South Mountain Park

PHOENIX SOUTH MOUNTAIN PARK THE STORY OF THE LARGEST MUNICIPAL PARK IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE PEOPLE OF Phoenix, Arizona, and the valley in which it lies, have for their enjoyment a city park unique in these United States. Its twenty-three and a half square miles of desert and mountains not only make it the largest municipally owned park, but afford its visitors almost unlimited recreational possibilities.

About the year 1920 public spirited citizens became alarmed at the acquisition by private interests of all major open lands in the valley and used for recreational purposes. Under the direction of Mr. H. G. Hartranft, Mr. Dwight B. Heard and Mrs. James C. Dobbins, a program was inaugurated for the acquisition of South Mountain Park by the City of Phoenix, as the area most suitable to meet the varied needs of the people of the Valley of the Sun for cultural and out-of-door recreational activities.

The permanent establishment of this 15,000 acre mountainous and desert wilderness type of park, only seven and a half miles from the heart of Phoenix, was a noteworthy and dramatic achievement. Its success is amply proven by the 250,000 patrons who yearly are attracted to this vast playground. The rugged slopes and broad mesas of the park support a botanical catalogue of over 340 identified plant species, taught by the ages to adjust themselves to a climate offering 84 per cent of the year's total sunshine and an annual rainfall of only seven and a half inches. Most of the cactus species found in Arizona may be seen growing in their natural habitat in the various elevations and exposures of South Mountain Park.

The major geological formation over the area consists of miles and miles of weathered granite, awe-inspiring in its majestic proportions. A few strips of schist and porphyry are present. The ever-present erosion of the rocks by sudden temperature changes has resulted in a tumultous

At Telegraph Pass in South Mountain Park. The 15,000 acre park is served by approximately twenty miles of developed roadway, leading the visitor into the very heart of this primitive area. The rock-strewn condition in most sections of the park, which is a great delight to hikers and amateur explorers.

The imposing stone structure at the entrance of the park is known as the Administration Building. It houses the park's administration office and staff the author as custodian and E. H. (Slatz) Ellingson as an able assistant. The huge building also contains the worthwhile exhibits of Indian arts and crafts offered for public inspection by the Lore Trading Company, which also operates the park stables and furnishes capable guides to those who wish them.

From the administration area a twenty-mile system of developed roads and a forty mile system of foot and saddle trails penetrate the innermost recesses of this great stronghold and make possible a varied choice of the many recreation spots to be found there.

There are lookout points, where the breathtaking beauty of 12,000 square miles of the State of Arizona spread before you, with sawtooth horizons and gaunt and rugged mountain peaks and valleys where great rivers are impounded to serve the needs of man. There are three separate and well equipped picnic and recreational areas, with shade, water, toilets, Left, one of the numerous byways in the Park. Below, a view from Holbert Trail.

About 250,000 people visited South Mountain Park during 1941. Several large parking spaces including the one for the lower area have been developed for the convenience of the many visitors.

One of the features of Phoenix South Mountain Park is the fine picnic and playgrounds developed for the convenience of the public. Spacious and roomy ramadas have been constructed and can be reserved for picnic parties, both during the day and night.

electric lights and tables and benches to seat over 1500 persons. There are two great circular recreational platforms for skating or dancing, where the beauty of music and rhythmic motion is enhanced by the softness of the desert night while the stars look down from a cloudless sky.

All this has been done that people may picnic and play, hike and horseback-paint and photograph-sunbathe and study. The field of entertainment ranges wide in South Mountain Park, and only a sketch of the high-spots is possible in this article.

Picnic-a funny sounding little six-letter word-but it describes the world's top-ranking recreation. Its appeal is universal. Old and young, rich and poor, saint and sinner-all meet this word with pleasure and anticipation. Nor ants, nor rain, nor charging bulls have dimmed its shining magnetism. Nations have spent astronomical sums of money and dedicated the choicest bits of their terrain that people might picnic.

recreation. Its appeal is universal. Old and young, rich and poor, saint and sinner-all meet this word with pleasure and anticipation. Nor ants, nor rain, nor charging bulls have dimmed its shining magnetism. Nations have spent astronomical sums of money and dedicated the choicest bits of their terrain that people might picnic.

