194 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
The area under cultivation is about 7,000 acres. The water is supplied 
by many shallow wells operated by electric power from Tucson, and 
there are some flowing wells. The water is carried by canals, mostly 
cement lined. Much cotton and alfalfa are raised, together with 
various other crops. Cotton is a native plant (Cabeza de Vaca was 
presented with cotton garments by the natives in 1535), but the 
wild variety gives only a small yield of the fiber. The cultivated 
cotton yields about a bale to the acre. The average crop in the 
valley requires from 20 to 24 inches of water, but alfalfa, which is 
cut five or six times a year, requires 36 inches. There is considerable 
dairying to supply milk for Tucson and other places. 
Northeast of Rillito is a conspicuous range of buttes and ridges 
known as the Tortolita Mountains (tore-toe-lee’ta). They consist of 
Rifiieg. pre-Cambrian granite and schist and rise abruptly 
ee eee: from long slopes of gravel, sand, and other detritus. 
Population 32.* On the south edge of the range are volcanic rocks. 
fat! Orleans 1,516 To the south and southwest from the railroad near 
Naviska siding there are fine views of the rugged 
ridges of the Roskruge, Coyote, Quinlan, and Baboquivari Mountains, 
the last culminating in the square tower of Baboquivari Peak (ele- 
vation 7,740 feet), 50 miles away. To the west are the Silver Bell 
Mountains. These are all on the west side of the wide desert of Avra 
Valley, which joins the Santa Cruz Valley a short distance southwest 
of Red Rock. These valleys are deeply filled with gravel and sand. 
From Tucson to Picacho the railroad follows the route pursued by 
Padre Garcés and the expedition of Captain Anza in 1775 on their 
long overland journey to establish a colony at San Francisco. They 
traveled, however, on the left bank of the stream as far as Red Rock. 
According to Padres Gareés and Font, the Anza expedition consisted 
of 30 soldiers and 136 other persons, including women and children. 
It followed the Santa Cruz River through Bac and Tucson. Rillito 
lies at the place they called Llano del Azotado (meadow of the flogged 
man), because a deserting muleteer taken into custody was here given 
12 lashes. Passing near the present Red Rock station to a point 
beyond Picacho Peak, it turned to a more northerly course, 
approaching the Gila River about 2 miles west of Casa Grande, 
which the friars visited and minutely described. Several camps were 
made on the Gila River in this very populous Indian country, where 
wheat, Indian corn, and cotton were being raised. The course then 
swung southwestward around the south end of the Sierra Estrella 
across the “‘Dry Wash” (apparently Waterman’s Wash) and through 
the pass in Maricopa Mountains now followed by the railroad t 
modern Gila Bend, a route which later became the emigrant trail. 
__ Near Gila Bend they found an Indian village, called by Padre Garcés 
_the Pueblo de los Santos Apéstoles San Simén y Judas, 
sist ss 
