The Casa Grande

FAMILY Album OF CACTI

The Prickly Pear outnumbers all other cacti on the Arizona desert. It is also more widely distributed in the western hemisphere. Natives of the southwest region use the fruit for food.

The Prickly Pear flowers are unusually brilliant, generally being orange or yellow in color. The fruit when ripened is of a crimson color. These colors, with the green stems, form exciting color patterns.

Native to Arizona for many generations is the family of cacti. Aged patriarchs of Cactaceae (the family name) greeted the first Spanish padres who ventured into its habitat four centuries ago.

Perhaps, it would be interesting to glance into the history and the album of this historic familyThe history of the Cacti is a fascinating story of a survival of the fittest. It began centuries ago when the climatic conditions of the Western Hemisphere, especially in the region of Central America, were very moist, causing an abundance of rainfall and vegetation. Where deserts now stand, lakes and forests then abounded.

During this time, in the vicinity of the West Indies, there thrived, (it is said), a well-foraged tree, similar to the lemon tree, from which cacti evolved. According to geologic history a drought gradually gripped the land, and over a period of years climatic conditions necessitated an adjustment of plant life to a more arid climate. Many families of plants doubtlessly could not undergo the adaptation and became extinct. But, it seems, as the years became dryer, specimens in one certain family appeared with characteristics which could withstand the drouth. The continual appearance of these “life savers” through the centuries resulted in the presence of our cactusfriends on the deserts of today.

This family of plants is native to the Americas. It is true that some species are found growing naturally in the Eastern Hemisphere, but botanists find convincing evidence that these plants originated in the Western Hemisphere. Birds could easily have carried the seed across the oceans. Many famous cactus gardens have been established in the Old World through the interests of European botanists, but all of the plants therein have originated in the Americas. And now the family album-

THE SAGUARO

Largest and best known of the family is the Giant Cactus or Saguaro. It is a promiment member of the genus Cereus, and is scientifically known as Cereus giganteus Engelm, and Carnegia gigantea (Engel.) B. & R.

Towering above desert brush and trees, the Saguaro makes a striking picture to the desert traveler. Standing erect with upraised arm-like branches, this giant causes one to behold him as a soldier at attention. Its great size pronounces him as the guardian of desert life; its ability to cope with the inevitable heat inspires awe and praise from the naturalist; its majestic silhouette and sturdy lines make it an irresistible study for the artist. Though protected by needle-like spines from the ravages of desert animalsand man, it offers protection and a home to weakling birds which nest in its lofty stems.

At maturity the Saguaro stands thirty to fifty feet high and two to three feet in diameter. It consists of a main stem which extends straight upward from the ground to the highest tip of the stem. Most giant cacti have one or more lateral branches, all differing somewhat in length and size. These branches are often referred to as arms.

Twelve to thirty ridges encircle the cylindrical trunk and branches. The ridges are caused by long rods or flutes which support the plant. They surround the pulpy interior and permit expansion and contraction of the body of the trunk as water is being replenished or utilized. The ridges are adorned with protective thorny spines or thorns which are arranged in radial groups extending the length of the tree. The spines, which some think are remnants of leaves, give protection against summer heat and desert animals.

The ability which the Saguaro and other desert plants display in surviving summer heat and drouth is one of the marvels of nature. A network of fine, fibrous roots, which spread under the surface of the ground, facilitates moisture gathering during the winter rains and summer showers. The pulpy interior serves as a reservoir in which enough water can be stored to sustain the plant for three to four years of continual drouth. Moisture is also conserved by the covering of a waxy, resinous substance, and by the absence of leaves. The food making processes The Hedgehog is an interesting member of the family album of cacti. They grow singly or in clumps, have ridged, tuberculated stems, densly covered with a net work of spines. They bear purple-ink flowers three or four inches long, and are of the genus Echino-cereus.

usually found within the leaf have been transferred to the green surfaces of the cacti.

In late spring, white, satiny blossoms adorn the tips of the stems, and remain for several weeks. The flowers grow singly, but grouped close together, they give a beautiful clustered effect. The blossoms measure three to five inches long and are about two inches wide, remaining open during the night and forenoon. Honey produced from the flowers is a delicacy. Bees begin in the early morn, gathering nectar until the petals fold over their prized bounty. After the petals fall from the flowers, the fruit turns a crimson red and is harvested by the native Indians for its food value.

The Saguaro thrives best in the sandy, rocky soil of the low mountain slopes of the desert region. Dense growths are located in the Saguaro National Monument east of Tucson near the Santa Catalina Mountains, and in a region about ten miles east of Phoenix and a short distance northwest of Tempe. The latter is commonly known as Papago Park.

