210 



CASA GKANDE 



[b. a. e. 



CASA GRANDE 



was much the same about 1762, when seen 

 by the author of the anonymous Rudo 

 Ensayo. Its construction is of the pise 

 type, i. e., the walls, 3 to 5 ft. thick, con- 

 sist of huge blocks of adobe mortar and 

 gravel molded in place and allowed to 

 dry hard, then smoothed on the inner 

 surface. The present height of the outer 

 walls is 20 to 25 ft., accommodating 2 

 stories, while the central part or tower, 

 forming an additional story, is 28 to 30 

 ft. above the ground. The house meas- 

 ures 43 by 59 ft. , 

 with 5 rooms in 

 its ground plan. 

 Casa Grande 

 was also visited 

 Oct. 31, 1775, by 

 Father Pedro 

 Font, who wrote 

 an excellent de- 

 scription of its 

 appearance and 

 mentions the 

 outlying struc- 

 tures,then fairly 

 preserved. Font 

 remarksthatthe 

 Casa Grande it- 

 self measured 50 

 by 70 ft., and in- 

 fers that its beams (4 or 5 in. thick), ap- 

 parently of pine, must have been carried 

 20 m., while the water supply for the set- 

 tlement was conveyed from the river by 

 means of a canal . At this date the build- 

 ing was of 3 stories, though the neighbor- 

 ing Pima informed Font that there had 

 been 4. The celebrated ruins were visited 

 77 vears later (July 12, 1852) by J. R. 

 Bartlett, whose description indicates little 

 change in the main structure since the time 

 of Font, although all but 2 of 

 the outlying buildings had 

 been reduced to mounds. By 

 act of Congress of Mar. 2, 

 1889, 12,000 was appropri- 

 ated for the repair of the 

 building, and the work \vas 

 performed under tlie direc- 

 tion of the Secretary of the 

 Interior. By Executive or- 

 der of June 22, 1892, under 

 the provisions of the same 

 act, a tract of about | sq. m., surround- 

 ing the ruin, was reserved from sale or 

 settlement, and a custodian appointed. 

 The origin of this and of other prehis- 

 toric pueVjlo groups in s. Arizona and 

 N. Chihuahua is unknown. It has long 

 been reputed to have been one of the 

 places of sojourn of the Nahua or Aztec 

 in their migration from the n. to the val- 

 ley of Mexico (whence the name 'Casa 

 de Montezuma'), and it has been mis- 

 takenly regarded by some writers as the 

 Chichi'lticalli, or 'Red House,' of the 



( mindeleff) 



chroniclers of Coronado's expedition in 

 1540-42. The Pima, who have occupied 

 the region from time immemorial, pre- 

 serve a legend that it was constructed by 

 one of their chiefs or deities named 

 Civano, hence the name Civanoki, 

 'house of Civano,' which they apply to 

 it. This has led to the general belief 

 that these structures are the work of the 

 ancestors of the Pima tribe, notwithstand- 

 ing their historical habitations are of an 

 entirely different character, being circu- 

 lar huts of grass 

 or reeds, while 

 their pottery is 

 far inferior in 

 quality and dec- 

 oration to that 

 found in the 

 Casa Grande re- 

 gion. It would 

 seem more prob- 

 able that these 

 remains are due 

 to some of the 

 clansof the pres- 

 ent Hopi or Zuiii 

 pueblos, one at 

 least of the for- 

 mer tribe trac- 

 ing its origin to 

 the "land of the giant cactus" — a plant 

 characteristic of the Gila valley. Before 

 its woodwork was taken away by relic 

 hunters, Casa Grande showed evidences 

 of having been burned. 



Consult Apostolicos Afanes, 252etseq., 

 1754; Bandelier in Arch. Inst. Rep., v, 

 66, 1890, and Arch. Inst. Papers, iv, 

 4.39, 1892; Bartlett, Pers. Narr., ii, 

 272-280, 1854; Coues, Carets Diary, i, 

 89-101, 1900; Doc. Hist. Mex., 4th s., i, 

 274-291, 1856; Emory, Recon., 83, 1848; 

 Fewkes in Jour. Am. Eth. and Arch., ii, 

 177-193, 1892; Mindeleff in 13th Rep. B. 

 A. E., 289, 1896, and 15th Rep. B. A. E., 

 321, 1897; Rudo Ensayo (1762) , 1863, also 

 Guiteras transl., 124, 1894; Schoolcraft, 

 Ind. Tribes, in, 301, 1853; Ternaux-Com- 

 pans, Voy., ix, 383, 1838. (f. w. h.) 

 Cara de Montezuma. — Johnston m Emory, Recon- 

 noissance, Fi%, 1848 (misprint). Casa Granda. — 

 Browne, Apaohe Country, 116, 18(19. Casa 

 Grande.— Bernal (1697) quoted bv Banrroft, .\riz. 

 and N. Me.K., 3.%, 1889. Casagrande.— .lefferys. 

 Am. Atlas, map 5, 1776. Casas Grandas. — Hard- 

 acre in Seribner's Monthly, 270, Dee., 1878. 

 Casas Grandes.— Man^e (1697) quoted by Coues, 

 Garees Diary, l, 92, 1900. Case grandi,— Clavigero, 

 Storia della Cal., map, 1789. Chivano-ki,— Ban- 

 delier in Mag. We.st. Hist.. 667, Sept., 18S0 

 ('house of Civano' : Pima name). Civano Ki. — 

 Bandelier in Arch. Inst. Papers, ni, 2.5."i, 1890 

 (Pima name). Ci-vano-fti.— Bandelier in Revue 

 d'EthnoK., 129, 1886. Ci-va-no-qi.— Bandelier 

 in Arch. Inst. Rep., V, 80, 1884 ( = 'CivrinO's 

 house'). Grande Maison Dite de- Moctecuzoma, — 

 Ternaux-Compans, Vov., ix, 383, 1838. Great 

 Houses.— Bartlett, Pers. Narr., n, 272, 1854. Hall of 

 Montezuma,— IIuKlies, Doniphan's Exped., 219, 

 1848. Huis van Montezuma.— ten Kate, Reizen 

 in N. A., 162, 188.') (Dutch form: ' House of Monte- 



