TUBAC — TOWN OF MANY TOMORROWS

BY TIM KELLY Tubac WHERE TIME IS MANY TOMORROWS

THE RUSTIC LITTLE TOWN, Arizona's oldest Spanish settlement, has a peculiar tendency to make the calendar its consort rather than ally or enemy. It has flourished as a community many times during the past two centuries, and it has been written off as dead just as regularly. Maybe not like a song, but Tubac keeps coming back.Today, growing, active and hospitable, Tubac is entering a new phase in its history, developing into one of the most charming art communities in the American Southwest.

There's a mercurial quality about the hamlet, for no matter what transpires in and around Tubac, it manages to retain a leisurely, almost pastoral mode of life that's difficult to pin down.

Even the derivation of the name is likely to tease a researcher or historian. Some will insist Tubac means "low ruins," others shake their heads at this and state inelegantly that it means "old dead place." The most reliable sources hedge a shade, too, suggesting that Tubac is either a Pima or Papago Indian word; Bac meaning house or ruin, "Tu" open to speculation. Some stick to their guns "Place of brackish water." A few will take a safer course: "No one knows for sure."

One thing is sure: Tubac has a breath-taking setting. The natural assets of the Santa Cruz Valley that surround the locale include not only desert beauty, but an aura of contentment that grants an almost physical sensation.

Streets are desert sand, no macadam here, and they suggest more than a lyrical quality. Whimsey and legend are rooted in substantial fact.

To the southeast stretch the San Coyotano Mountains, to the west the Tumacacori Mountain Range, and the shrine-dotted U. S. Highway 89 that passes in view of Tubac travels through nearby settlements and towns that reflect the Spanish heritage: Amado ("Beloved"), Carmen, Tumacacori, Calabazas ("Squash"), and on south to Nogales ("Walnuts"), gateway to Mexico.

Santa Cruz County, of which unincorporated Tubac is a part, can claim the distinction of being the state's smallest. Some 30 miles long and approximately 43 miles wide.

Few towns in Arizona, with the possible exception of Oraibi, on the Hopi reservation, oldest continually inhabited village in North America, can match Tubac for history rich in struggle, ripe in promise.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have ascertained that the present site of the town long ago hosted a thriving aboriginal community, and there is abundant proof that the Pima Indians found a most satisfying existence centuries later, farming and hunting on the receptive terrain.

The first European nudge that gave the area a hint of what might be in store was undoubtedly supplied by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, the famed Jesuit who mapped and explored parts of the Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona and what is now the Mexican state of Sonora. At the time of Kino's exploration, this portion of the Southwest was known as the Pimeria Alta. The southern part of Arizona was not considered a geographical entity in itself, but a Spanish frontier.

Kino saw that the Tubac area was productive, with an excellent water source in the Santa Cruz River, perfect for supplying the missions he planned to establish with necessary foodstuffs. The river is now dry except during the summer's rainy season.

The Apaches, nomadic and warlike, were the settlement's nemeses most of the time, except for a competitive Pima uprising that threatened to drive the Spanish out around 1750.

The uprising, however, served a purpose, for the Spanish authorities realized colonization and fortified communities were necessary if the territory were to prosper.

Perhaps one of the most interesting additions to the category of "little-known facts" deals with the founding of San Francisco.

TUBAC PHOTOGRAPHS (unless otherwise credited) BY CHARLES W. HERBERT, WESTERN WAYS, TUCSON.

JUAN BAUTISTA DE ANZA, a commandant at the Tubac presidio, led an expedition of 240 Tubacans to the future city of the Golden Gate in 1775, the success of his trek proved by the earliest census taken in San Francisco. Almost a third of the population claimed Tubac their birthplace.

Anza's departure had rude effect on Tubac, however, since the government of New Spain moved the garrison to Tucson not long after his leave-taking.

By the early 1780's Tubac had nearly been given back to the Indians.

Attempts at "buying off" the raiders succeeded to an extent that Tubac was able to struggle on feebly in later years, but when the Mexican revolt against Spain broke out in 1810, the Apaches were able to take full advantage of the situation which they continued to do with bloody success climaxing in 1849 when they massacred every settler who remained at the garrison.

