To Commissioner John R. Bartlett, of the International Boundary Survey,
the Author is indebted for a memorandum covering what clearly was the
first Mormon settlement within the present confines of Arizona. It was at
the old Spanish pueblo of Tubac, in the Santa Cruz valley, about forty
miles south of Tucson. Both places then (in July, 1852), still were in
Mexico, the time being two years before perfecting the Gadsden Purchase.
Tubac, according to the Commissioner, was "a collection of dilapidated
buildings and huts, about half tenantless, and an equally ruinous
church." He called it "a God-forsaken place," but gave some interesting
history. After a century and a half of occupation, usually with a
population of about 400, it had been abandoned a year before the
Commissioner's arrival, but had been repopulated by possibly 100
individuals. There was irrigation from the Santa Cruz, but of uncertain
sort, and it was this very uncertainty that lost to Arizona a community
of settlers of industry surely rare in that locality. Bartlett's
narrative recites:
The preceding fall (of 1851), after the place has been again occupied, a
party of Mormons, in passing through on their way to California, was
induced to stop there by the representations of the Mexican comandante.
He offered them lands in the rich valley, where acequias (irrigation
ditches) were already dug, if they would remain and cultivate it;
assuring them that they would find a ready market for all the corn, wheat
and vegetables they could raise, from the troops and from passing
emigrants. The offer was so good and the prospects were so flattering
that they consented to remain. They, therefore, set to work, plowed and
sowed their lands, in which they expended all their means, anticipating
an abundant harvest. But the spring and summer came without rain: the
river dried up; their fields could not be irrigated; and their labor,
time and money was lost. They abandoned the place, and, though reduced to
the greatest extremities, succeeded in reaching Santa Isabel in
California, where we fell in with them.
The Santa Isabel meeting referred to had taken place in the previous May,
1852. Santa Isabel was an old vista of San Diego Mission, about forty
miles northeast of San Diego and on the road from that port to Fort Yuma.
In the Commissioner's party, eastbound, was the noted scout, Antoine
LeRoux, who had been one of the guides of the Mormon Battalion westward,
in 1846. Bartlett wrote:
"LeRoux had been sent to the settlement at San Bernardino, to purchase a
vehicle from newly-arrived Mormon immigrants and to return with it to
Santa Isabel. When the wagon came ... it was driven by its owner, named
Smithson. After paying him, I invited him to remain with us over night,
as he had had a fatiguing day's journey. We were very much amused during
the evening in listening to the history of our Mormon friend, who also
enlightened us with a lecture on the peculiar doctrines of his sect. He
seemed a harmless, though zealous man, ardent in his religious belief and
was, I should think, a fair specimen of his fraternity. His people had
lately purchased the extensive haciendas and buildings at San Bernardino,
covering several miles square, for $70,000, one-half of which amount
they had paid in cash. This is one of the richest agricultural districts
in the State and is said to have been a great bargain."
Bartlett's narrative, while interesting, does not inform concerning the
identity of the Mormons at Tubac. Including Smithson, doubtless they were
swallowed within the San Bernardino settlement. Just where the Tubac
settlers came from is not clear. There seems probability that they were
from one of the southern States, started directly for San Bernardino,
instead of via Salt Lake, in the same manner that an Arkansas expedition
went directly to the Little Colorado settlements in later years.
Tubac dates back to about 1752. Possibly not pertinent to the subject of
this work, yet valuable, is a map of Tubac, herewith reproduced, drawn
about 1760 by Jose de Urrutia. This map lately was found in the British
Museum at London by Godfrey Sykes, of the Desert Laboratory at Tucson.
From him receipt of a copy is acknowledged, with appreciation. The plat
includes the irrigated area below the presidio.