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Where ART and History Meet Tubac

Visitors exploring Tubac today might find it implausible that this tiny community filled with dozens of artists' galleries and shops possesses one of the longest, bloodiest, and most volatile histories of any town in Arizona. But hints of those deadlier days abound.

A small road sign announcing the Tubac exit on Interstate 19, about 45 miles south of Tucson, can easily be missed. But the flags of all the governments Spain, Mexico, the Confederate States of America, Arizona, and the United States that have ruled the tumultuous 250-year-old hamlet on the Santa Cruz River garner attention from the highway as they snap in the breeze.

In town, the ruins of the Tubac Presidio, a Spanish garrison that became Arizona's first state historic park, testify to the conflicts with Apaches that so terrorized residents they fled the area on more than one occasion.

Through it all, though, Tubac the first European settlement in Arizona, once the largest town for miles, then a ghost town, a mining boomtown, and a ghost town once again refused to give in to the prophecy of its O'odham name, Tchoowaka, which legend has always translated as "the place of rotting corpses." Recently a Pima linguist interpreted Tubac as meaning "black pool of water" or "low area,' both of which seem to refer to the nearby Santa Cruz river bottom. Today some 250 people live in town with another 1,200 residing in the surrounding area. Tubac's present incarnation as an artists' colony began in the 1940s with the opening of Dale Nichols' Artist School. Some 40 artists traveled to Tubac to study with Nichols, and even though his school operated for only a year, many of his students, such as Ross Stefan and Francis Beaugureau, stayed for a number of years before moving on. Since then, more artists, drawn by the history and scenery of this quiet little town, arrived and set up their studios and workshops. Most of the buildings now house galleries, shops, and restaurants - all within walking distance of one another.

the 1940s with the opening of Dale Nichols' Artist School. Some 40 artists traveled to Tubac to study with Nichols, and even though his school operated for only a year, many of his students, such as Ross Stefan and Francis Beaugureau, stayed for a number of years before moving on. Since then, more artists, drawn by the history and scenery of this quiet little town, arrived and set up their studios and workshops. Most of the buildings now house galleries, shops, and restaurants - all within walking distance of one another.

On Plaza Road, visitors receive a warm welcome at the Lee Blackwell Studio. Here, Blackwell and fellow artists Randy Williams and Marlene Knutson use copper sheets, tubing, and wire to shape metal sculptures. Blackwell, who can often be found folding, pounding, and cutting his raw materials into one-of-a-kind creations, draws most of his inspiration from the natural forms he sees while hiking: the desert's agaves, yuccas, and ocotillos. Sometimes he gets ideas from visitors.

and Marlene Knutson use copper sheets, tubing, and wire to shape metal sculptures. Blackwell, who can often be found folding, pounding, and cutting his raw materials into one-of-a-kind creations, draws most of his inspiration from the natural forms he sees while hiking: the desert's agaves, yuccas, and ocotillos. Sometimes he gets ideas from visitors.

"That's the good thing about having a store," he says. "You get constant input."

Down the street, Rogoway's Turquoise Tortoise Gallery showcases the hand-painted, hand-carved pine furniture style developed in the little Tarascan village of Michoacan, Mexico, 450 years ago. Intricately carved hummingbirds and lilies compete with vibrantly colored watermelon and parrot designs on the tables, chairs, and cabinets. A look around also reveals finely woven Zapotec rugs and furniture made of twisted mesquite.

Tubac's oldest and most revered artist sits at his easel painting scenes from memory. Hart Haller "Hal" Empie, born in Safford in 1909, began drawing at the age of five. (See Arizona Highways, June '88.) Eighty-five years later, the Arizona native continues to paint every day. Empie's impressionistic techniques make his paintings appear like memories caught on canvas. His portraits of days gone by include landscapes filled with billowing clouds and towering buttes, scenes depicting proud Indians silhouetted against a sun-streaked sky, and settings from ranches belonging to the hardy pioneers who settled Arizona.

Empie moved to Tubac in 1986 from Duncan, where he had worked as a pharmacist and artist for 47 years. His workplace, the Hal Empie Studio and Gallery, sits on Tubac Road next to the Artist's Daughter, where Ruth Anne Groves man-ages her father's "Empie Kartoon Kards." Empie originated the designs in Duncan in the 1930s and created more than 250 post-cards over a period of 40 years. In the 1980s, Groves republished 50 of her father's black-and-white designs, which she still markets worldwide. The original Empie Kartoon Kards are preserved for future gen-erations in permanent archives at the Syra-cuse Library in Syracuse, New York, and the Arizona Historical Foundation in Tempe. "When people find out that the artist is next door, they really get a kick out of it," says Groves.

Tubac

It may be hard to believe when strolling the cobbled sidewalks. but not all of the buildings in Tubac shelter artists.

Plenty of other studios, shops, and gal-leries await the visitor's attention, but don't miss the Tubac Center of the Arts, built in 1972, which showcases the works of a number of artists. The center, open from September to May, provides prime gallery space for members to display their work. Other galleries for non-members in the airy building exhibit a wide variety of works in national and regional juried shows.

