image courtesy of Alan K. Brown, Ph.D
Dueztumac
The Lost Indian Village
It’s always fun and exciting to discover something new. Searching for the 1775 Anza
expedition campsites in Arizona, I met by luck a rancher. I was unknowingly trespassing but
he was friendly and after I explained what I was doing, he asked if I would like to see the
location of an old Indian Village. Anza had stayed at an Indian village overnight, in 1774, and
its location has remained a mystery; of course I was interested. We were west of Agua
Caliente, on the north side of the Gila River and this village site fit quite well the information
in the journals. But the story is not quite so easy. For readers not familiar with the story, here
is a little background.
Late 1773 - in the frontier village of Tubac (modern day Arizona)
A courier named Valdez arrived in a cloud of dust. He had just ridden over a thousand miles
on horseback from Mexico City and had an important document for the presidio commander
Juan Bautista de Anza –the document provided permission to explore a land route to CA. After
sending a petition to the viceroy and waiting months for an answer, Anza could now assemble
a group of soldiers and head west. The courier Valdez had been in California four years
earlier, with the Portola expedition; there were already five missions and everyone knew they
were struggling. Anza was instructed to find a land route to the coast. The courier Valdez
would go along, and at San Gabriel, the first mission, he would head back to Mexico City some
1200 miles away with the journals.
Orders went out. Bring in the horse herd. Get new shoes on the animals and start
assembling the gear needed for such a trip. Tubac was a frontier presidio in Apache country,
and it did not take long for these sharp-eyed nomadic Indians to figure out what was going
on. They struck in the night and managed to run off hundreds of head of stock. Anza had to
be devastated. These were critical to his expedition and scrounging the countryside did little
to help offset his losses. Plans changed; now he would drop southwest into modern Sonora
and beg for horses and mules at the presidio at Altar. Father Garces from nearby San Javier
del Bac had been to the Colorado River by a couple of routes, and he and Anza had jointly
petitioned for permission to go to California. Going to Yuma from Altar with Garces along as a
guide would not be a big problem since he had been over the route, but he knew that it would
be difficult. Their route westward along the modern international border was nearly devoid of
water, and known as the highway of the devil.
Anza headed to Altar in early January, 1774, and to his chagrin learned that presidio had few
animals to spare. Great men often succeed when lesser men would be crushed by adversity
and losing his horse herd actually turned into some good luck for Anza. First, the route he
would be taking would allow the courier to learn the way, and he could return along the same
trail. Second, Anza ran into a version of Lewis and Clark’s Sacajawea. Three Indians at the
mission San Gabriel, originally from the Baja, had reportedly become homesick and decided to
make a break for freedom. They set out over the very route Anza was hoping to discover and
crossed the terrible desert in southern CA near the Imperial Sand Dunes. Lost and without
water, they struggled along and eventually two died. The third made it to the Indians living in
the Yuma area, more dead than alive and the Yuma Indians (today the Quechen) nursed him
back to health and took him to Caborca, near Altar, about the same time Anza arrived there.
What luck, he had just been over the same route Anza was getting ready to traverse. We
know him by his Spanish name, Sebastian, and it can only be imagined how much help this
Indian provided by pointing out water holes and later in California, showing Anza portions of
the actual route through the mountains in Anza Borrego State Park.
The trip was not easy, but eventually the little group made it to San Gabriel mission. Courier
Valdez probably got a new mule at the mission and headed back over the same route on his
way to Mexico City, with a companion or two. Once back at Altar, he was in Spanish territory
again, and further on at the presidio at Horcacitas (near modern Hermosillo) , he could head
south along well traveled roads. Since he was on king’s business, he must have been able to
trade for a fresh horse every day. He made the 1200 mile trip to Mexico City in 24 days,
averaging an amazing 50 miles per day. Anza pushed on into California along the coast and
checked out the trails from San Gabriel Mission to Carmel, where Father Junipero Serra had
his headquarters. Serra was not there when Anza arrived; he was just returning up the coast
from San Diego. He had been in Mexico City, where he had helped the cause and argued in
favor of the Anza exploration. He had gone by ship from San Diego and as usual it had been a
long, difficult and trying journey.
When Anza and his men returned to San Gabriel mission, they were either riding mules or
soon traded their worn out horses for mules as he wrote later, near Tucson, that they were all
riding mules and not comfortable about what might happen if Apaches should find them. Anza
left San Gabriel mission and went back across the mountains and desert to the Colorado River
at Yuma. Then he took a new route home; he went eastward up the Gila River to see what this
route would be like for colonists. Anza was hoping to get an assignment now to lead colonists
to California and actually start a new community there, San Francisco.
On mules the trip up the Gila River toward modern day Phoenix was an easy one for them.
They were trail hardened veterans, traveling light and traveling fast. They did pause along
the way at an Indian Village that Anza called San Bernardino. We know at this point they were
on the north side of the Gila, because the next day Anza wrote that they passed a hot springs.
The springs were already known as Agua Caliente and they bear the same name today.
Continuing on to the east, they passed through the area of modern day Gila Bend and then
reached the “middle Gila” and the Indian villages there just south of modern day Phoenix.
This is where we will leave Anza, as he will go on to Tubac and eventually Mexico City.
Father Garces and his wanderings on the return trip in 1774
We want to go back now to Agua Caliente with the padre Garces. But to understand the story,
we have to look at the journals. There were actually three people on the expedition keeping
journals, and H. H. Bolton published five volumes about Anza and his expeditions in 1930. In
Vol II, Bolton gave us first hand accounts of Anza, father Diaz and father Garces as they
returned in May, 1774. Anza wrote on May 18 that they stopped at a village of about 100
Cocomaricopa Indians and since there was a Papago or Pima among them, the interpreter with
Anza had no trouble communicating. Anza said he named the village San Bernardino and
noted that from Monte Rey to the first village of the Cocomaricopas and the site of San
Bernardino on the Gila River, it was 221 leagues (roughly 660+ miles).
