Entertainment Magazine: Tucson:History: Old Tucson; a hop, skip and jump
"Old Tucson; a hop, skip and jump - history from 1539 Indian settlement to new and greater Tucson"
by Estelle M. Buehman
CHAPTER 1
EARLY DISCOVERIES. ANTE-COLONIAL TIMES. FOUNDING OF MISSIONS.
These pages on Tucson history are from the book "Old Tucson; a hop, skip and jump" by Estelle M. Buehman available on Amazon.
Read "Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains" by Robert E. Zucker. Download a free PDF sample of the book and purchase on Amazon.com.
Were one, on the Eastern campus
of our vast domain, to rise in an airship, far above the lower air
currents, and speeding his way on favoring breeze, far to the westward,
seeing, where the trail of the pioneer had already grown obscure, the
mystic land of our present civilization, he would behold Tucson, a pearl
set in a land of blazing sands, of fertile valleys, and lode- rich
mountain treasures, surpassing the wealth of Croesus, a land where
religious warfare, educational development, and Christian training,
against savag- ery and cupidity, had brought to view glittering spires,
pointing the way to higher living among the influences of schools,
universities and churches.
Tucson, the oldest and largest
town of Arizona, on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, 312
miles west of El Paso, and 500 miles east of Los Angeles, has an
elevation of 2,400 feet above sea level, and its dry, healthful
situation, with a climate unequalled in any section of the country,
renders it an enjoyable and famous winter resort; while the mountains
surrounding the city, notably, Mt. Lemmon,
9,150 feet high, in the Santa Catalina range; Old Baldy, 9,432 feet, in
the Santa Ritas; and Mt. Mica, 8,590 feet, in the Rincons, are equally
unsurpassed as a summer retreat.
In all of these mountains,
within a radius of thirty miles from Tucson, blankets are a necessity at
night, even in the very hottest of weather.
That our present modern city,
under various appellations of Tuquelson, Tuqueston and Tucson (sometimes
spelled Tuczon, Tuigson or Tuyson) was for many centuries an old Indian
village there can be no doubt, for more than a quarter of a century
before the Spaniards founded San Augustine, Alvar Nunez, with two other
Spaniards, and a negro, Estevan or Estevancio, had in the course of
their wanderings set foot on Arizona soil, and finally landing at
Culiacan, in Sinaloa, Mexico, so wrought upon the ambitions of the
people, concerning the seven cities of Cibola (Moqui and Zuni villages)
both for material gain, and the conversion of the natives, that an
adventurous pioneer, Padre Marcos de Niza, determined to satisfy himself
as to their truth or falsity so early in 1539 the good Father, with a
few followers, and guided by Estevan, the Arabian negro who later came
to grief, set out in search of the seven cities.
They passed through the country
of the Pimas, down the valley of the Santa Cruz, by the present site of
Tucson, thence across to the Pima settlements on the Gila. Tucson is a
Pima word, and they pronounced it "Chook Son," and its meaning is said
to be "Black Creek."
Diverging a moment from the
direct history of the town, to see the end of this expedition, we find
that at the Pima settlements the party being furnished with guides and
provisions, pushed on to the North and East, until they came in sight of
the first of the seven cities. Father de Niza sent forward Estevancio
to notify the chief of their arrival, and peaceful mission, but the
hardy negro, falling into the illwill of the Moqui Indians, who claiming
that he bewitched their women clubbed him to death, and the pious
Father, hearing of his guide's sudden demise, con- cluded that the
heathen of that section were not in a suitable frame of mind to receive
Christian preaching, so set up the cross, naming the country the new
kingdom of San Francisco, and returned to Culiacan.
This Padre Niza was a Franciscan
who, aside from the reason already mentioned in accompanying the ex-
pedition, came also for the purpose of Christianizing the natives, and
recording the progress and exploits of the journey.
If his account is true, it is more than
likely that a mission was even then founded at Tucson, for in April of
the following year, 1540, when Coronado marched out of Culiacan, with
nearly one thousand men, most of them Indians by the same route as that
taken by Alvar Nunez and his com- panions he found at Tucson an Indian
Rancherio (settlement).