It may be hard to believe when strolling the cobbled sidewalks, but not all of the buildings in Tubac shelter artists. Two small markets supply locals with necessities be-tween monthly shopping trips to Tucson. The Tubac Historical Society, a fire depart-ment, and the McCollough Regional Health Center sum up the town's facilities. Chil-dren bus to Green Valley to attend school, and local disputes are handled by Santa Cruz County due to the lack of any city government. The Tubac Historical Society's research library makes its home in a small pink adobe across from the presidio. "We have a listing of every family name that ever resided in Tubac up until the 1980s," says Mary Bingham, the society's librarian, who oversees the computer cataloging of more than 3,000 books and documents on Tubac's history. "We get a lot of people from California coming here to trace their fami-ly tree from Anza's trek to San Francisco in 1776. They come out of curiosity, not ac-tually expecting to find anything, and are surprised to discover their family roots in this little village."

Presidio Capt. Juan de Anza II led two exploratory expeditions to the Pacific Coast, searching for an overland route. After first successfully traversing the harsh wilder-ness to the newly established missions in Alta California in 1774, Anza recruited 240 colonists for another trek two years later. This second expedition resulted in the set-tlement and colonization of what is now San Francisco.

Tubac's few thoroughfares bear the names of some of its pioneer families, including the Burruels and Oteros. The Otero family's land grant is now the location of the Tubac Coun-try Club, where the Kevin Costner movie Tin Cup was filmed. Bingham points to a quaint shop across the street from the historical so-ciety and says, "The Hugh Cabot Studios is the original home of Elias Pennington and (ABOVE, LEFT) Southwestern fashions, including custom deerskin and elkhide clothing and accessories, are found at Mountain Medicine Leather & Lace Gallery.

(LEFT) Painted Mexican pottery is the claim to fame at the expansive Paloma de Tubac.

A walk along the banks of the gentle Santa Cruz offers a break between browsing shops and exploring the presidio and its violent beginnings.

His family, which was built in the 1860s. His young sons had to guard their sisters [against Indian attacks] with shotguns when they went to the spring for water."

Descendants of some of the presidios original families still live in the area. The Oteros, one of the first families assigned to the presidio, retain ties to Tubac. Leonardo Otero, whose great-uncle, Sabino Otero, established the Tubac townsite in 1882, is building a house in the area, returning to his hometown after a 50-year absence. Born inTubac with the help of a midwife in 1923, Leonardo continues to document his family's long history. "It was passed person to person," he says. "Not much of it was written." The Otero family established farming and ranching in the valley and is well known in town for civic work. Of his family's fight to survive Tubac's tumultuous history, Leonardo says, "This was no man's land here, even after Arizona became a state."

A walk along the banks of the gentle Santa Cruz and lunch at a cafe such as Shelby's Bistro in The Mercado, where you can enjoy a delicious eggplant Parmesan over angel hair pasta while seated on a patio embellished with a copper iris fountain offer a break between browsing shops and exploring the presidio and its violent beginnings.

In the aftermath of the Pima Revolt and facing the continuing Apache threat to their missions in the area, the Spaniards founded the Tubac Presidio in 1752. Troubles with the Apaches continued, though, putting the residents to flight not once but eight times. By 1854, when the United States acquired Tubac through the Gadsden Purchase, the presidio lay in ruins. Later a flurry of mining activity pumped in new life and bumped the population to anastounding 1,000-plus, but when the Civil War took the presidio troops east to fight, the Indian raids increased, once again routing the residents. During this period, Tubac was for about three months part of The Confederate States of America. Following Appomattox, Tubac revived yet again, but still faced the threat of hostile Apaches until Geronimo's final surrender in 1886. Its next heyday wouldn't come until the artists arrived 60 years later.

The presidio's foundation remains buried below ground to preserve it. Worn steps lead down into the deep recesses of the earth to show a cross-section of layers of ash and debris that delineate the different phases of the presidio's violent history.

An adjacent underground museum takes visitors on a trip through Tubac's past with exhibits that include remnants of military occupation, cases filled with Spanish armor, Apache weapons, and Mexican saddles.

Joe Martinez grew up exploring the presidio while his father, Luis, was the park manager. When Luis retired in 1992, it seemed natural for Joe to take his place. "Coming to work here was like coming home," Joe says. "It's like being in my backyard."

The Martinez family has lived in nearby Tumacacori for more than 100 years.

(LEFT) Near Tumacacori, golden-leafed cottonwoods reflect in the slow-moving waters of the Santa Cruz. (ABOVE) St. Ann's Church, near the old Tubac schoolhouse at the presidio, stands on the foundations of the chapel of Santa Gertrudis, built by Capt. Juan de Anza II. The adobe structure, which has been rebuilt twice in the ensuing years, remains open to the public. (RIGHT) Pearly Everlasting flowers blanket the ground beneath a cottonwood grove near the Santa Cruz River at Bridge Road just outside Tubac.