Off and on in the past panorama of southwest history, Tubac played its role, attempting to establish itself only to be beaten down. Unlike the tenacious appellation of Tombstone, "The Town too Tough to Die," Tubac claims the intriguing "Town with the Nine Lives," a reference to eight previous periods when the town flourished one way or another, merely to be abandoned. To carry out this theme, the recently constructed Tubac Arts and Crafts Plaza, which covers 15 acres, carries on a continual search for historical bells, nine in all, to symbolize the ninth and present life of the rugged burg.

After the Gadsden Treaty was ratified in 1854, Tubac became part of the United States and what Mexican troops and officials were on the scene travelled back to Mexico, leaving Tubac to the winds and whims of tomorrow.

Small wonder that a travel writer who visited the town about this time wrote in his journal: "In a book of travels in a strange country one is expected to describe every town he visits, but as for this God-forsaken place, when I have said that it contains a few dilapidated buildings and an old church with a miserable population, I have said about all."

MINING REVIVED THE TOWN with gentleman Charles D. Poston as firebrand. With flash and success Tubac became the headquarters for the Sonora Mining and Exploring Company. This time most of the settlers hailed from Texas and from all accounts they proved a lusty and hardy lot. No less colorful, indeed more so, than the miners was Poston himself. In true western fashion, he was the law south of Tucson, performing marriages, baptizing babies and granting divorces with slight effort, an ease that got the recipients into all kinds of difficulties in later years.

Poston is often called "Father of Arizona" because of his influence on President Lincoln and the Congress to create Arizona a territory, and a man matched in color, perhaps, by another local near-legend, the Kentucky born Pete Kitchen who withstood endless Apache attacks with a vengeance that matched their own. He summarized the route from Tucson to his stronghold as "Tucson-TubacTumacacori-Tohell."

With the prosperity of the mines, troops were stationed near. In August of 1856 the population of Tubac was 0. A few months later, with the Salero mine in the Santa Rita Mountains promising much, the figure stood at 1,000. Optimism appeared justified. The Butterfield Overland Mail started operation between Tubac and Fort Buchanan, some twenty-five miles to the east, and to give a true cosmopolitan air a newspaper was established, a product of the Gunpowder Press: The Weekly Arizonian (a descendant Arizonian is now published in the town of Scottsdale).

With the advent of the Civil War, shadows fell once again over the old presidio. Troops, hence protection, were withdrawn. Geronimo and his efficient braves did the rest.

With the passage of time nothing much happened with or in Tubac. It continued, on and off, as a small village with a church and school, close to a Sleepy Hollow in heart and inspiration.

But today a great deal is happening in and around the town. Not far from the highway turnoff that leads into the Tubac plaza, a Nuclear Intercontinental Missile silo points upward from the desert sand, a symbol of a modern age indicative of Tubac. While that illusive charm of Tubacan tranquility remains, the signs of a new vitality are unmistakable. The showmanship promoting the ninth life of Tubac is easy-going, if not muted, but it's beginning to have results. Yet side by side with this evolution rides the desire to keep much of the town the way history has known it to be.

A Philadelphia entrepreneur by the name of William Morrow can be given much of the credit for the coming emergence of Tubac on Arizona's artistic scene.

Not too many years ago, Morrow was heading for Mexico along Highway 89, saw the adobe village with its inviting influence of Spanish Colonial rule and decided to investigate.

Even today the village is eye-catching with a handsome Bavarian-styled roof topping the church, an edifice that has fallen nearly as often as the town itself. It's some-thing of an oddity, the roof of Saint Ann's. In a south-western village, a Bavarian top, straight from Black Forest tradition, provokes the question "How did it get there?"

The last time the ceiling fell in, a German architect happened to be living in Tubac. He undertook the design-ing and completion of the new roof.

Morrow clarified property lines. In the typical manana community no one seems very concerned about the topic. Land sales were close to being prohibitive, because no one was totally safe in what they were selling or what they were buying.

It was tedious, grinding work for Morrow since the area was enmeshed in the history of Spanish land grants and floats, but once he accomplished his task, Tubac was ready to receive those finding the town to their liking.