In desert recreation the picnic loses nothing and is, perhaps, even more of a leader for various reasons. There is little or no fire hazard, no danger of starting one of those huge conflagrations which have robbed our people of so much. A day set for a desert picnic can just about be depended upon to be bright and clear and sunny. The oft-depicted scene of picnickers wildly dashing for shelter, leaving the outspread banquet to the buffetings of wind and rain, does not here apply. The spring avalanche of wild flowers, exotic cactus blossoms, blooming trees and shrubs, all add to the fascinations of the desert as a place to picnic.

Nor are desert picnics limited to daylight hours. The atmospheric clarity gives full candlepower from the moon and stars, and nowhere are the nights more truly vivid. A campfire in the hugeness of these nights invites a closer gathering to talk.

So well do people enjoy these desert outings (Continued on Page Forty-one) making each peak of the mountain range accessible to riders.

Everything that can be done for the comfort and convenience of the visitor has been done at the Park. Lighted shelters, fireplaces, rest rooms, playgrounds are for the public's use.

SONS of the CAPTAIN ESSAY ON THE YUMA INDIANS BY THE ARIZONA WRITERS PROJECT, WPA

THE FORT YUMA Reservation for the Yuma Indians is an area of 7,979 acres, lying along the west bank of the Colorado, near its confluence with the Gila, just north of the international boundary. This reservation is under the jurisdiction of the Colorado River Indian Agency at Parker, Arizona; a subagency is maintained at Fort Yuma, with a school, hospital, clinic, and housing facilities for the employees.

The climate of this region is of the hot desert type, and the annual rainfall frequently averages less than four inches. During the winter months, the daily temperature range is noticeably great. Even in January and February, while a little frost is expected at night, the days are very warm.

In prehistoric times, the greater part of the river plain and upper delta normally was flooded each year. Since precipitation was so scanty under conditions of extreme summer heat and low humidity, the flooded sections presented a strong contrast to the rocky and sandy desert above the bluffs that checked the flood waters. Now, in spite of modern irrigation, the contrast between mesa-land and valley-land is still marked. The mesa grows practically nothing but creosote bushes, cacti, and a few desert willows, but the irrigated valley is covered with fields of alfalfa, wheat, milo maize, and cotton.

The mythology of the Yuman family points to the country opposite Fort Mohave as its place of origin. The Yuma are divided into several tribes, which live along the river from the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of California. The tribe bearing the family name of Yuma probably once lived about three hundred miles north of their present location. Migration must have taken place before Spanish explorers came into the Southwest, for, when first encountered, the Yuma occupied the same locality they do now.

The origin of the term Yuma is very doubt ful. Some of the early reports state that it was derived from the word for "Son of the Captain," or Sons of the River," and othershold that it was applied to the tribe through misunderstanding by some of the early travelers from the word "Yahmayo." The Spaniards were using the term Yuma in the eighteenth century and it is possible that they introduced it among other tribes where it supplanted earlier usage.

The Yuma call themselves Kwatca'n, a term derived from an incident in the creation myth. When the Yuma came down from the mountain Avikwame; they chose a special trail. The words Xam Kwatca'n mean "another going down," and so they took the name Kwatca'n.

The primary material basis of Yuma life lies in the produce of their gardens and fields supplemented by meat. Almost every family has a truck garden, where corn, beans, squash, onions, tomatoes, chili peppers, and other vegetables are grown. Living near town where work can be obtained with cash wages, the Yuma are fast adopting the food habits of the whites. They buy fresh meat, canned goods, frosted cakes and rolls, jams, and pink ice cream. Beans are eaten once or twice a day, and the tortilla is still the most popular form of bread.

The economic unit is the household, consisting of a man, his wife, and usually the married sons and their families and the unmarried daughters. However, no set rule governs where a young couple may live; they may spend some time with the husband's parents and then with the wife's parents, before they establish a home of their own. Formerly, the married son remained at home, while the daughter went to live at the home of her husband's parents.

The Yuma territory was alloted in 1912ten acres of land to every member of the tribe who was of age. This was before the develop ment of the Imperial Valley Irrigation Project which has since made great changes in the eastern part of the reservation. The extensive fertilizing floods of former times have been reduced by the construction of the Laguna Dam and small riverine dykes, but the passage of a main distribution canal across reservation territory and the construction of branch and distributary canals for modern irrigation have greatly increased the economic value of the land.

