USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 39
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 39
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Nov. 17th, down the Gila at some distance from the river, to S. Gregorio spring, 81. w .; and to S. Fernando on the bank, 21 .; 18th, over the plain 91. w. to Casa Grande, Sergt Escalante swimming the river with two companions about midway of the journey to examine some ruins on the north side. Be- sides describing the Casa Grande and other ruins, Mange gives a tradition of the natives respecting their origin, 11. to a rancheria on the river bank; 19th, to Tusonimon 4 1. w., over sterile plains; 20th, to S. Andrés, 7 1. w., whose chief had visited Baseraca, and had been baptized at Dolores, where rumors were heard of quicksilver mines in the N. w. and of white men who came to the Colorado armed with muskets and swords -- perhaps English or shipwrecked Spaniards, but probably only the apostate Moquis with stolen fire-arms (!); 2Ist, back to Tusonimo, or Sta Isabel, 7 1. E., and 3 1. s. into the desert; 22d, to an artificial tank, or pond, 4 or 5 1. s .; and to rancheria of Sta Catalina Cuitciabaqui, 14 or 15 1. s .; 23d, up the dry bed of the river (Sta Cruz), to ranch. of the valley of Correa, 9 1. s .; and to S. Agustin Oiaur, 6 1. s. ; 24th, to ranch. of Bac, Batosda, or S. Javier, 6 1. s. This was the largest ranchería of all Pimería, 830 persons living in 176 houses; and there was an adobe house ready for the padre, with a wheat-field and some live-stock well tended. 26th, to Tumacacori, or S. Cayetano, 18 or 20 1. s .; 27th, to Guevavi, 6 1. s .; and 7 1. to Bacuanos (Bacuaucos), or S. Antonio (?); 28th, to S. Lázaro,
357
KINO'S TOURS.
Again, in 1698, Kino returned by way of Bac to the Gila; and from San Andrés, the limit of the previous trip, or from the region of the Pima villages of mod- ern maps, he crossed the country south-westwardly to Sonoita and the gulf shore ; but unfortunately, Mange's place was taken by Captain Carrasco, and no particu- lars affecting Arizona are extant.10 In the next tour of 1699 with Mange, he went first to Sonoita via Saric; and thence crossed north-westward to the Gila at a point about ten miles above the Colorado junction. The natives refused to guide him down the river where he had intended to go; therefore he went up the river eastward, cutting off the big bend, sighting and nam- ing the Salado and Verde rivers, from a mountain top, reaching San Andrés Coata where he had been before, and returning home by the old route via Encarnacion, San Clemente, San Agustin, and Bac. In this trip he called the Colorado Rio de los Mártires, the Gila Rio de los Apóstoles, and the four branches of the latter -that is, the Salado, Verde, Santa Cruz, and San Pedro-Los Evangelistas.11 In October of the same
71 .; and to Cocospera, 6 1 .; 29th, to Remedios; Dec. Ist, to Dolores. Kino's party left Bernal on the 26th, and the latter by the same route arrived at Dolores Dec. 2d.
10 Kino, Carta, in Sonora Mat., 817-19; Apost. Afanes, 272-4; Alegre, Hist., iii. 203-4; Lockman's Trav. Jesuits, i. 355. The details given affect only ob- servations on the gulf shore, to which sufficient attention is given elsewhere. 11 Mange, Hist. Pimería, 292-310. Route from S. Marcelo Sonoita: Feb. 17th, down the stream w. 10 1. to a carrizal; 18th, 6 1. N. w. and 14 1. N., by moonlight over sterile plains to the watering-place of La Luna; 19th, 12 1. N. w., and w. to a small rancheria not named; 20th, 15 1. over barren plains and past mineral hills to Las 'tinajas; 21st, 61. N. w. to the Gila, where were 600 Pimas and Yumas, the latter now visited and described for the first time. Mange from a hill saw the junction of the Colorado, on which river the Alche- domas were said to live. M. also found some slight tradition of Oñate's visit in 1605, and heard of white men who sometimes came from the north coast to trade, the reports resembling those heard before at S. Andrés and Casa Graude. Feb. 23d, 12 1. E. up the river; 24th, 16 1. E. up river; 25th, 4 l. to ranch. S. Matias Tutum; 4 1. to ranch. S. Mateo Cant; 26th, 14 1. up the river to rauch. Tádes Vaqui; 27th, 3 1. across a bend to a ranch. on the river; to another S. Simon Tucsani; and to another of Cocomaricopas, 12 1. in all; 28th, 8 1. s. w. (s. E. ? ), leaving the river on account of the big bend, past 5 rancherías, to one of Pimas, who welcomed them with triumphal arches, etc., a good place for a mission; March 1st, 11 1. E. over a rocky and sterile country to a spring; 2d, 13 1. E. over a range of hills from which they saw the rivers Verde and Salado-perhaps flowing from the famous Sierra Azul of N. Mex. annals-to the river 3 1. below the junction, where was the ranch. of S. Bar- tolomé Comac; 3d, 10 1. up river to S. Andrés Coata, where they had been in
358
PIMERIA ALTA AND THE MOQUI PROVINCE.
