Selected Stories of
TUCSON  HISTORY

The Old Pueblo of Arizona
By A. H: CONDRON, secretary Tucson Chamber of Commerce
 From Progressive Arizona 1925
THE history of Pima County, as recorded in the chronicles of los conquistadores, reads like a romance. if space would permit, a most interesting’ history could be told.. The accounts of the wanderings of Alvarez Nnez, passing through this country a quarter of a century before the Spaniards founded St. Augustine, and the expedition of Padre Marcus de Niza, made for the purpose of verifying Nuez’s stories of the Seven Cities of Cibola, furnishes material for many lengthy chapters, and the story of the march of Coronado (the following year~ 1540) from Culiacan through the country of the Pimas, down the valley of the Santa Cruz, by the present site of Tucson, and across the Pima settlements to the Gila River, has made an interesting volume by McClintock in his “History of Arizona”. The records of Spain show that the King of Spain granted a charter for the Pueblo del Tucson in 1552. A story will soon be told which will probably establish .IEuropean occupation of Tucson about the eighth century. The greatest story of all recorded is the coming of Padre Kino, who came out of Mexico and founded missions a day’s journey apart far into the interior of what is now the State of Arizona; in 1692 this worthy Jesuit established San Xavier del Bac, the most wonderful mission on the American continent. This Mission today is in excellent state of preservation, and services have been held there almost continuously since its founding. This shrine is located nine miles south of Tucson and is visited annually by tourists. Architectural students from all over the world come in order to study the distinctive architecture of this edifice.
    About the middle of the eighteenth century, the Apaches arose in revolt, after which the Spanish government erected a presidio at Tucson and maintained a garrison here for the protection of their people. Tucson remained a walled village until 1847, giving our city the distinction of being the only walled city in the United States. A part of this wall still remains as evidence of this period. In 1853 Arizona became a territory of the United States by the Gadsden Purchase, and for years Pima County was protected by the United States troops garrisoned at Tucson. One of the cherished landmarks remaining is old Fort Lowell.
    The development of Tucson during the territorial days was very slow. In 1910 the population was less than 13,000. However, since that time there has been an increase of 150%, and today Tucson has a population of 33,000, largely made up of the former residents of every state in the Union and from many foreign countries. There is probably no city in the Southwest which has a more cosmopolitan population, and this fact probably bespeaks the reason for its rapid development during the last ten years.
    Back in the territorial days a trip to Tucson was tedious and exceedingly dangerous because of the frequent raids of roving bands of savage Indians. These trips had to be made by the old stage coach, The Butterfield Stage brought passengers and mail by relay from Kansas City to Yuma, practically passing over the present Bankhead Highway and part of the Old Spanish Trails. This mode of travel did not invite a great influx of settlers to this land of sunshine. Those who did come were mainly the hardy pioneers who were seeking new western locations in the quest of gold or other rich minerals known to exist in the mountains of Arizona. Contrast that means of transportation with the present excellent’ improved highway, “The Main Street through Arizona,” which entices over 20,000 out of the state cars, with over 100,000 tourists to enjoy Arizona’s wonderful highways and to be brought in touch with our romance, scenic and historic points of interest and to learn of the unbelievable development of the resources of our great Southwest, further to realize the great future of the City of Sunshine as the hub of the Southwest and the Gateway to the West Coast of Mexico. It is no wonder that the coming of the Southern Pacific in 1880 was heralded as one of the greatest factors of development for Tucson, as it meant the safe and easy transportation not only for the settler, but for the shipping of mineral wealth, cattle and agricultural products of Pima County-but also afforded a means of comfortable transportation for the settler who came from the east and developed the country through its last forty-five years of progress. In the last twelve years, the Southern Pacific has expanded its trade territory out of Tucson and is now working on its program of completing its system down the west coast of Mexico via Nogales, Arizona, and on to Mexico City, thus tapping the rich coastal plain of our sister Republic. The rail development has indeed been an important attribute to the development of the West - and Tucson has enjoyed its full share of this good fortune. The Old Pueblo is now actively engaged in the program of aerial mail extension and commercial and military aviation. With a vision of aviation’s future as a means of transportation, the city has been assisting our government in its aviation program by donating land which is leased to the government and equipped as one of the best aviation fields between El Paso and San Diego. The future program calls for a 1280-acre field valued at approximately a quarter of a million dollars on which an extensive construction program will be carried out to make the air port at Tucson the aviation base of the Southwest.
 

