CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT RELATING TO THE CONDITION OF CASA GRANDE
IN 1895, WITH RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING ITS FURTHER PROTECTION
I. _Letter of Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, custodian of Casa Grande, to
the Secretary of the Interior, recommending an appropriation for further
protecting the ruin_
Florence, Arizona,
_July 25, 1895_.
Honorable Hoke Smith,
_Secretary of the Interior_.
Dear Sir: It is with great hesitancy that I write to add to the
burdens of one so busy and burdened as I presume you to be. But it
is not for myself but for others that I write, and will try to be
laconic.
Can you embody in your next report to Congress an appeal for an
appropriation of $7,000 or $8,00[0] to roof the Casa Grande ruin, to
fence 40 acres, and make excavations of all the mounds in the
vicinity for the purpose of learning the history of the wonderful
people who once lived here and erected the buildings and built
canals?
* * * * *
Very sincerely, yours,
Isaac T. Whittemore,
_Custodian Casa Grande_.
II. _Indorsement of the Mr Whittemore's by the Acting Secretary of the
Interior_
Department of the Interior,
_August 7, 1895_.
Respectfully referred to the Director of Bureau of Ethnology for
consideration of so much of within letter as relates to the Casa
Grande ruin, and such recommendation as the facts may warrant, and
report.
Wm. H. Sims,
_Acting Secretary_.
III. _Letter of the Acting Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology
to the Secretary of the Interior suggesting an examination of Casa
Grande with a view of its further protection_
Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology,
_Washington, August 28, 1895_.
Sir: Your request of August 7 for a report concerning a
recommendation by Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, under date of July
25, that provision be made for further protecting Casa Grande ruin,
near Florence, Arizona, by the erection of a suitable roof, has been
under consideration.
In many respects Casa Grande ruin is one of the most noteworthy
relics of a prehistoric age and people remaining within the limits
of the United States. It was discovered, already in a ruinous
condition, by Padre Kino in 1694, and since that time it has been a
subject of record by explorers and historians. Thus its history is
exceptionally extended and complete. By reason of its early
discovery and its condition when first seen by white men, it is
known that Casa Grande is a strictly aboriginal structure; and
archeologic researches in this country and Mexico afford grounds for
considering it a typical structure for its times and for the natives
of the southwestern region. Many other structures were mentioned or
described by the Spanish explorers, but the impressions of these
explorers were tinctured by previous experience in an inhospitable
region, and their descriptions were tinged by the romantic ideas of
the age; very few of these structures were within the limits of the
United States, and nearly all of these situated in the neighboring
republic of Mexico disappeared long ago; there is hardly a structure
left, except Casa Grande ruin, by which the early accounts of
Spanish explorers in North America can be checked and
interpreted--none other of its class exists in the United States.
Casa Grande ruin is, therefore, a relic of exceptional importance
and of essentially unique character.
Unfortunately this structure, like others erected by the most
advanced among the native races in the southwest, is of perishable
material; it is built of adobe, or rather of cajon, i.e., of a
puddled clay, molded into walls, dried in the sun. Such walls would
stand a short time only in humid regions; but in the arid region the
material is desiccated and baked under cloudless sky and sun for
many months at a time, and becomes so hard as to resist, fairly, the
rare storms of the region. It is by reason of climatal conditions
that cajon and adobe have come into general use for building in
southwestern United States, as in contiguous parts of Mexico; and it
is by reason of the same conditions that a few of the ancient
structures remain, and the best preserved of all is found in the
Gila valley, one of the most desert regions on the western
hemisphere. Yet the best of the cajon structures is perishable; so
long as the roof remains and the summits of the walls are protected,
disintegration proceeds slowly; but when the projecting roof is
removed, the rare but violent storms attack the walls, and they are
gradually channeled and gullied by the storm waters, while the
exterior surface gradually disintegrates and falls away under the
alternate wetting and drying. Even in the most arid regions, the
earth-built structures typical of the southwest are surely, albeit
slowly, ravaged and destroyed.
Several years ago Casa Grande ruin was brought into general notice
throughout the United States in consequence of southwestern
explorations; and in 1889, in response to a petition from several
illustrious Americans, the Congress of the United States, at the
instance of Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, made an appropriation of
$2,000 for the purpose of undertaking the preservation of this ruin.
This appropriation was expended in works urgently required to
prevent the falling of the walls and final destruction of the ruin;
they included metal stays for the walls, with brickwork for the
support and protection of the walls at their bases. Subsequently an
area of about 480 acres, including the ruin, was reserved from
settlement by Executive order. A custodian was also appointed, and,
as this office has been informed, has been continued down to the
present. This action on the part of the legislative and executive
branches of the Government can only be regarded as indicating a
desire and continued intention to preserve the ruin for the benefit
of the people of the United States.
The expenditures thus far authorized for the preservation of Casa
Grande ruin have been made in such manner as to meet the most urgent
needs only, and without them the structure would probably have been,
before this time, beyond the reach of preservation. The preservative
works were undertaken as emergency measures, rather than as steps in
carrying out a well-considered plan. From the outset it has been
understood by architects and archeologists and others familiar with
the structure that preservation can be insured only by throwing a
roof over the entire ruin in such manner as to protect the walls
from the fierce rainstorms which occasionally occur in the Gila
valley. No lesser work will preserve the ruin more than a generation
or two; and unless this work of roofing is contemplated and is
undertaken within a few years, the emergency work will be of little
avail and the money expended therein will be lost. Accordingly,
assuming a desire and continued intention on the part of the
Government to preserve this noteworthy relic, no hesitation is felt
in recommending that a suitable roof be placed over Casa Grande
ruin, at such time as may be expedient; and, in view of the rapidity
with which destruction is now in progress, there is no hesitation in
saying that the work should be undertaken at the earliest
practicable date.
It should be added that neither the Director nor any of the
collaborators in the Bureau of American Ethnology have visited Casa
Grande ruin for some three years, and accordingly that there are no
data in this office to indicate whether there is especially urgent
necessity for undertaking preservative work at this time; but much
confidence is placed in the judgment of the custodian, Reverend
Isaac T. Whittemore, who is known to several collaborators in the
Bureau.
The subject of the preservation of Casa Grande, in many respects the
most noteworthy ruin in the United States, is deemed important; and
if the Secretary of the Interior desires more specific information
concerning the present condition of the ruin, as a basis for further
action or judgment, it will be a pleasure to have an officer of this
Bureau make a special examination of, and report on, the ruin during
the autumn.