Participation in this irrigation agriculture has entirely changed the Yuma farming methods. Modern plows, mowing machines, and hay balers are now used.

There are approximately 2,000 acres of farm land on the reservation, and of these, 1,132 were farmed in 1939. The Yuma follow a diversified program of farming. The main items grown are short staple cotton, alfalfa seed, milo maize, small grain and garden stuffs, and poultry and a few cattle are raised.

Cattle and horses are issued to families on a reimbursable plan. The requirements for obtaining stock on the repayment plan are: good fences, plenty of feed on the farm, a good stock water supply, and the earnest desire to properly care for the animals.

The low sand-walled houses of the Yuma gave way about fifty years ago to a higher, flat-roofed dwelling similar to those of the Pima. The walls are made of uprights of cottonwood, with horizontal slats about two inches wide nailed between the inner and outer sides of the supporting posts; the space between is packed with adobe mud. These structures usually contain only one room, occasionally two. The floors are of dirt. This type of house is gradually being replaced by plank and tin shacks.

Many of the houses have the brush arbor, or ramada, a cottonwood framework supported by crotched posts and roofed with brush and earth. Under its shade, the women perform most of their household duties-washing, ironing, cooking and sewing. Here will be found the table, boxes, and benches, the metate and, hanging from a post, the canteen of drinking water. Occasionally a pottery olla (ol'-yah) is still in use, but these have been largely replaced by tin canteens. During the summer the family eats in the ramada, and it is used as a living room throughout the day the year around.

When relatives and friends call, they sit and visit here in the cool shade.

The cooking utensils now in use are metal pots, pans, lard tins, and buckets. The pottery roasting bowls, bean pots, serving dish, and dipper have disappeared.

Clothing is now entirely Americanized; the men wear blue denim or khaki-colored pants and blue or tan cotton work shirts, large felt or high-crowned straw hats, and boots or shoes. For dress occasions, they wear serge pants, light-colored cotton shirts, and often a bright handkerchief tied about the neck. The young men and some of the older ones wear the hair cut short, but the majority still maintain the aboriginal style of hair dressing. The long hair is divided into many small strands, each of which is plastered with mud and mesquite gum and coiled around the head. In recent years, since colored handkerchiefs have been available, a different fashion has developed. The coils are brought up from the back of the neck over the crown, the head is then covered with a handkerchief, and the ridge of coils below the cloth forms a crest that stands up several inches above the forehead.

The women wear high-neck, long-sleeve dresses, with long, full skirts. The skirt is gathered on to a belt at the waist and falls to six inches from the ground. These dresses are usually made of bright colored cotton cloth, gingham, print, and sateen. A large silk or cotton handkerchief is tied loosely about the shoulders. For ceremonials and festive occasions, dresses are made in the same style of different material-satin, taffeta, or wash silk. The skirt is trimmed with a dozen or more rows of ribbon of contrasting colors, sewed around it eight inches from the bottom. Shoes are worn when going out, but women, children, and old men go barefoot around the house. Some of the old men when going to town, carry their shoes until they reach the paved highway, then sit down and put them on.

Very little jewelry is worn by the Yuma. A few wear silver rings and bracelets, but the Majority none at all. Bead work and tattooing are the chief forms of adornment. Bars, dots, and lines are tattooed on the faces of both sexes. Either men or women do the work, but the female artists are more numerous. The tattoo designs of the women usually consist of one or two lines drawn vertically down from the corners of the mouth, with vertical rows of dots between the lines. Several rows of three or four dots each are ordinarily found, but the exact number is said not to matter. One or two horizontal bars, three or four rows of dots, or a representation of a bow are occasionally tatooed on the fore head. The men have the horizontal bars, rows of dots, the bow, and sometimes a star, on the forehead. They never tattoo the chin. Pricking and scratching the skin with cactus thorns until it bleeds, then rubbing in the mesquite charcoal is the method used in tattooing.

The Yuma of former times were essentially a pottery-making people-fashioning cooking pots, roasting bowls, serving bowls, dippers, storage and water ollas. Native pottery has practically disappeared, and only a few water ollas are made for home use. In the last decade two or three potters have been encouraged to carry on the art before it is entirely lost. They are doing creditable work, but the articles made by them are principally for fair exhibits and tourist trade.