On May 19, he said at daybreak that he ascended the same river on the bank opposite the one
he followed the day before, and at a distance of five leagues from San Bernardino passed a
good spring of hot water, known as Agua Caliente….besides these five leagues, three more
were traveled until he halted for the night. Anza did not mention the name of the camp site on
the 24th, Diaz will tell us the name though. Anza did tell us that on the 23rd he had been
traveling on the south side of the river, and was now on the north side. We know this
because the hot springs are actually a couple of miles north of the Gila River. He did not
describe the crossing but it would normally be south and west of Texas Hill and close to the
Mohawk Mountains.
Now let’s look at the journal of father Diaz. On May 18, he said they halted at a village of
Cocomariocopas, near the river and by us called San Bernardino. He went on to say this was
the first village since they left the Colorado River and the reason is the “continuous war
waged by this tribe with that of the Yumas….” On the 19th he said after traveling ten leagues,
they camped at El Aritoac. Diaz did not mention the hot springs but did name the camp site,
very near the vicinity of the Oatman incident in 1851.
What about father Garces and his journal? Garces did not like to write, and in a section in Vol
II entitled “Garces’s Diary of his Detour to the Jalchedunes” he began :
“After the extraordinary courier set out with the reports of the expedition down to the 25th of
last April (when the courier Valdez headed back to Mexico City)……I do not wish to molest by
repeating the story of our return up the Gila, for this has been told by the commander and
Father Fray Juan Diaz.”
A book was published in 1900 about father Garces, by Elliot Coues; “ON THE TRAIL OF A
SPANISH PIONEER: GARCÉS DIARY 1775-6.” While Garces did not write anything about this
portion of the return trip, Coues described the route here based on Anza and Diaz, and left
his impression of the route in his footnotes. The following excerpts were taken from a couple
of the footnotes in his book:
Aritoac…we are brought today exactly to the most notorious spot on this portion of the Gila-no
other than Oatman’s Flat, sad scene of the massacre of Feb 18, 1851….
Agua Caliente…in the close vicinity of King Woolsey’s ranch (He was a famous character in AZ
a generation ago. I knew him in Prescott in 1864-65…)…long noted spring seems to have
escaped Father Kino; but it has been known since 1744, when Sedelmair speaks of it
unmistakably as at or near a Cocomaricopa rancheria he called Dueztumac. Sedelmair’s
Dueztumac appears to be the same rancheria …called San Bernardino….
This was interesting, but by itself doesn’t tell us a lot. In an earlier book, “History of Arizona
and New Mexico” by Bancroft (a facsimile of his 1889 edition), he also noted the rancheria
called Dueztumac. Fortunately he gave more information. Father Sedelmair, he noted, had
traveled along the Gila River in 1744 and Bancroft actually listed all the villages he
encountered from about Phoenix to Agua Caliente. His final village at Agua Caliente was
Dueztumac.
Then a book about Jacobo Sedelmayr was consulted. It had been translated and annotated by
Peter Masten Dunne and published in 1955. He also listed the villages that Sedelmair noted in
1744, but there was no mention of Dueztumac, although his final entry was Tumac. It was not
until the two lists of villages were compared that the mystery was solved. Bancroft must have
been a little sloppy in his rendition and Coues went along with him. Dunne gave us the last
two villages as Turbach Duoz, and Tumac. Bancroft said they were Turburch and Dueztumac. I
favor Dunne, because Bancroft had the name Tuburch standing alone in two different places,
and Dunne said the villages were actually Tuburch Tucsass, and Tuburch Duoz.
Anza said the village San Bernardino was the first they had encountered from Yuma, and we
know from his journal that it was west of Agua Caliente. He said they rode by the hot springs
the following day going east. And Sedelmair in his journal said when he left the hot springs in
1744 going west, he did not see another village. So how did he miss it? It is interesting to
consider that Anza could not find it either, when he went west in 1775 with the colonists. He
sent Font ahead with instructions to wait at the village with the understanding he would bring
the colonists there later. Font rode over twenty five miles that day without seeing a soul, and
Anza never did catch him. Anza had to send soldiers with food for the padre from his camp
further back. And Anza did not see the village either.
So how did they all miss the village? The easiest explanation is that Anza was careless in 1774
and transposed his distances from the village to Agua Caliente and then from there to
Aritoac. This is obvious once the real village site is known. It was situated near a lagoon of
permanent water, some distance north of the river. The second point is that Anza must have
forgotten they were not on the river at the village in 1774, and in 1775 everyone must have
left Agua Caliente and headed SW toward the Gila River, and then followed it westward.
Hence they would easily have missed the village. An alternate explanation is that it was a
seasonal village, and no one was there in 1775 so they simply did not recognize the site. At
any rate, the village has remained a mystery for over two hundred years.
Comparison of the ramblings of Seidlemair (1740s) with Garces in 1774
There is an additional story of interest that emerges now, when we compare the journal of
Father Garces in 1774 with the information recorded by Sedelmair about his wanderings thirty
years earlier. At the villages in the vicinity of modern Gila Bend, father Garces must have
decided to explore a little more. He wanted to send word to or even reach the Hopi villages
in NE Arizona and establish a land route from the Gila to the settlements in New Mexico, and
Anza must have said “go for it.” The problem was that Garces could not get any of the local
Indians to guide him in a direct line to the Hopi villages; they all said it was too dangerous.
The Yavapai occupied a huge area of Arizona at that time and often joined forces with the
Apache. None of the Gila Indians seemed to have the courage to head through this hostile
territory. So Garces turned his mule around and headed back to Agua Caliente.