ONE OF THE VERY FIRST to arrive was Collier Rogers, wife of Will Rogers, Jr. Like Morrow she had been driving by, saw the pueblo, turned off and investigated.

Today, both Mr. and Mrs. Will Rogers, Jr. devote considerable time to Tubac, both as residents and as aficio-nados of Western Americana. Collier is something of an unofficial chatelaine of Old Tubac and her love for the spot manifests itself in her endeavors to preserve the best of the old, while encouraging the best of the new.

The Rogers' home is the sole two-story dwelling in the village. In the past it had been a boarding house, adjacent to a no longer existing customs station, prior to this, headquarters for the Garrett Ranch operation.

Collier began to remodel the house in 1958. The present life of Tubac doesn't pre-date this to any extent. The Rogers' casa is a large mud and straw adobe structure with carved wide boards for trimming and interior decora-tion bespeaking close acquaintance with Tubac's legacy.

Mexican and Indian fireplaces and exquisitely carved doors unite to show what Collier hopes the community will always have: historical charm.

Difficult to imagine people more gracious than the Rogers, or more knowing on the subject of Tubac.

"I think," says Collier, "the main reason people come to Tubac is due to the spectacular scenery. Here is a huge sky I mean by this in Tubac you can really see it. And if you like nature, you can find enjoyment in studying the moods of the river, the sunsets, which are extra-ordinary, even the changing patterns of the clouds."

In the quasi-wilderness setting, the stretching country plays home to deer, coyote and robust jackrabbits. Collier has raised bobcats and she is something of an expert at owl-taming.

"The sense of history here is attractive. After a rain-storm, for example, the artifacts that are revealed are amazing. Tranquility, too that goes without saying. Nobody is here because they have to be here. There's no compulsion to arrive, none for refusing to leave. The result is a contented population. This, I think, is rare."

In TUBAC, as many point out, offers a kind of emo-tional security for those who desire small town living. For in the town, especially if one has some Spanish, it's easy to know every man, woman, child and dog.

As Collier points out, Tubacans are highly individu-alistic, doing pretty much as they please. The urban, suburban, or exurban mode of life wouldn't last long under a Tuban sky.

For the statistically-minded, Tubac proper presently consists of less than sixty dwellings. The population is approximately 100, with Mexican extraction predomiFascinating, peppered with a tiny Yaqui Indian contingent. At present there are about 15 artists and craftsmen producing work in the presidio environs. Ranchwork supplies the main source of labor for the town's workmen. There are twenty good-sized working ranches scattered in all direc-tions from the town. As both Collier and Will emphasize

Shopping is done in the town of Nogales. Stores in the immediate area are scarce. A baby born in the village will bring a midwife's bill of $3 and burial in the bucolic cemetery (Cemetery is misspelled over the entrance) is quite free.

Yet, this is a misleading survey. A visitor to Tubac will see signs of activity everywhere he turns. Collier, for example, is ready to open what will certainly be one of the most charming pensions in Arizona. A low rambling building, a perfect example of exquisite Spanish Colonial architecture. The inn started existence as a corral for mules in garrison service.

There is not much for sale in the plaza of Tubac. Consequently it's safe to assume that though the land around the town develops, the old town will remain pretty much the way it has always been.

"That's another amazing thing about old Tubac it resists change. No matter how it changes, it somehow remains as it always has been."

Outside the OLD PLAZA, it's visually evident that Tubac is heading for a new era, all right. Airplanes zoom close, zeroing in for a landing on the 3500 foot runway at the nearby Tubac Valley Country Club. The Country Club is barely a few years old. Located on the original Otero Spanish Land Grant, one of the most colorful in Arizona's history, its newly constructed Hacienda type cottages are models of the locale's past and present. Adobe, mortar, washed brick, Mexican texture stucco, and roofs that follow a parapet design are the only types permitted, for the Club, like Tubac, is anxious to keep the Spanish charm that many developing areas lose in the haste of expansion. The Club is owned by some 14 golf pros, among them such champs as Mike Souchak, Lionel Hebert, and Al Watrous and the Club's host Bill Gahlberg, former Captain of the University of Arizona's golf team. Bing Crosby is a past chairman of the Club's board, and owns land in the Tubac area. (Santa Cruz County hosts the ranch of yet another film star. Stewart Granger's Yerba Buena “Peppermint” spread is further south, close to the border.) Young (33) and energetic Bill Gahlberg, typical of the new breed of Tubacan, gives his viewpoint on why the region is springing anew.