Basketware is no longer made, aside from a few storage baskets. Formerly all basketware was made by the coiling method, from arrowweed, willow twigs, and the devil's claw (or martynia) pods and a reed that grew abundantly along the river. Three types of baskets were regularly made the large storage basket, a shallow tray, and a globular form resembling an olla and also used for storage.

The Yuma tribe has accepted the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Wheeler Howard Act, which requires them to prepare a constitution and by-laws and to assume to a large degree control of their own affairs. Their council has many and important powers, including the following: to encourage and promote by every practical means a proper system of education for people of all ages, in such subjects as home economics, hygiene, child care and training, and farm mechanics; to regulate domestic relations of tribal members; to protect public health and morals and to encourage and preserve the culture, arts, crafts, and traditions of the tribe. Other powers, chiefly affecting land, money, the appointment of guardians for minors and mental incompetents, and the regulation of inheritance of property, real and personal, except allotted land within the reservation, are subject to review by the Secretary of the Interior.

Judicial problems are handled by a native court, a judge, prosecuting attorney, and, if the plaintiff requests, a jury. Drunkenness is the most common offense.

The Yuma share with the other river tribes a peculiar system of sibs (clans), which are patrilineal, definitely named groups, strictly exogamous, with totemic reference. There are now approximately twenty sibs. A certain animal or object is associated with each. In a group that shares a similar first name there is a common totem, and occasionally in addition, a second object or animal specific to one alone. The sib membership is inherited through the male line, but the sib name is taken as a personal name by the women only. In addition to the sib name, the women frequently use another name derived from some particular feature or activity of the namesake. Such names are adopted in childhood without ceremony. Sib names are used in referring only to women, but reference to the sib group is by a collective term composed of the prefix pa (from the Yuma word for people, pipa) and the sib name, as pa Xavatcats. When the hair begins to turn gray, the sib name is always prefixed with akoi-old woman. Frequently the sib name is contracted, or the namesake used instead-hipa; akoi hipa, lio'te xepta: akoi xepta. The men's names have no relation to sib affiliation. Some of the most important of the sib titles, such as li'o'ts and xavtcats, are also common to the Cocopa and Mohave.

In the Yuma system, there is no trace of society organization, and practically no cere-monial function, associated with the sib. The sibs have no ceremonial leaders or chiefs. The sib system of the Yuma is, therefore, decidedly distinct from that of the Diegueno and the Southern Shoshoneans to the west, among whom the sib is the ceremonial unit.

The Yuma have a kinship system in which the most striking characteristics are the development of sex and age distinctions and a cousin terminology. A woman does not distinguish the sex of her children, the husband does. A man and woman have separate terms for the father, but the same for the mother. Siblings are distinguished as younger brother, younger sister, older sibling, paternal, and maternal sibling. Paternal uncles and maternal aunts are distinguished as older and younger, maternal uncles and paternal aunts are not. The child-ren of a man's brother and a woman's sister are distinguished according to the ages of the parents. Second cousins are siblings, but are not distinguished by older and younger terms according to the actual age of the cousins, but by that of the original pair of siblings, two or three generations away, between whom the basic relation existed. Step relations are classed with the sibling of grandparents and their reciprocals, and parents-in-law with the spouses of uncles and aunts.

These Indians like several other tribes are very secretive about personal names. The name of a dead person may never be mentioned again, nor may that name be given to another. In selecting a name, a man must be sure that the proposed name has not been used by anyone recently dead. To address one by his personal name is considered highly insulting and may be the indication that criticism is implied.

Formerly, the women never used personal names but were identified by the sib name. In childhood, they were given nicknames describing some particular feature of the totem, but these names were seldom used when they were grown. Small boys are given names after some characteristic activity. Their formal name is given at about the time of the initiation rites, and is made public at a feast which anyone who cares to may attend. This name is usually not changed, but some men, who wish to call attention to themselves and gain the rewards of hospitality, have been known to take a new name and celebrate the occasion by a feast.

There are apparently no set rules or forms to be followed in choosing names, the chief aim being the invention of unusual and interesting ones. They do, however, fall into several well-defined groups. Some names refer to a peculiar personal characteristic-Long Nose, Black Belly; others have sexual reference Woman's Parts, Girl's Vagina; and still others are derived from natural or cultural objects Singing Red Bird and Admirer of the Bear.