From the Indians and the former Jesuit Sedelmair, Garces knew he could reach the Colorado
River on a trail from Agua Caliente (the trail reached the Colorado River just a little south of
modern day Blythe). He then wanted to travel north on the Colorado to near modern day Lake
Havasu, and then head east to the Grand Canyon and on to the Hopi villages. This route was
feasible because it would skirt the Yavapai lands on the north side of their territory and it was
not as crazy as it sounds. He actually made this trip two year later, after first crossing the
Mohave Desert and reaching San Gabriel mission. Then from there he went north over the
“Grapevine” into the Bakersfield area, and then back over Tehachapi Pass, back across the
Mohave desert and reached the Colorado River near Needles. His companion on much of this
epic journey in 1776 was our unsung hero, Sebastian.
But in 1774, Garces did not have Sebastian as his companion for some reason and was on his
own. He was able to talk the Indians at Agua Caliente into leading him to the Colorado over
the same trail that Sedelmair had taken thirty years earlier, and then after exploring northward
on the Colorado, decided to call it quits and head back home to his mission, San Javier del
Bac. He had no money and was virtually out there with only the clothes on his back. He did
manage though to get an Indian to guide him back to Agua Caliente. Here is his journal entry
about the trip:
“Finally, the great assistance given me by these Indians, the joy which they manifested on my
arrival at any of their houses, the care to give me abundant provisions when I set out to
return, are worthy of my greatest appreciation. They furnished me some servants to return
with me, but since I had nothing with which to repay them (a thing the most embarrassing for
any one who receives favors from such people), I chose one who alone accompanied me to
the Tutumaopas near Agua Caliente and who served me as cook. He carried a fire brand in
one hand all the way, and it did not go out. In the other hand he carried a stick with which to
drive the horse, which could not hurry for lack of shoes, especially where there were stones.
And besides all this he carried a jug of water on his head, enduring thirst in order that I might
not suffer, and all this with a smiling face. Who will say that this Indian is a savage? And who
will not praise a service of such qualities?”
The sentence about the fire brand is highlighted and we’ll come back to this later. But who
was this father Garces? First of all, he was not a Jesuit, he was a Franciscan. The Jesuits had
spiritual rights to this region until 1767, when they were all arrested and returned like
criminals to Europe. Franciscans were then given permission to serve God and the Crown in
the upper Pimeria.
Elliot Coues explained in his book that Garces was born in the Villa de Morata del Conde, in
the Reyno de Aragon (Spain) April 12, 1738. His baptized name the following day was given as
Francisco Tomas Hermenegildo (disciple of San Francisco). His father Juan Garzes and
mother Antonia Maestro sent him to an uncle named Mosen Domingo Garces, curate of the
same city. At age 15 he sought holy orders in the Province of Aragon and prelates soon set
him to his studies; approved in philosophy he was sent to the convent of the Ciudad de
Calatayud to study theology. There were customary walks at the convent to the fields for
freedom of debate, but Garzes would seek poor laborers and propound and explain the divine
mysteries and catholic truths. One story about him was that a poor potter that made tiles
listened as though he were an oracle; when he became ill and near death would only confess
to Padre Garzes. He was ordained at age 25; begged to be a missionary for the Colegio de la
Santa Cruz de Queretaro.
His request was granted and he set off immediately on foot to Madrid with Padre Fray Juan
Crysostomo Gil. Soon he was at the college (in 1763) at age 28. Diligent in the service of the
choir and other offices; too young to confess women but indefatigable with men and
especially boys, he begged to go to the missions of Sonora,. Request granted again so in
1767 he was off to Tepique for three months of waiting for a boat. He departed from San Blas
Jan 20, 1768 and typical of the times, it was another stormy 3 ½ months before he set foot at
Guaymas. The group all went together to the Presidio de Horcasitas, where he was assigned
to San Xavier del Bac, some 20 leagues from Tubac (actually much closer). He arrived there
June 30, 1768 as determined from letters which he wrote. The 1st was to Anza on July 29 and
stated his arrival; the 2nd to Gov Pineda the same day; the 3rd to same on Feb 21, 1769; the
4th same dated July 23, 1769. His description of San Jaxier del Bac: “The water is alkaline and
the air is constipating; all who go there are subject to sever chills and fevers and many die.”
Now that we know a little about the Franciscan Garces, let’s go back in time and look at the
history of a couple of earlier Jesuits in the region. Father Kino was born in modern day Italy,
in the northern Alps and was well educated. He arrived in the alta Pimeria of northern Sonora
nearly 80 years earlier. A tireless explorer, he made numerous trips west toward the Colorado
River and proved in his own mind that California was not an island and could be reached by
land from Arizona. His headquarters were at Dolores in modern Sonora, and he was
instrumental in founding missions such as Tubutama (north of Altar), Tumacacori and San
Javier del Bac. He survived the 1st Pima uprising in 1694 and played a role in restoring peace
to the region. He died on the frontier in 1711, and was buried at Magdalena. When he traveled
along the Gila River, he never mentioned the hot springs, so it is assumed he traveled on the
south bank. We will see later that this was the “safer” route.
After Kino died, it was some 25 years before the intrepid Jesuit explorer Sedelmair was
assigned to the upper Pimeria. The following description of Father Sedelmair was taken from
the book by Peter Masten Dunne, entitled “Jacobo Sedelmayr, Missionary, Frontiersman,
Explorer in Arizona and Sonora 1744-1751.”
Jacobo Sedelmayr was born in Inhausen in Bavaria, Jan 6, 1703 and entered the Soc of Jesus
Sept 7, 1722 (Spain had lifted her ban on foreign missionaries in 1664). Sedelmayr went from
Munich to Cadiz, in Spain. His route from Munich took him south to Genoa, over Brenner Pass
(and surely near the village of father Kino). The normal route at Genoa was to board a ship to
Cadiz but he got off at Malaga and went by horse to Cadiz. He sailed Nov 22, 1735 and
reached Vera Cruz Feb 18. The ship was blown onto a sand bar the last day and he ended up
wading or swimming to shore. In 1736 he went to the mission of Tubutama, where he remained
the next sixteen years. His arrival there was 25 years after the death of Kino, and he took up
the same type of explorations as his predecessor. He survived the 2nd Pima uprising of 1751.