Rising from the floor of the great Casa Grande valley in Pinal county, there stands, near Coolidge, an edifice built centuries ago by the Hohokams, prehistoric residents of the area. Discovered by Father Kino in 1694, Casa Grande Ruin today is one of the most imposing archeological treasures in the west. The National Park Service, to protect it from the elements, erected a covering over the ruin shortly after it became a national monument.

One of the most interesting of our National Monuments both from a prehistorical as well as an historical standpoint is Casa Grande National Monument, located in south central Arizona, about midway between Tucson and Phoenix. The ruin of the main building rises more than 30 feet above the floor of the surrounding desert, and is a prominent landmark in the broad flat plain through which the Gila River flows in a westerly direction, about a mile north of the ruin.

The area was first established as a national reservation by executive order of June 22, 1892, under authority in the act of congress approved March 2, 1889, and was classified as a National Park. Finally, on August 3, 1918, by presidential proclamation, the reservation was given the status of a National Monument.

Within the Monument boundaries are situated the ruins of at least eight distinct house groups or village sites, varying in degree of preservation, and ranging in size from clusters of buildings containing less than a dozen rooms to one which contains

By Francis H. Elmore

Pictorial studies by NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 96 rooms. These are dominated by the Casa Grande or Big House. It is composed of the well preserved remnant of a huge, thick-walled caliche tower or lookout, four stories in height, and surrounded by the remains of walls of smaller one and two story structures. Called Compound A, it covers an area of approximately two acres and is encircled by the traces of a defense wall known to have been between ten and eleven feet high with no opening through the walls.

If you were an archeologist taking your first look at the prehistoric ruins of the Big House, you would probably be amazed at the seeming incongruity of the steel shelter which has been built over it. The reason for this is simple the prehistoric builders of the Big House had nothing to use but caliche. They built well, but that was 600 years ago quite a long time for a mud house to stand up under the ravages of time, even on an Arizona desert. Caliche, the material from which the Casa Grande was built, is a calcareous deposit occurring in Arizona. It was puddled with water to a putty-like consistency and was carried to

When the ancient peoples built Casa Grande, they built better than they thought. The people themselves have vanished, their trail lost in the dim, distant yesterdays, but their handiwork stands today. The upper picture is a bird's eye view of Compound A, from the east as it appeared about 1900, taken from a drawing by M. Wright Gill in B.A.E. 28th annual report. Below are other views of the ruin. In the lower right is also pictured the headquarters of the Southwestern National Monuments.

A "sun hole." There are three pairs of these holes in the Casa Grande. One of these pair of holes goes completely through the east and west walls of the east house. The sun shines through the east hole twice a year, but because the outer hole slants in, the sunbeam now misses the west hole. Is it possible that these prehistoric people had some means of telling time? The other holes going in different directions seem to discount this. There are many evidences of the ingenuity of prehistoric man to be found at Casa Grande National Monument.

the building in baskets and built up in courses. By the time one course was laid and patted into shape, it would have dried or become stiff enough to support the next course. The Casa Grande itself is about 40 by 60 feet and about 35 feet high, and contained 11 rooms, besides five rooms which were filled in evidently for support. The walls of the building are four feet thick at the base and taper to a thickness of about two feet at the level of the fourth story roof.

Set aside originally to preserve the Casa Grande as well as a few ruins surrounding it, Casa Grande National Monument has come more and more to mean the sole representation within the National Park Service of the Hohokam, or "Ancient Ones" in the modern Pima language. Who they were, from which region they originally came, or how long they inhabited the valleys of central Arizona, are questions as yet unanswered by archeological research. They were possibly living in the valleys as early as 300 B. C. as evidenced by the remains of their pit houses. Just what happened to the Hohokam is not certain, but legends of the local Pima Indians relate tales of the occupation, by their ancestors, of the Casa Grande and nearby villages. No direct proof of this racial descent has yet been discovered, but it is possible that the Pimas are correct in their ideas of blood relationship.

The Casa Grande and the other smaller buildings in the village surrounding it, were constructed near the beginning of the 14th century, used about 100 years by successive generations, and then deserted. The builders were two different races of Indians-the Hohokam and the Salado or "Salt People," from the Spanish word salt. The Salado, A ceremonial set of turquoise inlay and shell beads found under one of the floors of the village. It shows the artistic nature of the tribe, and their patience, for the set had to be made with stone tools for they did not have the use of metal tools. This set is one of the finest of its kind that has ever been taken out of any ruin in the United States. In the museum at the Monument the Park Service has gathered a wealth of material of the prehistoric people.