"You can't dismiss the obvious factor. Climate, I mean. We have wonderful all-year climate. It varies with the seasons, true. But here the summers are cool, the winters very mild. No smog, and there's space - lots of it.

"But Tubac has that natural heritage. It hasn't sprung up overnight with all the problems that accompany that sort of thing. Here there's something to hang your hat on. That counts."

One of the advantages to golfers at the year-round resort is the Seaside Bent grass the Club favors. The Tubac climate and elevation is such that it grows easily, insuring a green felt-like carpet that is hard to top.

The planes flying in are most likely from Tucson's International Airport, or Phoenix, Yuma, Safford, Willcox or Roswell, New Mexico.

Standing in front of the luxurious Club is the Modac stage, remnant of the 1800's when the stage line routed through the towns of Douglas, Bisbee and Tombstone.

From the elegance of the Country Club to the rustic perfection of the Tubac plaza, the adherence to Spanish architecture has been exceptional and something of a model for any community experiencing growth and desirConscious of preserving the best in tradition.

J. R. Green and his wife Ethel are typical. They, like so many others, were on their way to Mexico as a prelude to retirement in California. They took the “turn,” met Bill Morrow who showed them around. Now they're confident they will never live anywhere else.

John, a former Industry Sales Manager for Honeywell Associates, sums up his reaction this way: “I like the people here. They're interesting. “What they are is not limited to any age group. They're friendly. And apart from the beauty of the spot I like the fact it's rural in temperament. Close to Guaymas for fishing, yet in the distance, in the winter, you can see snow-capped peaks."

There's Bill Schaldach and his wife Jo. Bill formerly was associate editor for Field & Stream Magazine. He considers himself an "amateur" naturalist, but his watercolors, sketches and writings on wildlife challenge this. His most recent publication is Paths to Enchantment, a study in text and illustration of the close Sonoran Desert.

"The Tubac area I find perfect for the type of life Jo and I want to live. There's room to live it here, too. The proximity of Mexico we especially enjoy."

Still the enthusiasm for the spot can amaze even Tubacans.

"Few years back," recalls Will Rogers, Jr., "we had a barbecue to commemorate the Cross-Mowry shoot-out. (Cross, editor of the Arizonian and a northern sympathizer, met Sylvester Mowry whose feelings were with Dixie, face to face on the streets of Tubac. All shots went wild and the men shook hands and published apologies.) We figured a few hundred people would show up. I figured 200 at the most. Well, over 5,000 poured in. There wasn't a bottle of pop or a sandwich to be had at any cafe for miles around.

Giving further hint of an approaching boom is the business conducted at the Tubac Post Office. The establishment has nothing on the town. It's been opened and closed more times than it's worth remembering.

Postmistress Lou Trees is another gal whose heart belongs to Tubac. Her office is a former horse barn of mud adobe and if you're so inclined you can pluck horsehair from the support posts or study the bricks of adobe that form the welcome mat, each one proclaiming its origin: Mexico.

"In the last two years 140,000 pieces of mail have gone in and out. Find it hard to believe myself, but I can't think of a better way to show that the place is growing.LIKE MOST TUBACANS, Lou gladly gives out with local data: "This is the only county in Arizona that I know of where you can still drill for water. Water level in the village is less than 30 feet."

Apart from the apparent building and development being conducted in the outlying areas, it's Tubac's art center that's drawing more and more attention.