We have his journals and several letters and can take a look now at his descriptions of the
region and the Indians. Remember he preceded Anza and Garces on their journeys by
roughly thirty years. He kept a journal of a trip in Oct and Nov 1749, and noted some details
about his earlier trips (journals apparently not located to date). He said he set out from
Tubutama on Oct 13, 1749 with an escort of 15 soldiers and arrived on the 23rd at the Gila
River (his route across the desert was northward from Tubutama and he arrived at the Gila
River in the vicinity of Gila Bend). He said he preached to a crowd of about 300 Cocomaricopa
Indian men, and then moved downstream (west) to the village which he called San Felipe de
Upash. At this village he noted the presence of Indians from the Colorado River. He was
offered a recently captured slave boy (probably Yuman or Apache) by the Indians but he did
not have the ten mules they demanded, so they took the slaves to a village he called San
Marcello to sell them to the Pimas, who in turn would sell them to the Spaniards.
These villages as noted were on the Gila River in the vicinity of modern Gila Bend, and he
wrote that he then traveled nine leagues and slept on a river meadow of good pasture. The
next day he wrote that he plodded over the Sibupue Sierra to avoid a curve of the river:
“as they were descending they (his Indian guides) pointed out to us near the trail rocks which
had been painted or painted over with different kinds of figures, even with crosses.”
We know exactly his route here. He had gone along the river northwest of Gila Bend about 20
miles (nine leagues), and then cut across the hills just to the west. As he crossed the sierra,
he was following exactly the Painted Rock Road of today. He descended then to Painted
Rocks National Monument.
This next point is important regarding the Anza expedition route in 1775. Neither Anza nor
Font mentioned the painted rocks in their journals, and from their distances, it is most likely
they went the extra couple of miles around the curve of the river and never passed the
unusual rock carvings.
Next Sedelmair said they went back over to the Gila River and were refreshed with fish that
had just been caught. Their camp at the river would have been very close to Oatman Flat, the
scene of the 1851 Oatman massacre mentioned by Coues. Continuing, he wrote:
“Going on two leagues the following morning we arrived at the spot where in the trek of 1744
we left the Gila behind us and made straight for the Colorado forty leagues away.”
Here he tells about the trip he made in 1744 toward the Colorado, to a point just south of
Blythe, and we already learned that Garces traveled the same route in 1774. Sedelmair praised
the region as being almost a garden of Eden. Continuing on about ½ league:
“… came to a water hole containing hot water which had never been seen before…. The
waters soaked into the ground and created a cane brake and broad green pastures and good
fertile soil for the raising of corn, wheat, grapes and truck gardens. This fertile belt seems to
extend about two leagues to the banks of the river.”
The Gila River is actually closer than his two leagues of roughly 5 miles but it is still several
miles (and it may have been further south then). He went on suggesting it would be a great
spot for a mission:
“…..for it is the finest and most practical site that I have seen in the course of this journey. I
gave the rancheria a name: Santa Maria del Agua Caliente.”
Is this the same Agua Caliente that Font described?
“This place has a large hot water spring and small springs of not very good cold water, and
there also is grass – not however, very much of it and fairly despicable at that- reaching as far
as the river, which lies about two leagues away…It is an open spot having considerable view
around, but very scant qualifications for a settlement….”
At this point Sedelmair explained that he was losing his guides. Alexandro Cacuimtait was
going back home. He was a Pima, married into the Cocomaricopa tribe and understood both
languages. And another guide, El Bupugadam, was leaving with him. Here is the entry for Oct
27 where we learn about travel on the respective banks of the river:
“Although the Indians of the rancheria urged me not to go down to the Yumas, or if I did go, to
cross the Gila at this point and go along the south bank of the river which was more safe, I
nevertheless made up my mind to go down the north bank because I had never before
traversed that country.”
This entry is packed with information. The locals warned him not to go on the north bank (the
side of the river the hot springs was on) and said it was safer on the south side. That is
probably why Kino never mentioned the hot springs. The hot springs are several miles north
of the river so he probably never visited them. Sedelmair and his entourage went on down
the river and in three days of travel of ten leagues each (about 25 miles per day) they reached
the vicinity of the Colorado and said that they stayed near the river the whole time and did not
see any inhabitants. When a region is empty like this, it is a good indication there are warring
tribes at each end of the region. Sedelmair reached the junction of the Gila and the Colorado
on Oct 31, 1749 (vicinity of modern day Yuma) and he was not happy at the reception. He
managed to avoid trouble but soon turned back and high tailed it home to Tubutama.
Sedelmair wrote a report while in Mexico City in 1746 that sheds even more light on the
region. He described going to the Gila River in the vicinity of Casa Grande Ruins (now a
National Monument). He talked about his 1744 trip from the hot springs to the Colorado River,
where he went north along the Colorado to about the Bill Williams River. He somehow
learned that the headwaters of the Gila River were near the pueblo Acoma, in New Mexico and
noted there were Apaches along the upper stretches of the Gila River. He described the Gila
being joined by the Pima-Sobaipuri River (today’s San Pedro River, the junction is at
Winkleman) and said it was not known how far it was from there to the headwaters because it
had never been explored. He then said the distance from the San Pedro to Casa Grande was
twenty-two leagues (about 55 miles) and described the great ruins.
He also noted that south of the ruins six leagues (15 miles) was a reservoir built by the same
people that built the ruins. Kino and Manje noted the same reservoir around 1700 and placed
it in about the same location, but for some reason it has never been found. It is probably at or
very near Picacho Reservoir.