That town's mission, established in 1691 by the Jesuit missionary-explorer Eusebio Francisco Kino, served as the region's religious headquarters until Indian raids finally forced its abandonment in 1848. A national historic park today, the mission holds a bell that still tolls for special occasions and living-history presentations. Visitors to the beautifully preserved Tumacacori Mission search its high adobe walls for faded paintings of the 12 apostles. Other highlights on the self-guided tour include a walk through the gardens, the cemetery behind the church, and the unfinished mortuary chapel. The 4.5-mile Juan Bautista de Anza Trail, originally the starting point for the presidio commander's two California expeditions, today is a popular hiking trail that connects Tumacacori to the presidio. The trail crosses the Santa Cruz River twice with stepping-stones at Clark's Crossing and a foot bridge behind Tumacacori. The willows and cottonwoods lining the riverbanks provide a prime habitat for wildlife including raccoons, Gila woodpeckers, and sage phoebes. In the fall, varying shades of gold in the leafy canopy reflect onto the meandering river. As youngsters, Martinez and his sister and brothers often traipsed along the trail.

"We were always down there splashing through the water, lying under the trees, or just having a picnic," he recalls. "That's where we played when we were kids." Nowadays, Martinez enjoys his job at the presidio, especially the historical reenactments. Members of Los Tubaquenos, a local group steeped in the history of the garrison, don period costumes and present scenes that reflect life at the garrison. Martinez kicks off the reenactments - held Sundays from October through March - by firing a cannon precisely at 1 P.M. "People get a bang out of it," he says with a grin. By Monday the Spanish armor and 18thcentury garb are replaced by smocks and aprons as the artisans and shopkeepers settle back into their daily roles. Tubac may be known as "The Place Where Art and History Meet," but it's clearly the people living there who keep the town's indomitable spirit alive.

WHEN YOU GO

Tubac is 45 miles south of Tucson on Interstate 19. Tubac Presidio State Historic Park is open daily except Christmas from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Admission is $2, adults; $1, children seven to 13; free, under seven. The historical reenactors perform Sundays from 1 to 4 P.M., October through March. For more information, call (520) 398-2252. Tumacacori National Historical Park is 3.5 miles from Tubac on the frontage road. The park is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Admission is $2 per person or $4 per carload. For more information, call (520) 398-2341. Overnight visitors can stay in one of the quaint bed and breakfasts in the historic district, such as Rex Ranch Resort and Health Spa, (520) 398-2914; or at one of the nearby resorts, such as Tubac Golf Resort, (520) 398-2211. For more information on recreation, accommodations, and sight-seeing opportunities in the area, call the Tubac Chamber of Commerce at (520) 398-2704.

Charley Spencer's FINAL BATTLE

The newspapers said that Charley Spencer, one of northern Arizona's noteworthy pioneers, engaged in a duel with his business partner. But the encounter was far more than that. A desperate hand-to-hand fight, the violent confrontation raged over some 180 yards of ground outside Hackberry, which, for two hours that day, November 23, 1886, served as a kind of Roman coliseum. In this case, the bloodletting wasn't witnessed by an emperor and thousands of ghoulish spectators. The audience numbered pered exactly one, Spencer's fiveyear-old son.

But in the shock and disgust that followed news of Spencer's last fight, few seemed to recall the contribution this Army scout, Indian interpreter, prospector, and rancher made in helping settle Arizona Territory. He was one of those great and ghastly men everyone on the frontier relied on, but few would claim. And the outcome of his final act made that abundantly clear.

According to the 1880 federal census for Mohave County, Spencer was born to Canadian parents in New York in 1840. He probably arrived in the Territory with the first settlers around 1863, and four years later, he was riding the mails on the road between Prescott and Hardyville.

The job was extremely dangerous due to the Hualapais War, touched off by the 1866 killing of Chief Wauba-Yuba by a white settler. At 9 A.M. on March 21, 1868, Spencer rode out of Camp Willow Grove, west of Prescott, with two soldiers keeping escort. Before they'd gone four miles, the riders were jumped by Hualapais. Corporal Troy and Private Flood were killed in the first fire, as was the mule Spencer was riding. But he got himself disentangled from the saddle, grabbed his rifle, and raced for cover behind a greasewood bush. As the Hualapais stripped and mutilated Troy's body, Spencer maintained steady fire on the Indians, killing two. The re-maining warriors ran into some nearby rocks, and so did Spencer.

Based on Spencer's account, what happened next was described in a lengthy letter to Prescott's Arizona Miner newspaper by Pvt. James Deine, Company E, Fourth Infantry: "Just as he was about to get securely covered, he was fired upon by about a dozen Indians, who were hid behind some rocks. One of their shots hit him in the thigh, passing through the fleshy part, causing him to fall. They then rushed toward him, thinking they had him sure. In this they were mistaken. For Charley had not yet commenced to fight. He soon gathered himself up, and made the savages hunt their holes."

For the next 20 minutes, while Spencer rested amid some rocks, the Indians continued stripping the dead soldiers and carving up the carcasses of their horses and mules. With this work done, they surrounded Spencer, intending to finish him off. But he returned fire for fire. "They tried to scare him out with yells, but he yelled back defiance at them," Deine wrote. Once during the long afternoon, an Indian approached Spencer's rock fort,