36 CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA [erH. ANN. 28 
where there is now a stratum of white rock! which is clearly visible 
from Casa Grande. White Feather is said to have taken his stand 
on top of one of the pinnacles, whence he addressed his followers, re- 
minding them that he had exhausted his magic power in vain efforts 
to stay the flood. But one supreme resource to control the rising 
water still remained. As he spoke, he held aloft in the palm of one 
hand a medicine-stone, invoking the aid of the Sky god, who in reply 
sent a bolt of lightning that shattered the stone. But as the chief 
turned to his followers they were found to be petrified where they 
stood, and there they still stand as rocky pinnacles.” 
There are many Indian shrines in Superstition Mountains, and as 
the wind whistles through the deep recesses the Indian fancies he 
can hear the moans of the shades of the dead who inhabit those 
dreary canyons. 
Another less conspicuous hill, called Walker’s Butte, on the north 
side of the Gila not far from the river bank, is constantly in sight 
for a long distance from the road from Florence to Casa Grande. 
Near its base ruined housewalls were discovered, and other remains 
of aboriginal life, as pictographs, can be found on lava rocks in the 
neighborhood. 
The traveler along this road catches glimpses also of the lofty Santa 
Catalina Mountains far to the southeast, while to the south rises the 
distant Casa Grande Range. A solitary peak called Pichacho Moun- 
tain is aspurof a range of the same name that lies to the southeast, 
marking the position of a pass through which the early travelers 
entered this region from Mexico. Near this peak was situated in 
old times a Pima settlement called Akutchin, (‘mouth of the creek’’), 
inhabited from early Spanish times down to a comparatively late 
date. The mountain itself, known as Tceacca by the Pima, is also 
associated with Pima legends of the country.*?- The area about the 
ruin of Casa Grande is broken by but few elevations. 
The vegetation in the vicinity of Casa Grande consists mainly of 
desert growth—mesquite trees, sagebrush, and giant cacti. After the 
spring rains begin many herbs appear, some ,bearing small flowers 
which carpet the earth with variegated colors. Long before one comes 
to the largest mounds (pl. 4) at Casa Grande, fragments of pottery 
and other indisputable evidences of former human occupancy may 
be detected on the surface of the ground. At a Mexican adobe house 
a few miles from the ruins, near the Gila River, can be traced a long 
ditch, filled in here and there, marking the site of the prehistoric 
1 A feature of the huge butte here rising to the right of the road to Roosevelt Dam, resembling in form 
an eagle, by which name it is known to the Pima. 
2 These pinnacles are in plain sight from the road from Mesa to Roosevelt Dam. They are results of ero- 
sion, the work of which ona vast scale is visible in many places on the slopes of the Superstition Mountains. 
8 There are still a few Pima and Papago huts in the neighborhood. 