Going downstream from the ruins (west) he said there were three rancherias. The first he
called Fuquissan, then in 4 leagues Tussonimo and then shortly the Gila disappeared
underground in hot weather. Where it re-emerged was the great rancheria called Sudac-
sson. All raised corn, beans, squash and cotton, and at Sudac-sson they irrigated and also
raised wheat (introduced by Kino). He said a trail led northward straight to the Moqui but was
now dangerous because of the Apache. He related how Father Keller had tried to make this
trip in 1743 and lost most of his horses to the Apaches, making it difficult to return home.
Anza and Font visited these middle-Gila villages in 1775 with the expedition. Anza said the 1st
village where they camped was called Juturitucam, the 2nd Sutaquison and said they passed
a couple of others. Font called the villages San Juan Capistrano de Uturituc and La
Encarnacion de Sutaquison. In his journal found in the Vatican, Font named the two villages
they passed - San Andres and Atizon. Both he noted were smaller than Sutaquison).
The Gila River makes a great horseshoe bend to the north now to get around the Sierra
Estrella. Sedelmair said he traveled the whole bend in 1744 and noted a large number of
villages on the Gila after passing the confluence of the Rio de la Asuncion (in modern day
Phoenix, and which he noted was formed by the Salado and Verde; the latter two rivers still
bear the names Salt and Green).
From the fork he suggested that it was 12 leagues (about 30 miles) to the first village and then
there was one after another all the way to Agua Caliente, which he noted was the end of the
Cocomaricopa villages. The total distance occupied by villages he estimated at 36 leagues
(about 90 miles).
He explained that he used a Guicamopa as an interpreter, although on his trip in 1744 he had
taken a Yuma Christian Indian that had been captured by the Cocomaricopas and sold to the
Pimas. In turn the Indian had been sold to the Spaniards and was loaned to him for the trek.
Very interesting was his description of the Cocomaricopas living at the Colorado River at the
end of the trail from Agua Caliente. He described then as kindly folks and said they provided
him with large quantities of food – watermelons, squash, calabash, and beans of different
colors; maize and other grains.
Best of all though he told us a little bit about the local Indians and their habits:
“The dress of the men is that of innocence. Yet in many places after the fathers came and
because of their teachings, the natives have woven good blankets from the large amount of
cotton which was given them to plant. With these garments many now clothe themselves,
especially when they have to appear in my presence. Many of these blankets they sell to our
Pimas for horses, knives, petticoats, pack-needles and the rest. When it is cold their blanket
consists of a lighted torch which they hold near their stomachs. Thus they trudge along in the
mornings. But when the day grows warm, say about eight o’clock, they throw it away. Along
the trails one sees many a discarded torch, which can serve as a guide for the wayfarer, so
that all these streams could be called Rivers of the Torch.”
Thirty years later, these same friendly Indians made the same impression on Father Garces;
remember how he explained that one carried a firebrand, pushed his horse along, and carried
water on his head. Amazing what savages they were!
Post script: For purists, here is my attempt at reproducing the renditions of the villages as
given first by Bancroft in the 1880s (History of AZ and NM) and then Dunne in 1955. Some
letters and punctuation have been highlighted to illustrate the differences in the two
sources.
Bancroft:
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.
Dunne:
Stuc Cabitic, Norcheam Gohate, Noscario Guiass, Cocoigui, Tuessapit, Comarch Dut, Jajahaye,
Tuburhcaborh, Pipiaca, Oxitahibuiss, Aycatum, Pitaca, Sonacdut, Aopo Mue, Arihiaqui, Cohate,
S. Felipe de Upash, Arotutoc, Urchaoytac, Tubutbabia, Tahapit, Amoque, Shohotarcham, Aqui,
Tuburch Tucsass, Cuaburidurch, Oytac, Toha,Caborica, Cuduri Muhitac, Sudac Ssasabac, Si
Bupue, Aycate, Aquimuridurch, Toac Dut, Tuburch Duoz, and Tumac.Several village names
show up in the Anza expedition. Arotutoc, San Felipe Uparch, Urchaoytac, etc. but it is
interesting the village name Si Bupue became in Sedelmair’s travels a sierra that he
traversed to get to the Painted Rocks (Sibupue Sierra) in 1749.
In conclusion, I don’t believe Tumac (or Dueztumac) is the same village as San Bernardino.
The first reason is that it was the last village that Sedelmair mentioned at Agua Caliente and it
is not clear if the name we have is even correct. In addition, Sedelmair said that in going west
down the river no inhabitants were encountered. Hence he surely did not see the village. And
finally, the lost village of San Bernardino is far enough from the river that it could easily have
been missed by travelers descending the river (going west). Since there was a trail from a
bend in the river to the village as travelers went east, it was apparently more natural to head
to the village going eastward.
There is surely more that can be gleaned from all this, but it has taxed my mental capacity to
get this far. AND something has to be left for future historians.
Dueztumac
The Lost Indian Village
It’s always fun and exciting to discover something new. Searching for the 1775 Anza
expedition campsites in Arizona, I met by luck a rancher. I was unknowingly trespassing but
he was friendly and after I explained what I was doing, he asked if I would like to see the
location of an old Indian Village. Anza had stayed at an Indian village overnight, in 1774, and
its location has remained a mystery; of course I was interested. We were west of Agua
Caliente, on the north side of the Gila River and this village site fit quite well the information
in the journals. But the story is not quite so easy. For readers not familiar with the story, here
is a little background.