This statement corresponds with the
account I saw elsewhere that a charter had been issued by the Spanish
sovereign in 1552, for the Pueblo of Tucson, but the document was
mislaid for a matter of three hundred years, or more, and then
discovered in the archives of the present Church of San Xavier, which was erected on the site of an older structure.
However, this account may be mythical in
character, though said to be in the handwriting of the old Padre Marcos
de Niza; but while ques- tions of location and settlement may be more
arch- aeological than practical in interest, yet when we, on, or near
the Pacific coast, hear about the Dutch settlers of New York, the
Pilgrim Fathers of New England, the F. F. V.'s of Virginia, and the
Huguenots of Georgia, Louisiana and the Carolinas, we may be pardoned if
we tell them that they were a generation too late to be accounted true
pioneers, and that Arizona is entitled to the honor of being the
earliest European settlement in what is now the United States of
America.
Referring to Hamilton's Resources of
Arizona we find the next exploration of the territory was in 1582, and
though no special mention is made of Tucson, yet being so important a
town on the highway from Sonora to the Pima settlements, we know that
the little village enjoyed its full share of growth and prosperity.
This expedition was by Antonio de
Espejo, who gave the first authentic ac- count of the discovery of
precious metals in Arizona, and was considered the pioneer prospector.
But as these various expeditions were for the purpose ? mainly ? of
acquiring sudden wealth, like the con- querors of Mexico and Peru, no
effort was made for another century to establish permanent settlements
in what was then called Arizuma.
In 1686 the Jesuit missionary, Francisco
Kino, joined by the Padre Salvatierra, journeyed north from the city of
Mexico, and in 1687, founded the mission of Guevavi, thirty miles south
of Tucson, and that of San Xavier del Bac (of the water) about the same
time, at a point nine miles south of Tucson. The first mission building
was a very unpretentious structure. In 1720, thirty-three years after
the founding of these missions, there were no less than eight of them,
all in a flourishing condition, within the pres- ent limits of the
territory. Their names, respectively, were: Guevavi, San Xavier del Bac,
San Jose de Tumacacori (which has been reserved by the U, S. as a
national monument), Santa Gertrudis de Tubac, San Miguel de Sonoita,
Calabasas, Arivaca and Santa Ana.
The converts of these missions, almost
entirelj'' from the Pima tribes, took the name of Papago, which means
baptized. They were a noble monument to the faithful labors of Fray Kino
and his associates. This good father was a native of the Tyrol, and
resign- ed the professorship of mathematics in the University Ingolstadt
to do this unselfish work among the heathen.
These earnest efforts brought forth good
fruit in the peaceful and industrious colonies that grew up around
them. They were taught farming, and large bodies of land were brought
under cultivation. Sheep and cattle were introduced, comfort- able
houses were erected, and order and industry took the place of savagery
and sloth. They were self sustaining, and doing good work, not only in
teaching the truths of the Catholic religion, but in developing the
material resources of the country.
During the regime of the missionary
fathers, flour- ishing haciendos (ranches) at San Pedro, Barbacomari,
Arivapa and Calabasas were established, many prospecting and exploring
parties penetrated South- ern Arizona, and rich mines were opened and
worked. Some of the silver ores were reduced on the ground by simple
adobe furnaces, while the richest were transported to Sonora and
Sinaloa, Mexico. Most of the gold and silver ornaments of the mission
churches came from these mines, and at Guevavi the remains of sixteen
arrastras (grinding machines) could be seen and counted only a few years
ago.
These pages on Tucson history are from the book "Old Tucson; a hop, skip and jump" by Estelle M. Buehman available on Amazon.
Local Tucson Books
 "Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains,"
by Robert Zucker. The legends and history of the Catalinas– the Tucson
Gold Rush, the Iron Door Mine, Buffalo Bill's mining camp, and the story
of mining the mountains for gold, silver and copper. Read chapters
online, download a free sample PDF of the book and purchase on
Amazon. |
 "Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades,"
by Robert Zucker. Covers the local music and entertainment scene from
the 1950s through the end of the 20th Century. Interviews with local
musicians, original photographs and stories published in local
newspapers. Read chapters online, download a free sample PDF of the book
and purchase on Amazon. |
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