Shops in the older section include that of Sophie and Harwood Steiger from Redhook, N.Y., who fashion fabric designs stimulated by the setting. Marjorie Nichols, whose husband came to Tubac shortly after World War II and founded an art school, maintains both a gallery and studio that display her thought-provoking canvases of desert inspiration. Jarl Hesselbart, a sand sculptor from Hyde Park, is here, and landscapist Sid Cedargreen of the Tubac Art Center. The well-known artists associated with the new Tubac form an impressive list, including Howard Barnett, Louis and Lora Smith, Goeffrey Jenkinson, and El Meyer. The list is lengthening rapidly. And for a true touch of international flavor, there's European architect Paul Deno, a former opera singer and present curator of the Tubac State Park.

How land was acquired for the Park is a tale indica-tive of Tubacan pride. (The local fire brigade might be another.) The presidio ruins were on private property of Frank and Gay Griffin who offered the site to Arizona as a gift. Will Rogers, Jr., gave time and effort to develop the idea and the indomitable William Morrow (there's something of Charles Poston in Mr. Morrow, one feels) donated ground and the temporary museum that functions until more elaborate arrangements are completed. In point of fact, the oldest section of ruins lies to the south of the present compound.

So, to the long inventory of its achievements, Tubac has the distinction of being Arizona's first State Park, opening in 1957. (Two others are: Tombstone Court-house (1958) and the Yuma Territorial Prison (1960).

The New West intrudes almost everywhere in Arizona's landscape and the Tubac region is no exception. The new U. S. Interstate Highway 19 from Tucson to Nogales, passing west of Tubac, is bound to make an impact. People will undoubtedly spot the Bavarian roof and wonder.

To be sure there's a touch of apprehension on the part of Tubacans regarding any boom and compared to what's going on in the rest of the state, Tubac's boom is a baby one, due, in part, to the rather limited land available for development. But compare the area to what is was even five years ago and there's no doubt that the area is joining the ranks of the "fast-growing."

What Tubacans hope to do is create the beforementioned art community, a colony of artists who find the near-legendary spot to their liking. The concept is already proving its feasibility.

For the past four years the tiny Tubac Chamber of Commerce has sponsored an annual Festival of Arts and Crafts, with assistance from the Santa Cruz Valley Art Association. Each year it has attracted worthwhile attention, featuring examples of Indian craftsmanship and presenting the work of resident as well as invited artists. The festival is held the first week in February and its scope has began to reach far beyond that of a regional event. The months of January, February and March bring the largest influx of visitors to Tubac at present.

The aim of the Association might very well serve as the aim of the new Tubac: "Today we have a responsibility to encourage and foster the understanding and appreciation of the role of the producing artist and craftsman. Further, we must ever stand guard over modern civilization, lest in its anxiety to progress, it should momentarily forget its heritage, and plow under the many rich traditions of this historic area."

A mercurial proverb, too Time is many tomorrows. Some say it's Indian, some Mexican; others trace it back to the days of Moorish rule in Granada. But whatever for Tubac, town bathed in a past both tragic and inspiring, tomorrow is always another day.

ANGELICA

The leaves on trees, like multitudes Of green-coated beings, floating here and there, Remind me of you in their simple quietness And regal superiority over earthly things. - David F. Brinegar

STORM

The wind was a mustang racing the sky, Sweeping the warm blue under The deep black clouds, and stamping his feet To make the sound of thunder. - Enola Chamberlin

CEMETERY NEAR TUCSON

The wind and sand And bright sun Ever shining - These are the Caretakers Who walk among The graves with love. Each thin wooden cross Stands silently Waiting, waiting While the brilliance Of day descends from above. -Jeanette Chapman

RAINBOW

A spear of color Tossed by the sun Into the rain Link heaven To earth - Curved in a bow A path To height And promise - A bridge From hope To fulfillment. - Dixie Conrad

THOUGHTS OF A FUTURE ASTRONAUT

The first space-traveler to the moon Will not be a scientist, I've decided, But a realtor who, by the time I arrive, Will have it neatly subdivided. - Adelaide Coker

HIGH COUNTRY CANVAS

White are the stern, towering slopes of the peaks, Vividly green is the forest below, Deep red the cinders that carpet the flat Where sweet-scented pinyons and junipers grow. Silent the scene till the pinyon jays come, Saucy, blue-feathered, with never a care, To eat the brown nuts and blue juniper berries That headline the forest cafe's bill of fare. - Vada F. Carlson