Marriage was never an occasion for a large ceremony among the Yuma as was the case with the Hopi or Navajo. After the puberty rite was held, a girl was theoretically ready for marriage; however, it was usually two or three years before she married.

When a young man decided on a certain girl, he hung around her house endeavoring to win her favor. The girl's parents usually let the affair alone, but, in some cases where they strongly disapproved, they would drive him away. If the girl wanted him, she would even-tually let him come to her bed at night, but it was considered improper for sexual relations to take place at this time. He then took the girl to his home. Occasionally a girl would be shy, and he would ask her mother to go and accompany her. On her arrival, the boy's family welcomed her, and the mother brought out a grinding stone (metate) and corn and other food. Without assistance, the girl pre pared a meal for the relatives of her future husband. Sometimes friends and neighbors were invited, and there was singing and danc-ing. After the feast, the two were considered man and wife. There was no set rules as to where they lived, but usually the girl came to live with or near her husband's parents.

Polygamy was never common, but at times a man had two or more wives. If a man had an old or sick wife whom he did not want to leave, he could take a younger one without criticism. The two wives would then live in the same house and share the household duties. There was no custom of marrying the sister or a close relative of the first wife, either before or after the latter's decease.

Marriage was, and still is, easier to make and easier to break than among the whites. The union might be dissolved at will, and the woman returned to the home of her parents. If a woman left her husband for another, the husband kept the children and his mother looked after them. A tribal marriage ceremony is no longer observed; both marriage and divorce now conform to state laws.

When a death occurs in a family, the house, furniture, and all personal possessions are burned, and the name of the dead person may never be mentioned again or given to another. Formerly, the cattle and horses were destroy-ed and the fields were left untilled. Relatives could not cultivate the land, but others could use it after a full season had elapsed.

Everyone donates something-food, clothing, and even furniture to a family in which a death has recently occurred. Otherwise, many families would be destitute, since the custom of burning all possessions is always practiced.

It is the belief of the Yuma that the spirit dwells within the body and is associated with the heart. In addition to the soul or spirit proper, the shadow has an essential being which is soul-like. It can be stolen by witchcraft and so cause sickness. When a person dies, the shadow disappears into space. Pulses that can be felt at different parts of the body are considered small independent spirits. The loss of one of these small spirits may also cause sickness.

dwells within the body and is associated with the heart. In addition to the soul or spirit proper, the shadow has an essential being which is soul-like. It can be stolen by witchcraft and so cause sickness. When a person dies, the shadow disappears into space. Pulses that can be felt at different parts of the body are con-sidered small independent spirits. The loss of one of these small spirits may also cause sickness.

The afterworld is considered the perfect dwelling place. It is the same as the world human beings live in, only there is no death or disappointment. The same kind of food is eaten, but it is good and plentiful; there is no cold weather, the grass is green and the flowers bloom throughout the year. Warriors who have been killed in battle have a special place to stay near the river and have the best time of all. The dead know when the people are going to have a ceremony. They come back on the fourth day after death and go to their own image which according to custom had been made following death, and look for clothes. They must wait until everything is burned, then the smoke carries the clothes up in the air where the dead spirit can get them.

The soul continues to exist after death. At first it does not go far but hovers close to its home, just staying a little above human beings. Then after going through four different planes or stages, it finally reaches the land of the dead, which lies far to the south of the Yuma country. Leaving the earth, the soul passes first to dust. This plane or stage is just above the earth and is named for the fine dust that covers everything there. No wind blows at this plane, and the dust that hangs in the air is much finer than on earth. The next plane is fog. It lies farther south and still higher and is completely covered in mist from which it is named. All people who die prematurely live a longer time in each plane, but do not grow older. It is said this is to allow those from whom they have been taken to overtake them. So it is when a mother reaches the fourth plane (heaven) she finds her child just the same as it was when it died on earth. The progress through the different planes is regulated so that people who lived together on earth are re-united in the afterworld. The owl is regarded with reverence and fear by the Yuma. They believe the souls or dead can return to earth in the guise of an owl and entice living souls to accompany them to the land. The hooting of an owl is said to be the announcement of the approach of a dead soul, who may be seeking a living companion on the road. If anyone dies or becomes ill suddenly after hearing an owl, the misfortune is ascribed to the withdrawal of the victim's soul.