86 CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA [erHt. ANN, 28 
There are several round apertures in the walls that may have served 
for lookouts. In the east wall of the central room to the left of the 
upper doorway are two such openings, each about 4 inches in diameter, 
and near the south end of this room in the east wall is another. Two 
similar apertures are found in the west wall of the inner room, one in 
the upper story of the north wall, and another in the south wall. 
Cosmos Mindeleff makes the following statement :' 
The frequency of openings in the upper or third story and their absence on lower 
levels, except the specially arranged openings described later, supports the hypothesis 
that none of the rooms except the middle one were ever more than two stories high 
and that the wall remains above the second roof level represent a low parapet. 
CASA GRANDE MOUNDS 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
It is evident to anyone who visits Casa Grande that the historic 
structure called by this name is only one of many blocks of buildings 
which formerly existed in the immediate vicinity. While it is now 
difficult to determine whether all these structures were contempora- 
neously occupied, it is evident that the Casa Grande Group, in its 
prime, was no mean settlement. Evidences of former habitations 
cover much of the surface of the reservation? and extend on all sides 
far beyond its boundaries. The limits of this prehistoric settlement 
are difficult to determine. The whole plain was dotted at intervals 
with houses similar to those of Casa Grande, from the point where the 
Gila leaves the mountains to its junction with its largest tributary, 
the Salt, the valley of which is also marked by the remains of many 
similar prehistoric buildings. Not all the mounds on the Casa 
Grande Reservation, however, contain ruins of great buildings; many 
walled structures, formerly homes of the inhabitants, have fallen, 
leaving but slight traces of their existence—no vestiges of walls 
above the surface of the ground, merely broken metates or frag- 
ments of pottery scattered over a limited area. This destruction was 
inevitable, owing to the fragile character of the wattled walls. Even 
the foundations of heavier walls of many of the buildings are buried 
in the débris from the upper courses. 
Two types of mounds occur in the Casa Grande Group: (1) Those 
containing walls of houses and (2) those consisting entirely of earth 
and débris not including buried walls. The former are composed of 
113th Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., p. 314. 
2 As is well known, this reservation, through the efforts of many public-spirited men and women, has 
been placed under the supervision of a resident custodian. The present custodian is Mr. Frank Pinckley. 
