74 CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA [BTH, ANN. 28 
was seen that the variation of the bounding walls from north-south, east-west lines was 
not very great. Itseems evident that it was the intention of the builders to align the 
walls with the cardinal points. 
It may be convenient to consider the chambers of the ruin as if seen by a bird’s-eye 
view, without reference to the different stories which were once found in the building, 
and gave its elevation. Practically, at present, indications only of these stories 
remain. 
The plan [see pl. 6] given at the close of this article shows the general arrangement of 
the rooms, and may be of use in understanding the description of the separate chambers 
which follows. Examining this plan, it will be seen that the bounding walls of the 
ruin inclose five chambers which fall in two groups: Twin chambers, one at either end, 
and triplets in the interval between them. The rooms from their position may very 
conveniently be designated, from the side of the ruin in which they are: The north, 
south, east, west, and central chambers. The north and south are alike, and extend 
wholly across their respective sides of the ruin, so that their east and west walls are por- 
tions of the eastern and western external walls of the building. With the east and 
west chambers, however, it is somewhat different. Whereas three of the walls of the 
north and south chambers are external walls of the building wholly or in part, there is 
but a single wall of either the east or west rooms which is external. None of the walls 
of the remaining member of this triplet, the central chamber, excepting possibly those 
belonging to upper stories, are external. AI the chambers of both kinds have a rectan- 
gular form, and their angles are as a general thing carefully constructed right angles. 
The vertical and horizontal lines are seldom perfectly straight, although much truer 
than is ordinarily the case in more northern ruins. [Fig. 8.] 
Let us take up for consideration the different chambers which have been men- 
tioned, in order to call to mind any special features in their individual architecture. 
Norta Room (A) 
This room occupies the whole northern end of the ruin, and has all the bounding 
walls of the lower stories entire, with the exception of the northeast corner and a small 
section of the adjacent northern wall. As one approaches the ruin from the side 
toward Florence, it is through this broken-down entrance on the northeast corner 
that one enters Casa Grande. Although, as will be seen presently, there are several 
other entrances to the ruin, this passageway is in fact the only means of entrance into 
the chamber. 
The greatest length of the room is from the eastern to the western wall. There are 
good evidences in this room of at least two stories above the present level of the ground 
which now forms the floor of the chamber.’ As the floors are destroyed these former 
stories now form one room with high bounding walls. On the northern side in the 
second story of this chamber, there is an artificial break in the wall which indicates 
that there had once been a passageway. The walls of this opening are not perpendic- 
ular, but slightly inclined, so that their upper ends slightly approach. The eastern 
wall of this passageway is now cracked, and will probably fall in a short time. The 
position of the lintel is well marked, but the lintel itself, which was probably of 
wood, has been removed from its former place, and cavities alone remain, plainly 
showing, however, its former size at the two upper corners of the opening. A groove 
on the inner side of the northern wall, which marks the lines of the flooring of an upper 
chamber, is well shown, although broken and gapped in many places. Near the 
1It would not be possible to demonstrate how many stories Casa Grande formerly had without excava- 
tions. Even if the lower floor should be laid bare, there would always remain the difficulty in the deter- 
mination of how many upper stories have been destroyed by the weathering of the walls. I think that it 
is not difficult to find evidences of four stories at certain points. The observations which I could make on 
the present condition of the ruin do not justify my acceptance of the theory that there were more. There 
is good evidence that there were three stories. 5 