    Arizona, a state only since 1912, with an area of 113,956 square miles and comparatively small population, but with a percentage of increase equal to the most progressive western states, has not lost sight of its educational program. The taxpayers have been generous in this respect and our school system is rated as the second in the United States. The University of Arizona, located at Tucson, has achieved national recognition and stands as one of the leading state universities. Its College of Mines and College of Agriculture have been largely responsible for the development made in these industries and are rated as among the best in the country. The campus of the University is a garden spot - the buildings are modern and fully equipped. The new library, just finished, is without a doubt the finest building in Arizona. The enrollment has shown a steady increase-this semester, about fourteen per cent-which brings the total year’s enrollment up to about twenty-eight hundred students. The Old Pueblo has kept abreast with the state educational program in its city schools, Of the fourteen grammar schools, eight were constructed during the past three years at a cost of $400,000.00 and a new High School, costing $750,000.00, was dedicated last Fall.. The Admirably located at the foot of the beautiful Rincon Mountains is the famous Evans School for Boys. There are also several parochial schools located in our city.
    Tucson has excellent transportation facilities for industrial development, but, to date, the city cannot ma e many claims in comparison with some of the other western cities famed for their industries. However, such industries that have been established are of a sound nature. The further development of the natural resources adjacent to Tucson will bring about the establishment of other industries; this year: through the three years of cotton growing in Pima County, has been established a cottonseed oil mill and a large cotton compress. One of the large farm companies is making an investigation for the location of a large cold storage plant and a creamery. Progress has been made for the construction of an ore sampling works to handle the output of small prospectors; there are 17,000 mining claims recorded in Pima County, and many of these could be put into operation, bringing in good returns from the smelting of lead, zinc, silver and copper ores.
   The outlook in mining, with the steady increase of metal prices, is very promising. Arizona produces about one-half of the copper in the United States. At Ajo, in the western end of Pima County, is located the New Cornelia Copper Company, which is one of the largest producers in the state. A radius of 150 miles from Tucson incloses all of the largest copper mining companies in Arizona with the exception of one. This has long since placed Tucson as the center of the mining industry of our state. The early days of Arizona were practically given over to mining, followed by cattle raising and agriculture. Some of the finest cattle breeding grounds in the United States are located in southern Arizona. Recently, several of the foresighted cattlemen have gone into the breeding of high-bred stock and are thereby doing their bit to build up the ranges. The cutting up of the ranges into small cattle ranches has caused intensified development of irrigable agricultural lands in this county with the result that today Pima County is taking its place with other counties in Arizona in a high yield per acre in cotton, alfalfa and truck garden products. The figures of the record in agricultural production in the county best shows strides in this development: In 1920 there was not a bale of cotton grown; today the crop is 10,000 bales. Previous to 1913 there was only one small dairy in existence; today the dairy industry is valued at three-quarters of a million dollars. The poultry industry, back in 1912, was a failure, as practically all of the eggs at that time supplied in Tucson were shipped in and local production received no recognition ; today poultry offers one of the greatest agricultural possibilities, with a local market valued at a half million dollars, and has, this year, already netted a very few poultrymen about a hundred and twenty thousand income. Fruit raising has been conducted in an experimental stage, with a result that grapes and peaches have proven their worth as horticultural crop.
    Besides being the hub of the mining and cattle raising industries of southern Arizona, Tucson has become recognized as one of the leading resort sections of the county. This is mainly due to its unexcelled climate-coupled with its background of history, romance and scenic attractions. A recent writer of authority from the east paid tribute to the Old Pueblo in stating that it was the hub of the scenic beauty and historic lore of the Southwest. Tucson climate has been written in the Encyclopedia Britannica as comparable to that of Egypt, and this has-by the aid of properly prepared publicity and literature-attracted thousands of newcomers to our City of Sunshine and has likewise awakened our leaders of vision to interest the community in its own tourist hotel "El Conquistador" which is under construction at a cost of half a million dollars.
    The community leaders have foreseen the future Tucson and the citizens have responded to their progress of civic development. In the past four years. twenty miles of paving has been laid with in the city, two million and quarter dollars have been spent under the city improvements act since 1912 four new church buildings have been erected. a new music temple has been projected.. Park and street beautification has received the attention of the city administration, and a practically new water system has been installed ( furnishing an excellent supply of pure water from deep wells and assuring an ample and good supply for the city ). The city has offered its co-operation in giving a site to the government for a three quarters of a million dollar Federal building, badly needed to adequately quarter the Post office and other Federal offices established here, and a site has also been offered the Government for its permanent and enlarged hospital.
 
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  "Jackass Mail" to Tucson By  Phocion R. Way 1858

June 10th. We passed through a range of mountains yesterday — Chiricahua mountain range of Sierra Madre—in a deep and wild looking dado pass [Apache Pass]. The mountains rise on either side from 6oo to a thousand feet above our heads, and in many places it presented a perpendicular wall of rock for a great height, with only just space enough for one wagon to pass between. Near the end of this pass is the Apache Spring. This is a bad place for the Indians. The spring is half a mile from the road in a canon [sic], and I and three others were appointed to stay and guard the wagon while the rest shouldered their rifles and went after the water. About 5 o’clock we passed over another range of mountains. It was a very rough passage and reminded me of Bonaparte crossing the Alps. We finally got over — wagons, mules and all — but it was a laborious task. We encamped last night in the midst of a beautiful valley between two ranges of lofty mountains. We saw Indian fires on the mountains all around us but we were not molested. The continuing howling of the wolves was the only annoyance we had to complain of.

