure that figures in the old narratives as Chichilticalli and marked the passage from the easily traversed country to the wilderness (el despoblado) is supposed by those who support this view to have stood near the site of Solomonsville and, as they point out, can scarcely have been the Casa Grande, near Florence, which is gray, not red. The latest contribution to this puzzling question is that of Potter, who believes that the route was down the Santa Cruz, past the site of Tucson, and over the Tortilla and Pinal ranges to Salt River near the mouth of Pinal Creek. Potter makes the ingenious but not altogether convincing suggestions that the name Chichilticalli was applied to one of the bold castellated promontories of red quartzite that projects from the south end of the Sierra Ancha, near the east end of the present Roosevelt Reservoir, and that this original designation was later applied to an aboriginal ruin which has been discovered by Potter in the neighborhood. North of Chichilticalli, or Solomonsville, if the opinions of Hodge 3 and Coues are accepted, the expedition entered the wilderness or rough mountainous country embraced within the present Fort Apache and White Mountain Indian reservations and the Apache National Forest. It crossed the Rio de las Balsas (Salt River), gained the plateau of northeastern Arizona near the present eastern boundary of the State, and headed directly for the Zuñi pueblos-the "SevenCities of Cibola." The unusual manner in which the services of Estevan were utilized now brought the expedition to disaster. With a considerable retinue of friendly Indians he kept in advance of the friar, who, with the main force, followed more leisurely on his trail. When Marcos de Niza had come within a few days journey of Hawikú, the most southwesterly of the Zuñi pueblos, the main body was met by a terrified fugitive who informed the friar that Estevan had not been permitted to enter the first city of Cibola and had been killed. It appears that the Indians, exasperated by the negro's insatiable demands for turquoises and beautiful women and skeptical as to a man of his complexion being the ambassador of white men such as he described, had concluded, after three days' deliberation, that his unreasonable demands merited death. Friar Marcos then advanced to a point whence he could view the fatal city and hurried back with, as he expressed it, "much more fear than victuals." The friar's story with imaginative embellishment in regard to the use of gold and silver vessels in the cities aroused the interest and cupidity of the Spaniards, and on February 23, 1540, began the famous but futile march of Coronado's expedition. His force con 2 Potter, S. O. L., Chichilticalli: Am. Geog. Soc. Bull., vol. 40, pp. 257-276, 1908. Hodge, F. W., Coronado's march to Quivira, in Brower, J. V., Memoirs of explorations in the basin of the Mississippi, vol. 2, pp. 29-73, St. Paul, Minn., 1899. • Coues, Elliot, On the trail of a Spanish pioneer, vol. 2, pp. 481-485, 517-518, New York, 1900. |