70 CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA [BTH. ANN. 28 
that 1s, they consist of round beams supporting smaller poles, on which rested a layer 
of earth. All the woodwork is destroyed except the ends of the beams, but I was 
informed that a few posts of cedar wood were still visible some years ago. Cedar only 
grows at some distance from Casa Grande, but this was no obstacle to the patient and 
obstinate Indian. I could not find any trace of stairways or ladders. It was remarked 
in the last century, that the Apaches were the destroyers of the woodwork in the 
building and something similar was told me; but to what extent this is true, I am 
unable to determine. 
Of the other shapeless mounds surrounding the Great House, or composing the 
northern cluster of the ruins, I am not in a position to say anything except that they 
indicate two-story edifices, long and comparatively narrow. Their size without 
exception falls short of the dimensions of northern communal pueblos, and, not- 
withstanding the extensive area occupied by the ruins, the population can not have 
been large. I doubt whether it exceeded a thousand souls. Almost every inch of 
the ground is covered with bits of pottery, painted as well as plain, and I noticed 
some corrugated pieces. They all resemble the specimens excavated by Mr. Cushing 
from the vicinity of Tempe, and what I saw of those specimens convinces me that 
they belong to the class common to the ruins of Eastern and Central Arizona in general. 
There was among the potsherds which I picked up myself a sprinkling of pottery 
that closely resembled the modern ware of the Pimas and Papagos; but as I had 
already noticed the same kind on the Rio Verde, and had been forced to the conclu- 
sion that they were ancient, I am loath to consider them as modern at Casa Grande. 
Of other artificial objects, I saw broken metates, and heard of the usual stone imple- 
ments. The culture, as indicated by such remains, offers nothing at all particular. 
The profusion of pottery scattered far beyond the area covered by the buildings 
has caused the impression that the settlement was much larger than I have repre- 
sented it to be; I have, however, no reason to modify my opinion. I have already 
stated that clusters of ruins are numerous about the Gila, and at no great distance 
apart. Intercourse between these settlements, if they were contemporaneously 
inhabited—of which there is as yet no proof—must have been frequent, and the winds 
and other agencies have contributed toward scattering potsherds over much larger 
expanses than those which they originally occupied. The acequias which run parallel 
to the Gila in this vicinity, and of which there are distinct traces, are usually lined 
with pieces of pottery which leads the untrained observer to draw erroneous impres- 
sions. 
On the southwestern corner of the northern group of the Casa Grande cluster stands 
the elliptical tank which is indicated on plate 1, figure 59 [here pl. 5, ‘‘well’’]. Its 
greatest depth is now 24 meters (81 feet), and the width of the embankment surround- 
ing it varies between 8 and 10 feet. A large mezquite tree has grown in the center 
of this artificial depression. As the tank stands on the southwestern extremity of 
the northern, and not 100 meters (300 feet) [sic] from the southern group, it was prob- 
ably common to both. 
Bandelier’s references to the use of the ‘‘great houses’”’ of the Gila 
are instructive. He writes (p. 460): 
I have no doubt they may have been used incidentally for worship; still it was 
probably not their exclusive object. It should be remembered that we have in the 
first half of the seventeenth century descriptions of analogous buildings then actually 
used among some of the natives of Central Sonora. Those natives were the Southern 
Pimas, or ““Nébomes, ” kindred to the Northern Pimas, who occupy the banks of the 
Gila near Casa Grande, Casa Blanca, and at intermediate points. Father Ribas, the his- 
toriographer of Sonora [1645], says that the villages of the Nébomes consisted of solid 
houses made of large adobes, and that each village had besides a larger edifice, stronger, 
and provided with loopholes which served, in case of attack, as a place of refuge or 
citadel. The purpose of this building was not merely surmised by Father Ribas, 