We started at daylight this morning and are now i 2 o’clock stopping at Dragon [Dragoon] Springs. ... We expected some trouble at these springs as the Indians are numerous around here and very hostile. They rob and murder white men whenever they can... We have to go a mile up a deep ravine or canon [sic] with craggy rocks and low shrubbery on either side — a fine hiding place for Indians. Our captain exhibited more anxiety here than he has done anywhere on the road. We examined our arms and prepared everything for a fight. The captain took six men and started after the water. . . We picked our way to the spring, looking cautiously on every side and driving our mules before us. We were not attacked.... We are too strong a party to be in much danger.... Left Dragoon Springs about one o’clock. Saw no Indians....

We are now camping on the San Pedro river to get our suppers. It is a small, short and muddy river. It empties into the Gila. I have just been bathing in its murky waters and feel much refreshed... We are now about 70 miles [from Tucson]. We follow this stream 6 or 7 miles and then we strike out west and leave it. If no accident happens, we will be in Tucson tomorrow night....

June 11th. Camped last night about io miles this side of the San Pedro. Hobbled our mules, stationed our guard, and retired to rest on the ground as usual. Started at daylight this morning. Traveled 8 miles and stopped at the de los Pimas Creek for breakfast....

June 12th 1858. Arrived at Tucson about 6 o’clock last evening.

     We had heard bad reports of this town all along the route, and we were fully prepared to see a miserable place — and we were not in the least disappointed. It contains about 200 inhabitants, all Mexican and Indians with exception of about a dozen....

Col. Walker, the Indian agent here, is very much of a gentleman and highly esteemed by all classes of people. Mr. Robinson, a merchant and trader, is a good looking, generous, wholesome Kentuckian. Mrs. Robinson, his wife, is the only American lady in this place.... An older brother of Kit Carson [Moses Bradley Carson] also resides here. . .. The Mail Party is here and there are some Californians [sic] here but they are not residents of the place. The mail company do not run their stages farther than here, and those who paid their passage through must ride over a sandy waste on mule back and furnish the mule themselves, or stay here and get the fever and ague. This is a most rascally imposition and the company will very likely have to pay for it....

The houses here are all adobe and miserable ones at that.... The hogs wallow in the creek, the Mexicans water their asses and cattle and wash themselves ‘and their clothes and drink water out of the same creek. The Americans have dug a well and procure tolerably good water, which they use. There are a few acres of land along the bottom cultivated by irrigation. . . if hell is any hotter than this I don’t want to go there.

At present there are a number of Apache and Pimos Indians ,encamped near town. There are a small band of what the Indian agent calls tame Apaches. They are friendly to the whites, but the great body of the nation are at war with all the rest of mankind. -

There is no tavern or other accommodation [sic] here for travelers, and I (was) obliged to roll myself in my blanket and sleep either in the street or in the corral, as the station house had no windows or floor and was too close and warm. The corral is where they keep their horses and mules, but I slept very comfortably as the ground was made soft by manure. I would rather have slept in the street as a great many of the natives do, but it is hardly safe for a stranger. Someone might suppose that he had money about his person and quietly stick a knife into him in the night, and no one would be the wiser — there is no law here, or if there is it is not enforced. Might makes right.

Yesterday a dispute occurred between two men about something, when one of them shot the other dead on the spot. The man is running at large and no particular notice is taken of it.. . The murdered man’s name was Batch, on his way home from California and stopping here for a few days. I guess King Alcohol was at the bottom of all the trouble...

Among the native women here I believe that chastity is a virtue unknown. Some of the young girls are pretty. They are remarkable for the ease and grace of their movements and their brilliant black eyes.

One of our party named Beardsley seems to be a great favorite with the senorittas [sic], and has a fine looking black-eyed girl for his especial favorites. He is laying on the ground within six feet of me at this moment fast asleep, while she is setting by his side keeping the flies-from disturbing him....

We could not hire any kind of conveyance in this God forsaken town for Tubac. So we were compelled to send an express to Col. Poston informing him of our arrival.. . . I will not be sorry when we get off, for it is hard living. There is no place to board and not much to eat in the d — d town. There was no fresh meat to be had and we would have been in a bad fix if the mail party had not kindly invited us to eat with them. Even they could procure nothing and were compelled to live on the remains of their provisions they had on the road, a little bacon and coffee and bread so hard from age that you could not bite it. They have to do their own cooking and all travelers must do the same or hire a Mexican to do it for them. Our fare, as bad as it is, is better than the average in this town. We spread an old greasy cloth on the ground in the corral. Some of the hungry citizens watched us while we were at our meals, and when we were through they eagerly devoured the scraps. I have just learned that our captain has succeeded in buying a roast of beef. If this proves to be true, won’t we have a feast today?