year, with Padres Leal and Gonzalez from abroad, they went again to Bac. Here the moving of a stone, thought at first to be an idol, uncovered a hole on the top of a hill, and produced a hurricane which lasted till the stone was replaced over the entrance to this home of the winds. From Bac, they took a south- west course to Sonoita, registering 1,800 Papabotes.12 Padre Francisco Gonzalez was delighted with Bac, declaring it to be fit, not only for a mission of 3,000 converts, but for a city of 30,000 inhabitants; and he promised to return as a missionary. Mange states that he did come 'mucho despues,' or much later, but that he remained only till 1702, being driven away by the hostilities of two rancherias not far away. It would seem that this must be an error. In April and May 1700, Kino went again to Bac and laid the foundation of a large church, which the natives were eager to build, but respecting the further progress of which nothing is known. In September he reached the Gila, by a route for the most part new, striking
1697. They had registered 1,800 men, Yumas and Cocomaricopas; 4th, E. past Encarnacion 91. to a fertile tract; 5th, S. E. away from river, 9 1. to the tank or cistern built by the people of Casa Grande, when they went south to settle Mexico (!); 13 1. (or 4) s. to Sta Catarina; 6th, s. past S. Clemente to S. Agustin Oiaur; 7th, up the river s. past 4 rancherías, 6 1. to S. Javier del Bac, where 1,300 natives welcomed them with dances and songs, a magnificent place for a large mission; 9th-10th, 7 1. s., Kino being very ill; 11th, 13 1. s. to opposite S. Cayetano Tumagacori; 12th, 6 1. to Guevavi, 7 1. to Bacuancos; 13th, 16 1. to Cocóspera which had been destroyed and abandoned; 14th, to Remedios 6 1., 8 1. to Dolores.
12 Mange, Hist. Pim., 311-20. Route: left Dolores Oct. 24th, 8 1. to Re- medios, where a fine new church was being built; 25th, 6 1. down one stream and up another to Cocóspera; 41. to Rio Sta María at S. Lorenzo (S. Lázaro?); 26th, 11 1. down river to S. Luis Bacuancos, past Quiquiborica (one of which may have been the later Buenavista); 27th, 6 1. to Guevavi, or Gusutaqui, at the junction of a stream from the E. ; 4 1. to S. Cayetano, Jumagacori (Tumaca- cori); 28th, 6 1. N .; 29th, 10 1. to Bac, west of which was a ranch. of Otean. Nov. 1st, 2d, Mange and Kino went on down to Oiaur, 6 1., and 15 1. to Sta Catarina Caituagaba and S. Clemente, and returned; near Bac two ranch. of Juajona and Junostaca are mentioned as existing later; 5th, 10 1. w. to springs; 6th, 6 1. w. to Tups, where they were shown silver ore; 3 1. w. to Cops, or Humo, of the nation Pima-Papabotas; 7th, 8 1. w. over plains to S. Serafin Actum, where they were visited by natives from S. Fran. Ati; Sth, P. Leal left the party for Tubutama in his carriage; while the rest went on N. W. and w. 13 1. to S. Rafael; 9th, 9 1. more N., to Baguiburisac, N. 16 1. (or 7), to Coat and Sibagoida; 10th, 33 1. s. w. and w. to Sonoita; 11th, 12th, 60 1. E. and s. E. to Busanic, where they joined Leal; and 13-18th returned via Tu- butama, Magdalena de Buvuibava, S. Ignacio, aud Remedios to Dolores.
