From the Beginning:
People have lived in the Santa Cruz Valley for thousands of years.
No one knows exactly when the first humans arrived to see the broad
expanse of
land encircled by mountains on all sides, but the signs of Hohokam
villages and farms and found all over the valley. These ancestors
of the Pima Indians
were probably the first to settle here, basing their largest village
at the western end of the valley along the shores of the Santa
Cruz River.
They called their village 'Shuk-son' (the spelling varies depending
upon the source), or 'city at the foot of the black mountain' (now
called Sentinel
Peak or - more popularly - 'A' Mountain). Artifacts of settlements
have also been found along the Tanque Verde Creek. All of these
small waterways
were just that when civilization began. Farms soon dotted the banks
of these creeks and life was good for the peaceful tribes, except
for the
constant vigilance needed to protect themselves against the marauding
Apaches who would come from beyond the Rincon Mountains to steal
the fruits of
their labors.
The Spanish were the next group to arrive in the area - at least
they were the first to stay or survive. Small bands of soldiers
accompanied such
missionaries as Father Kino and others who were converting the
natives and building the vast chain of missions in Arizona and
California.
Our own San Xavier del Bac, built in more or less its present
form in the middle
of the 18th Century, is a handsome example, as is the mission
at Tubac,
some miles to the south.
Charged with protecting the missionaries and others seeking gold
in the legendary 'Seven Cities of Cibola', the Spanish soldiers
took over
the
area at the foot of the black mountain and built a Presidio
in 1775 on the site of a smaller fort built by the Pimas to protect
themselves.
Many
of these friendly Pimas remained in the area, living outside
the walls of the fort under the aegis of and providing food
for
the
soldiers and their families. The walls of the Presidio still
exist to some
extent.
Archeological
digs have located the remains of the old wall, cutting right
through the courtyard of the Old Pima County Courthouse. The
next time
you go downtown,
walk through and follow the marble strip that runs from south
to north and delineates the line of the eastern wall. There
is also
a recreated
section of the wall in the lobby of the Treasurer's and Assessor's
offices. Some of the old wall also makes up part of the old
Meyers House on Main
Street north of Alameda, now part of the Tucson Museum of Art.
Some years ago, work being down downtown necessitated digging
up Alameda Street from Church Avenue west and archeologists
unearthed what was
probably the Presidio chapel's cemetery. Some of the bones
were found to be Spanish
soldiers, and others were likely Pima Indians and even Apaches,
either killed in one of several raids on the Presidio or
among those who
converted and joined the burgeoning community around the
Presidio. Other digs
have revealed many more treasures of the past - pottery shards,
metal objects
such as uniform buckles and the foundations of the buildings
of
an earlier day. During the excavation of the Old Courthouse
courtyard, later relics
of a previous courthouse were found, including an outhouse.
In 1821, following Mexico's independence from Spain, the
Presidio raised a new flag. Mano fo the formerly Spanish
troops changed
their allegiance
and became citizens of the new nation to the south. Some
of these families have stayed on to this day and their
names are
familiar
to all who
drive the old streets or look at the names on local schools.
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