Late 1773 - in the frontier village of Tubac (modern day Arizona)
A courier named Valdez arrived in a cloud of dust. He had just ridden over a thousand miles
on horseback from Mexico City and had an important document for the presidio commander
Juan Bautista de Anza –the document provided permission to explore a land route to CA. After
sending a petition to the viceroy and waiting months for an answer, Anza could now assemble
a group of soldiers and head west. The courier Valdez had been in California four years
earlier, with the Portola expedition; there were already five missions and everyone knew they
were struggling. Anza was instructed to find a land route to the coast. The courier Valdez
would go along, and at San Gabriel, the first mission, he would head back to Mexico City some
1200 miles away with the journals.
Orders went out. Bring in the horse herd. Get new shoes on the animals and start
assembling the gear needed for such a trip. Tubac was a frontier presidio in Apache country,
and it did not take long for these sharp-eyed nomadic Indians to figure out what was going
on. They struck in the night and managed to run off hundreds of head of stock. Anza had to
be devastated. These were critical to his expedition and scrounging the countryside did little
to help offset his losses. Plans changed; now he would drop southwest into modern Sonora
and beg for horses and mules at the presidio at Altar. Father Garces from nearby San Javier
del Bac had been to the Colorado River by a couple of routes, and he and Anza had jointly
petitioned for permission to go to California. Going to Yuma from Altar with Garces along as a
guide would not be a big problem since he had been over the route, but he knew that it would
be difficult. Their route westward along the modern international border was nearly devoid of
water, and known as the highway of the devil.
Anza headed to Altar in early January, 1774, and to his chagrin learned that presidio had few
animals to spare. Great men often succeed when lesser men would be crushed by adversity
and losing his horse herd actually turned into some good luck for Anza. First, the route he
would be taking would allow the courier to learn the way, and he could return along the same
trail. Second, Anza ran into a version of Lewis and Clark’s Sacajawea. Three Indians at the
mission San Gabriel, originally from the Baja, had reportedly become homesick and decided to
make a break for freedom. They set out over the very route Anza was hoping to discover and
crossed the terrible desert in southern CA near the Imperial Sand Dunes. Lost and without
water, they struggled along and eventually two died. The third made it to the Indians living in
the Yuma area, more dead than alive and the Yuma Indians (today the Quechen) nursed him
back to health and took him to Caborca, near Altar, about the same time Anza arrived there.
What luck, he had just been over the same route Anza was getting ready to traverse. We
know him by his Spanish name, Sebastian, and it can only be imagined how much help this
Indian provided by pointing out water holes and later in California, showing Anza portions of
the actual route through the mountains in Anza Borrego State Park.
The trip was not easy, but eventually the little group made it to San Gabriel mission. Courier
Valdez probably got a new mule at the mission and headed back over the same route on his
way to Mexico City, with a companion or two. Once back at Altar, he was in Spanish territory
again, and further on at the presidio at Horcacitas (near modern Hermosillo) , he could head
south along well traveled roads. Since he was on king’s business, he must have been able to
trade for a fresh horse every day. He made the 1200 mile trip to Mexico City in 24 days,
averaging an amazing 50 miles per day. Anza pushed on into California along the coast and
checked out the trails from San Gabriel Mission to Carmel, where Father Junipero Serra had
his headquarters. Serra was not there when Anza arrived; he was just returning up the coast
from San Diego. He had been in Mexico City, where he had helped the cause and argued in
favor of the Anza exploration. He had gone by ship from San Diego and as usual it had been a
long, difficult and trying journey.
When Anza and his men returned to San Gabriel mission, they were either riding mules or
soon traded their worn out horses for mules as he wrote later, near Tucson, that they were all
riding mules and not comfortable about what might happen if Apaches should find them. Anza
left San Gabriel mission and went back across the mountains and desert to the Colorado River
at Yuma. Then he took a new route home; he went eastward up the Gila River to see what this
route would be like for colonists. Anza was hoping to get an assignment now to lead colonists
to California and actually start a new community there, San Francisco.
On mules the trip up the Gila River toward modern day Phoenix was an easy one for them.
They were trail hardened veterans, traveling light and traveling fast. They did pause along
the way at an Indian Village that Anza called San Bernardino. We know at this point they were
on the north side of the Gila, because the next day Anza wrote that they passed a hot springs.
The springs were already known as Agua Caliente and they bear the same name today.
Continuing on to the east, they passed through the area of modern day Gila Bend and then
reached the “middle Gila” and the Indian villages there just south of modern day Phoenix.
This is where we will leave Anza, as he will go on to Tubac and eventually Mexico City.
Father Garces and his wanderings on the return trip in 1774
We want to go back now to Agua Caliente with the padre Garces. But to understand the story,
we have to look at the journals. There were actually three people on the expedition keeping
journals, and H. H. Bolton published five volumes about Anza and his expeditions in 1930. In
Vol II, Bolton gave us first hand accounts of Anza, father Diaz and father Garces as they
returned in May, 1774. Anza wrote on May 18 that they stopped at a village of about 100
Cocomaricopa Indians and since there was a Papago or Pima among them, the interpreter with
Anza had no trouble communicating. Anza said he named the village San Bernardino and
noted that from Monte Rey to the first village of the Cocomaricopas and the site of San
Bernardino on the Gila River, it was 221 leagues (roughly 660+ miles).
On May 19, he said at daybreak that he ascended the same river on the bank opposite the one
he followed the day before, and at a distance of five leagues from San Bernardino passed a
good spring of hot water, known as Agua Caliente….besides these five leagues, three more
were traveled until he halted for the night. Anza did not mention the name of the camp site on
the 24th, Diaz will tell us the name though. Anza did tell us that on the 23rd he had been
traveling on the south side of the river, and was now on the north side. We know this
because the hot springs are actually a couple of miles north of the Gila River. He did not
describe the crossing but it would normally be south and west of Texas Hill and close to the
Mohawk Mountains.