359
SALVATIERRA AND KINO.
the river east of the bend, following it down to the Yuma country, thence following the north bank to the Colorado, and giving the name San Dionisio to a Yuma ranchería at the junction. The diaries are not extant, and such details as we have relate mainly to Californian geography, having little interest for our present purpose. 13
In 1701 Kino and Salvatierra went by way of Sonoita to the coast, but could not carry out their in- tention of reaching the Colorado. On the return, how- ever, parting from Salvatierra at Sonoita, Kino and Mange crossed the country to Bac, and returned home by the old route.14 Later in this year the venerable explorer crossed from Sonoita to San Pedro on the Gila, went down to San Dionisio, and thence down the Colorado past Santa Isabel, the last Yuma ran- chería, to the country of the Quiquimas, whence he crossed into California; and on his return he may be supposed to have made the map which I append. Early in 1702, Father Kino made his last trip to the Gila and Colorado, very nearly repeating the tour of 1701, but reaching the head of the gulf; and it was also, so far as can be known, the last time he crossed the Arizona line. The rest of his life was devoted to constant efforts, with the aid of padres Campos and Velarde, to prevent the abandonment of the old es- tablishments, and to obtain missionaries for new ones, who, though sometimes promised, never came. The obstacles in his way seem to have been increased by the unwise policy of a new commander of the flying company, whose oppressive acts were a severe test,
13 See Ilist. North Mex. States, i. 270-1. The route was Dolores, Reme- dios, S. Simon y S. Judas, Busanic, 28 1 .; Tucubavia, Sta Eulalia, Merced, 12 1 .; S. Gerónimo, 29 1 .; Gila, 5, 12, 101 .; down the Gila 50 1 .; and return- Trinidad, Agua Escondida, 12 1 .; watering-place, 12 1 .; creek, 18 1 .; Sonoita, 81 .; S. Luis Bacupa, 12 1 .; S. Eduardo, 20 1 .; Caborca, 16 1 .; Tubutama 12 1 .; S. Ignacio, 17 1.
14 Mange, Hist. Pim., 385-7. The route from Sonoita was, Gubo 13 1. E .; Guactum (Actum?), 18 1. E. past a pool of Vatqui and 5 rancherías; Tupo, 18 1. E .; 12 I. E. to Bac, the Ist pueblo of Sobaipuris; 201. s. to Tumagacori; 12 1. past Guevavi to Bacuancos, at both of which rancherías was an adobe house for the padre, with much live-stock; 14 1. to Cocospera; thence to Dolores.
360
PIMERIA ALTA AND THE MOQUI PROVINCE.
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361
NO MISSIONS YET IN ARIZONA.
not only of the padre's patience, but of the Pimas' good faith and desire for mission life. As I have said, there is no satisfactory evidence that Arizona had either a regular mission or a resident Jesuit before Kino's death in 1711.15
After Kino's death, for more than twenty years no Spaniard is known to have entered Arizona. It is not unlikely that a padre may have visited the ran- cherías of the Santa Cruz valley,16 or that parties of soldiers from Fronteras may have crossed the line in pursuit of Apache foes, but no such entradas are re- corded. Padres Campos and Velarde were left for the most part alone in Pimería Alta, and though zeal- ous workers, they had all they could do, and more, to maintain the prosperity of the old missions, without attempting new enterprises. They could not visit the northern rancherías, and they could not give much en- couragement to visitors from distant tribes, who came to inquire why the padres did not come as promised. All communication gradually ceased, the Gila tribes forgot what Kino had taught them, and even the nearer Pimas and Sobaipuris lost much of their zeal for mission life. Only two or three other padres are known to have worked in the field before 1730. Yet there were spasms of interest in the north; the bishop became interested in the subject; some favorable or- ders were elicited from the king; a presidio was talked of on the Gila; and, as we shall presently see,
15 A few rumors of padres stationed there can be traced to no definite source; and the whole tenor of such records as exist is against them. On the annals of Pimería down to 1711, see Hist. North Mex. States, i., chap. x., xviii. 16 A writer in the Tucson Dos Repúblicas, Aug. 26, 1877, names padres Ale- jandro Rapmani and José de Torres Perea as having served at Bac in 1720-1. This article bears internal evidence of careful preparation and original author- ities in some parts, and therefore merits notice in this part. Possibly the two padres named visited Bac in 1720-1, and left some kind of a record of their presence; but there are indications that this writer drew his informa- tion from fragments of mission registers in the south, taking it for granted in some cases that a padre who served in Pimería Alta must have served at S. Javier del Bac. His later list is Ildefonso de la Peña 1744, José Garrucho and Miguel Copetillo 1745, and Bartolomé Saens 1746-50, which names may be compared with those in my text.
362
PIMERIA ALTA AND THE MOQUI PROVINCE.
there was a project for reaching the Moquis from this direction.