Visiting Tucson....The Rantings of J. Ross Browne

"TUCSON"  Will C.  Barnes... 1935

"Elevation 2,374 feet. On Santa Cruz River. County Seat, Pima county. On S.P.R.R. Hodge and Coues both agree that name comes from the Piman "Slyuk-son" meaning a dark or brown spring. Originally it was probably a Papago word. Papagoes say "styuk" for black, and "zone" or "son" for foot or base of a hill; or near a spring. There was a Papago village in early days as Sentinel Peak, "A"mtn., which they called by this name, Styuk-zone. See aslo Papago village of Little Tucson or Tucsonsito. Name has been variously spelled. Arricivita spelled it Tugson; General Cooke spelled it Teuson, 1846; Emory, 1`847, Tucson.

Franciscans in Arizona says; "Fr. Marcos visited Tucson, 1539. Kino, 1692; Garces saw it first, 1775. It was called Presidio of San Jose de Tucson." This work further says: "The Vista San Jose de Tucson is situated 6 leagues north of San xavier. A vista of Bac since 1763 it was still withou either church or priest in 1772."

Kino located a settlement on his map which he called Tucsonimo. Bolton says, however: "This was a village on the Gila above Casa Grande which was called 'Encarnacion' and said to have been some 26 leagues north of San Xavier." Coues quotes HOdge as follows: "Its (Tucson's) settlement by Spaniards is reputed to date from 1560, but there is little doubt that it became a Spanish settlement not earlier than 1776. Before that time it was a Rancheria probably of mixed Pima, Papago, and Sobaipuri peoples. From 1763 it was regularly visited as San Juan de Tucson by the Missionary of San Xavier del Bac. In 1776, Presidio of Tubac was transferred there and name 'San Augustin de Tucson' applied. Its alleged great antiquity as a Spanish settlement is a fable.

"We have the first definite knowledge of Tucson as a 'Rancheria de Visita' of Bac mission, 1763. Tucson was doubtless second settlement by Europeans in United States with Santa Fe first by a few years, and St. Augustine Florida, third. In 1848 population of Tucson was 760 persons, whites, Indians, and all." Tucson was occupied by US troops, 1856. August 16, 1856, a convention was held there to organize the Territory of Arizona as a political entity. Town was occupied by Confederate troops from Feb. to May 1862. Tucson became capital November 1, 1867, and held it until 1867.

Regarding the age of Tucson, Dr. Frank C. Lockwood writes: "Close study of Tucson's history indicates it was first viewed by European eyes in 1694. Shows first time on a map 1698 and was first established as a European town 1776." Records U.S. Land Office show that in 1872 town bought two sections of government land fo a town site paying $800 a section. Donald Page in Arizona Historical Review gives an interesting account of first military occupation of Tucson, December 1846. J. Ross Browne visited Tucson , 1864, as a government official. His account of what he saw is worth reading.

First Post Office established December 4, 1856, Elias Brevort, PM. Was then in Dona Ana county, New Mexico, and first post office established in what is now Arizona. See Revanton. Office closed temporarily February 14, 1863 because of Civil War. Re-established July 13, 1865, with Mark Aldrich, PM. First Southern Pacific Railroad train reached Tucson March 17, 1880. A post office called Tucson in Ross county, Ohio 12 miles east of Chillicothe, was established May 10, 1896,  Zacariah Hines, PM,  No one could tell how the name had migrated."

Barnes, Will C.  Arizona Place Names  University of Arizona Press. 1935

The wild, wild west  http://www.arizona.edu/home/tucson-history.php 

As a tide of newcomers to the Tucson region swelled, the area's native inhabitants defended their territory. Battles between the settlers and the Apaches paralyzed Tucson for several decades, distracting it from the War Between the States taking place back East. The 1860s were the days of the Wild West in Tucson, with arguments frequently ending in gunfire.

In 1867, Tucson became the territorial capital for the 10-year period, which accelerated civic progress. In 1880, great excitement greeted the first train. Jubilant townspeople sent out announcements that Tucson was now connected to the rest of the world.

The city continued to grow rapidly, reaching 7,000. Around the turn of the century, Tucson began marketing itself as a sunshine city, attracting thousands of tuberculosis victims seeking a cure in its dry climate. In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state to enter the union.

During the Second World War, Davis-Monthan Field became an important training base. Many airmen returned to Tucson to settle or retire. Fueled by post-war industries and tourism, the population grew rapidly - at one point welcoming 1,000 newcomers each month. By 2000, the population had reached 800,000.

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