Now let’s look at the journal of father Diaz. On May 18, he said they halted at a village of
Cocomariocopas, near the river and by us called San Bernardino. He went on to say this was
the first village since they left the Colorado River and the reason is the “continuous war
waged by this tribe with that of the Yumas….” On the 19th he said after traveling ten leagues,
they camped at El Aritoac. Diaz did not mention the hot springs but did name the camp site,
very near the vicinity of the Oatman incident in 1851.
What about father Garces and his journal? Garces did not like to write, and in a section in Vol
II entitled “Garces’s Diary of his Detour to the Jalchedunes” he began :
“After the extraordinary courier set out with the reports of the expedition down to the 25th of
last April (when the courier Valdez headed back to Mexico City)……I do not wish to molest by
repeating the story of our return up the Gila, for this has been told by the commander and
Father Fray Juan Diaz.”
A book was published in 1900 about father Garces, by Elliot Coues; “ON THE TRAIL OF A
SPANISH PIONEER: GARCÉS DIARY 1775-6.” While Garces did not write anything about this
portion of the return trip, Coues described the route here based on Anza and Diaz, and left
his impression of the route in his footnotes. The following excerpts were taken from a couple
of the footnotes in his book:
Aritoac…we are brought today exactly to the most notorious spot on this portion of the Gila-no
other than Oatman’s Flat, sad scene of the massacre of Feb 18, 1851….
Agua Caliente…in the close vicinity of King Woolsey’s ranch (He was a famous character in AZ
a generation ago. I knew him in Prescott in 1864-65…)…long noted spring seems to have
escaped Father Kino; but it has been known since 1744, when Sedelmair speaks of it
unmistakably as at or near a Cocomaricopa rancheria he called Dueztumac. Sedelmair’s
Dueztumac appears to be the same rancheria …called San Bernardino….
This was interesting, but by itself doesn’t tell us a lot. In an earlier book, “History of Arizona
and New Mexico” by Bancroft (a facsimile of his 1889 edition), he also noted the rancheria
called Dueztumac. Fortunately he gave more information. Father Sedelmair, he noted, had
traveled along the Gila River in 1744 and Bancroft actually listed all the villages he
encountered from about Phoenix to Agua Caliente. His final village at Agua Caliente was
Dueztumac.
Then a book about Jacobo Sedelmayr was consulted. It had been translated and annotated by
Peter Masten Dunne and published in 1955. He also listed the villages that Sedelmair noted in
1744, but there was no mention of Dueztumac, although his final entry was Tumac. It was not
until the two lists of villages were compared that the mystery was solved. Bancroft must have
been a little sloppy in his rendition and Coues went along with him. Dunne gave us the last
two villages as Turbach Duoz, and Tumac. Bancroft said they were Turburch and Dueztumac. I
favor Dunne, because Bancroft had the name Tuburch standing alone in two different places,
and Dunne said the villages were actually Tuburch Tucsass, and Tuburch Duoz.
Anza said the village San Bernardino was the first they had encountered from Yuma, and we
know from his journal that it was west of Agua Caliente. He said they rode by the hot springs
the following day going east. And Sedelmair in his journal said when he left the hot springs in
1744 going west, he did not see another village. So how did he miss it? It is interesting to
consider that Anza could not find it either, when he went west in 1775 with the colonists. He
sent Font ahead with instructions to wait at the village with the understanding he would bring
the colonists there later. Font rode over twenty five miles that day without seeing a soul, and
Anza never did catch him. Anza had to send soldiers with food for the padre from his camp
further back. And Anza did not see the village either.
So how did they all miss the village? The easiest explanation is that Anza was careless in 1774
and transposed his distances from the village to Agua Caliente and then from there to
Aritoac. This is obvious once the real village site is known. It was situated near a lagoon of
permanent water, some distance north of the river. The second point is that Anza must have
forgotten they were not on the river at the village in 1774, and in 1775 everyone must have
left Agua Caliente and headed SW toward the Gila River, and then followed it westward.
Hence they would easily have missed the village. An alternate explanation is that it was a
seasonal village, and no one was there in 1775 so they simply did not recognize the site. At
any rate, the village has remained a mystery for over two hundred years.
Comparison of the ramblings of Seidlemair (1740s) with Garces in 1774
There is an additional story of interest that emerges now, when we compare the journal of
Father Garces in 1774 with the information recorded by Sedelmair about his wanderings thirty
years earlier. At the villages in the vicinity of modern Gila Bend, father Garces must have
decided to explore a little more. He wanted to send word to or even reach the Hopi villages
in NE Arizona and establish a land route from the Gila to the settlements in New Mexico, and
Anza must have said “go for it.” The problem was that Garces could not get any of the local
Indians to guide him in a direct line to the Hopi villages; they all said it was too dangerous.
The Yavapai occupied a huge area of Arizona at that time and often joined forces with the
Apache. None of the Gila Indians seemed to have the courage to head through this hostile
territory. So Garces turned his mule around and headed back to Agua Caliente.
From the Indians and the former Jesuit Sedelmair, Garces knew he could reach the Colorado
River on a trail from Agua Caliente (the trail reached the Colorado River just a little south of
modern day Blythe). He then wanted to travel north on the Colorado to near modern day Lake
Havasu, and then head east to the Grand Canyon and on to the Hopi villages. This route was
feasible because it would skirt the Yavapai lands on the north side of their territory and it was
not as crazy as it sounds. He actually made this trip two year later, after first crossing the
Mohave Desert and reaching San Gabriel mission. Then from there he went north over the
“Grapevine” into the Bakersfield area, and then back over Tehachapi Pass, back across the
Mohave desert and reached the Colorado River near Needles. His companion on much of this
epic journey in 1776 was our unsung hero, Sebastian.