In 1731, however, there came a small reënforcement of missionaries, and two of them were in 1732 sent to the north, effecting what may be regarded as the first Spanish settlement of Arizona. Father Felipe Se- gesser took charge of San Javier del Bac, and Juan Bautista Grashoffer of San Miguel de Guevavi, which from this time may be regarded as regular missions, the other rancherías becoming visitas. It is probable that during the rest of the Jesuit period the two mis- sions were but rarely without padres, though annals of the establishments are almost a blank. Grashoffer soon died; Gaspar Steiger was at Bac in 1733-6, and in 1750 the missionaries were Padre José Garrucho at Guevavi and Francisco Paver at San Javier. In 1736-7 Padre Ignacio Javier Keller of Suamca made two trips to the Gila, visiting the Casa Grande, seeing from a hill the rivers Verde and Salado, which united to form what he seems to have named the Asuncion, and finding that many of the rancherías of Kino's time had been broken up. It was also in 1736-41 that oc- curred the mining excitement of the famous and won- derful Bolas de Plata at Arizonac. The site was between Guevavi and Saric, but apparently just south of the Arizona line. The unparalleled richness of the silver deposits brought a crowd of treasure-seekers, and caused the king to claim it as his own, it being not a mine, but a criadero de plata; but the supply of nuggets was soon exhausted, and the place was in a few years wellnigh forgotten. North of the line I find no records of mining operations in these early times, though prospecting may have been prosecuted to some extent, and though popular but wholly un- founded traditions have been current of rich mines worked by the Jesuits. In 1741 the presidio of Ter- renate was founded, but the site was changed more than once, and for a time before 1750 the garrison was apparently stationed at or near Guevavi. In 1750
363
PIMAS AND MOQUIS.
occurred the second revolt of the Pima tribes, in which two missionaries at Caborca and Sonoita were killed, as were about 100 Spaniards in all. Bac and Gue- vavi were plundered and abandoned, but the two padres escaped to Suamca, which, on account of the nearness of the presidio, was not attacked. Peace was restored in 1752, and the missions were reoccu- pied; but a bitter controversy between the Jesuits and their foes respecting the causes of the trouble did much to increase the demoralization arising from the revolt itself, and all semblance of real prosperity in the es- tablishments of Pimería Alta was forever at an end.
Meanwhile the Moquis of the north-east maintained their independence of all Spanish or Christian control. The proud chieftains of the cliff towns were willing to make a treaty of peace with the king of Spain, but they would not become his subjects, and they would not give up their aboriginal faith. At intervals of a few years from 1700 there were visits of Franciscan friars, to explore the field for a spiritual reconquest, or of military detachments, with threats of war, but nothing could be effected. At the first town of Agua- tuvi, the Spaniards generally received some encour- agement; but Oraibe, the most distant and largest of the pueblos, was always closed to them. The refugee Tehuas, Tanos, and Tiguas of the new pueblo were even more hostile than the Moquis proper; and by reason of their intrigues even Zuñi had more than once to be abandoned by the Spaniards. In 1701 Governor Cubero in a raid killed and captured a few of the Moquis. In 1706 Captain Holguin attacked and defeated the Tehua pueblo, but was in turn at- tacked by the Moquis and driven out of the country. In 1715 several soi-disant ambassadors came to Santa Fé with offers of submission, and negotiations made most favorable progress until Spanish messengers were sent, and then the truth came out-that all had been a hoax, devised by cunning Moqui traders seek- ing only a safe pretext for commercial visits to New
364
PIMERIA ALTA AND THE MOQUI PROVINCE.
Mexico. The governor thereupon made a campaign, but in two battles effected nothing. From about 1719 the Franciscans understood that the Jesuits were in- triguing for the Moqui field, but beyond visiting Aguatuvi and obtaining some favorable assurances for the future, they did nothing-except, perhaps,, with their pens in Europe-in self-defence until 1742, when, the danger becoming somewhat more imminent, two friars went to the far north-west and brought out 441 apostate Tiguas, with whom they shortly reestablished the old pueblo of Sandía. Again, in 1745, three friars visited and preached to the Moquis, counting 10,846 natives, obtaining satisfactory indications of aversion to the Jesuits, and above all, reporting what had been achieved, with mention of the Sierra Azul and Te- guayo, and the riches there to be found. Their efforts were entirely successful; and the king, convinced that he had been deceived-that a people from among whom two lone friars could bring out 441 converts could be neither so far away nor so hostile to the Franciscans as had been represented-revoked all he had conceded to the Jesuits. With the danger of rivalry ended the new-born zeal of the padres azules, and for 30 years no more attention was given to the Moquis!17
The project of extending the Jesuit field from Pimería to the Moqui province was perhaps at first but a device for drawing the attention of the govern- ment to the northern missions, and securing a presidio in the Gila valley, with a view to the ultimate occu- pation of California. Kino and his associates more- over greatly underrated the distance of the Moquis from the Gila, and correspondingly distorted their geographical relations to New Mexico. From about 1711 various reports are said to have been received, through native messengers across the mountains, and also from New Mexican sources, that the Moquis de- sired Jesuit missionaries, and had a horror of the Franciscans. The project was greatly strengthened
17 See chap. xi. of this volume, passim, for more particulars.
365
JESUITS VERSUS FRANCISCANS.