TREES ARE LIKE MEMORIES

Trees are like memories: they stand Through wind and sleet and snow; On barren branches, sturdy buds With patient wisdom, know They will survive as memories Survive through doubt and pain, Returning (as new leaves with spring) Refreshed, to live again. - Rowena Cheney

GREETINGS FROM AUSTRALIA:

The last two months was spent drifting from Chicago through Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona to San Francisco, going and stopping where impulse led me. Since then, your haunting, dramatic, desert Indian country, has held a twin spot in my heart with my home country, Australia. Jean Damman Edithvale, Victoria Australia

OF WESTERN HOSPITALITY:

During a recent trip to Aspen, Colorado, via Utah Route 24, we stayed three nights at the Knees' Sleeping Rainbow Guest Ranch as a result of reading your June, 1965, issue. The Capitol Reef Monument and its environs offered all the breathtaking beauty and majesty of a wonderland of nature and well lived up to the description of the area by the Muenchs in ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, June, 1965, issue. The article's comments about the Knees' Sleeping Rainbow Guest Ranch were well deserved. We found it to be a delightful, charming, and restful place, not to mention the unique qualities of warm friendliness and hospitality of both Alice and Lurt Knee and the superb cuisine. The Knees' extensive knowledge of the history and geology of the surrounding countryside indeed added to the meaning of the experience for us.

William W. Parsons System Development Corporation Santa Monica, California

FRIENDSHIP THROUGH SINGING:

Perhaps you have read accounts of the visit of the famous Schubert-Bund Male Chorus to Phoenix from Wuppertal, Germany, and the outstanding concerts they sang here and in Sun City. The Orpheus Male Chorus of Phoenix presented the visitors with a number of gifts among which were quite a number of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS through your generosity. Needless to say the visiting singers were delighted with these beautiful magazines and marveled at the many beauties of our state, made evident in your pages. This fine German chorus came to Phoenix at the invitation of the Orpheus Chorus and were entertained in the homes of Orpheus members while here. To give them a first-hand view of some of our splendid scenery, we took the entire group to the Grand Canyon in four chartered buses, a trip which included a noonday barbecued beef chuck wagon dinner at Pronghorn Ranch near Williams. Thank you again for your part in making their visit to Arizona an experience in international good-fellowship which they, and we, will never forget. The copies of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS which they took home with them will serve as beautiful mementos of their trip.

Ralph Hess, Director Orpheus Male Chorus Phoenix, Arizona

THE DESERT:

Your January issue was both interesting and revealing. I have sent a dozen copies to relatives back East. That should convince them our desert is truly a beautiful, living thing, and not the drab, lifeless thing they think it is. Willis Peterson did a splendid job for you. Mrs. R. M. Thermell Tucson, Arizona

OPPOSITE PAGE "DESERT SPRING TAPESTRY" BY M. PAUL JARRETT.

This photograph was taken near Pinnacle Peak, north of Scottsdale, about five miles east of Reata Pass. The desert was alive with California poppies, intermixed with lupines to create a beautiful spring pastel. This is in the spring of 1965 after bountiful December rains. December, 1965, as far as rain is concerned, was a record breaker. The Salt and the Verde flooded, dams were filled to overflowing. If we get rains this spring, our desert floral display may be the best ever. Or so we hope! 5x7 Deardorff camera; Ektachrome; f.32 at 1/25th sec.; 6" Golden Dagor lens; clear, bright day in March.

BACK COVER "PARADE MARSHAL" BY GEORGE PHIPPEN.

This commanding bronze dominates the W. Roy Wayland Gallery of Western Art in the Phoenix Art Museum. This bronze, three feet in height, is the work of Artist George Phippen of Prescott, whose paintings and sculpturing of Western subjects are gaining for him increasing critical acclaim. For many years the late W. Roy Wayland was parade marshal of the Phoenix Annual World Championship Rodeo, a leading Arizona business man, banker, philanthropist, benefactor of the arts, active in many civic affairs, horse lover, and a wonderful person in every way. Here the artist shows "Parade Marshal" on his beloved Palomino "Cream of Wheat."