by the support of the bishop of Durango, whose quar- rel with the Franciscans of New Mexico is recorded elsewhere in this volume, and who in 1716, with authority of the viceroy, attempted to put the Jesuits in charge, but failed. The king, however, in a cédula of 1719 approved the bishop's views, and ordered the viceroy to make the change, the viceregal orders to that effect being issued in 1725, and approved condi- tionally by the king the next year. There seenis to be but little truth in the statement of Jesuit writers, that the company declined to interfere in territory claimed by another order; but delays ensued, which were largely due to various schemes for conquering the Moquis by force of arms, and also, perhaps, to a change of opinion on the bishop's part. The viceroy having in 1730 reported such conquest to be impracti- cable, and additional testimony having been obtained respecting different phases of the subject, the king by a cédula of 1741 positively repeated his orders of 1719. How this incited the New Mexican friars to renewed effort I have already told.
The king's order of 1741 also inspired an attempt on the part of the Jesuits to reach the Moqui towns from Pimería. Padre Keller went up to the Gila in 1743, and attempted to penetrate the country north- ward; but he was attacked by the Apaches, lost most of his horses and supplies, had one of his nine soldiers killed, and was forced to return. This disaster was known to the Moquis, and through them to the New Mexican friars. In the same year Padre Jacobo Sedelmair of Tubutama reached the Gila by way of Sonoita; and in 1744 the same explorer set out to visit the Moquis. He reached the Gila in the region of the Casa Grande, but the Indians could not be in- duced to guide him northward by a direct course, and therefore he went down the river on the north bank, for the first time exploring the big bend, and crossed over some forty leagues to the Colorado.18 At the
18 Unfortunately, the diaries of this and Keller's expedition are not extant; but in his Relacion, 849-50, Sedelmair names the rancherías, beginning 12 l.
366
PIMERÍA ALTA AND THE MOQUI PROVINCE.
point of departure from the Gila was a warm spring, probably that still known as Agua Caliente, and a fine spring, called San Rafael Otaigui, was found where the trail struck the Colorado, perhaps near the modern Ehrenberg. Sedelmair went on up the river to near the junction of "another rio azul, near the boundaries of the Moqui province," where the main river seemed to emerge from an opening in the sierra and turn to the south-west. The Moquis were understood to live not more than two or three days' journey away, hav- ing frequent commercial intercourse with the Colorado tribes; but for some reason not clearly set forth, per- haps the refusal of the natives to serve as guides, the padre had to return without reaching the object of lis tour. His branch river was clearly the Bill Williams fork of modern maps.19
In a cédula of 1744, the king called for new infor- mation, Sedelmair was summoned to Mexico, and elaborate reports on the northern projects were pre- pared, both by the Jesuit provincial and the Francis- can procurador general. Without attaching much importance to the Jesuit claim that the company had no intention of interfering with Franciscan missionary work, I still find iu the evidence strong indications that the principal aim was to secure the establishment of missions and a presidio in the lower Gila valley, with a view to a further advance to the north-west or north-east, as circumstances might decide. But the argument of Padre Oliva, representing the Francis- cans, proved altogether conclusive so far as the Moquis
below the junction of the Salado (where he represents the big bend as begin- ning ?) as follows: Stue Cabitic, Norchean, Gohate, Noscaric, Guias, Cocoigui, Tuesapit, Comarchdut, Yayahaye, Tuburh, Caborh, Pipiaca, Oxitahibuis, Aicatum, Pitaya, Soenadut, Aopomue, Atiahigui, Cohate, S. Felipe Uparch, Aritutoc, Urchaoztac, Tubutavia, Tahapit, Amoque, Shobotarcham, Aqui, Tuburch, Tucsares, Cuaburidurch, Oitac, Toa, Caborica, Cudurimuitac, Sudac, Sasabac, Sibrepue, Aycate, Aquimundurech, Toaedut, Tuburch, and Dueztumac, near which is a warm spring, about 45 L above the Colorado junction. These rancherias, all of Cocomaricopas, lie along the river for about 36 1. The author says the Colorado tribes were also kindred to the Gila Cocomaricopas. Rio Colorado, that is, 'red river,' or buqui aquimuti, was the original Pima name of the river.
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