But in 1774, Garces did not have Sebastian as his companion for some reason and was on his
own. He was able to talk the Indians at Agua Caliente into leading him to the Colorado over
the same trail that Sedelmair had taken thirty years earlier, and then after exploring northward
on the Colorado, decided to call it quits and head back home to his mission, San Javier del
Bac. He had no money and was virtually out there with only the clothes on his back. He did
manage though to get an Indian to guide him back to Agua Caliente. Here is his journal entry
about the trip:
“Finally, the great assistance given me by these Indians, the joy which they manifested on my
arrival at any of their houses, the care to give me abundant provisions when I set out to
return, are worthy of my greatest appreciation. They furnished me some servants to return
with me, but since I had nothing with which to repay them (a thing the most embarrassing for
any one who receives favors from such people), I chose one who alone accompanied me to
the Tutumaopas near Agua Caliente and who served me as cook. He carried a fire brand in
one hand all the way, and it did not go out. In the other hand he carried a stick with which to
drive the horse, which could not hurry for lack of shoes, especially where there were stones.
And besides all this he carried a jug of water on his head, enduring thirst in order that I might
not suffer, and all this with a smiling face. Who will say that this Indian is a savage? And who
will not praise a service of such qualities?”
The sentence about the fire brand is highlighted and we’ll come back to this later. But who
was this father Garces? First of all, he was not a Jesuit, he was a Franciscan. The Jesuits had
spiritual rights to this region until 1767, when they were all arrested and returned like
criminals to Europe. Franciscans were then given permission to serve God and the Crown in
the upper Pimeria.
Elliot Coues explained in his book that Garces was born in the Villa de Morata del Conde, in
the Reyno de Aragon (Spain) April 12, 1738. His baptized name the following day was given as
Francisco Tomas Hermenegildo (disciple of San Francisco). His father Juan Garzes and
mother Antonia Maestro sent him to an uncle named Mosen Domingo Garces, curate of the
same city. At age 15 he sought holy orders in the Province of Aragon and prelates soon set
him to his studies; approved in philosophy he was sent to the convent of the Ciudad de
Calatayud to study theology. There were customary walks at the convent to the fields for
freedom of debate, but Garzes would seek poor laborers and propound and explain the divine
mysteries and catholic truths. One story about him was that a poor potter that made tiles
listened as though he were an oracle; when he became ill and near death would only confess
to Padre Garzes. He was ordained at age 25; begged to be a missionary for the Colegio de la
Santa Cruz de Queretaro.
His request was granted and he set off immediately on foot to Madrid with Padre Fray Juan
Crysostomo Gil. Soon he was at the college (in 1763) at age 28. Diligent in the service of the
choir and other offices; too young to confess women but indefatigable with men and
especially boys, he begged to go to the missions of Sonora,. Request granted again so in
1767 he was off to Tepique for three months of waiting for a boat. He departed from San Blas
Jan 20, 1768 and typical of the times, it was another stormy 3 ½ months before he set foot at
Guaymas. The group all went together to the Presidio de Horcasitas, where he was assigned
to San Xavier del Bac, some 20 leagues from Tubac (actually much closer). He arrived there
June 30, 1768 as determined from letters which he wrote. The 1st was to Anza on July 29 and
stated his arrival; the 2nd to Gov Pineda the same day; the 3rd to same on Feb 21, 1769; the
4th same dated July 23, 1769. His description of San Jaxier del Bac: “The water is alkaline and
the air is constipating; all who go there are subject to sever chills and fevers and many die.”
Now that we know a little about the Franciscan Garces, let’s go back in time and look at the
history of a couple of earlier Jesuits in the region. Father Kino was born in modern day Italy,
in the northern Alps and was well educated. He arrived in the alta Pimeria of northern Sonora
nearly 80 years earlier. A tireless explorer, he made numerous trips west toward the Colorado
River and proved in his own mind that California was not an island and could be reached by
land from Arizona. His headquarters were at Dolores in modern Sonora, and he was
instrumental in founding missions such as Tubutama (north of Altar), Tumacacori and San
Javier del Bac. He survived the 1st Pima uprising in 1694 and played a role in restoring peace
to the region. He died on the frontier in 1711, and was buried at Magdalena. When he traveled
along the Gila River, he never mentioned the hot springs, so it is assumed he traveled on the
south bank. We will see later that this was the “safer” route.
After Kino died, it was some 25 years before the intrepid Jesuit explorer Sedelmair was
assigned to the upper Pimeria. The following description of Father Sedelmair was taken from
the book by Peter Masten Dunne, entitled “Jacobo Sedelmayr, Missionary, Frontiersman,
Explorer in Arizona and Sonora 1744-1751.”
Jacobo Sedelmayr was born in Inhausen in Bavaria, Jan 6, 1703 and entered the Soc of Jesus
Sept 7, 1722 (Spain had lifted her ban on foreign missionaries in 1664). Sedelmayr went from
Munich to Cadiz, in Spain. His route from Munich took him south to Genoa, over Brenner Pass
(and surely near the village of father Kino). The normal route at Genoa was to board a ship to
Cadiz but he got off at Malaga and went by horse to Cadiz. He sailed Nov 22, 1735 and
reached Vera Cruz Feb 18. The ship was blown onto a sand bar the last day and he ended up
wading or swimming to shore. In 1736 he went to the mission of Tubutama, where he remained
the next sixteen years. His arrival there was 25 years after the death of Kino, and he took up
the same type of explorations as his predecessor. He survived the 2nd Pima uprising of 1751.
We have his journals and several letters and can take a look now at his descriptions of the
region and the Indians. Remember he preceded Anza and Garces on their journeys by
roughly thirty years. He kept a journal of a trip in Oct and Nov 1749, and noted some details
about his earlier trips (journals apparently not located to date). He said he set out from
Tubutama on Oct 13, 1749 with an escort of 15 soldiers and arrived on the 23rd at the Gila
River (his route across the desert was northward from Tubutama and he arrived at the Gila
River in the vicinity of Gila Bend). He said he preached to a crowd of about 300 Cocomaricopa
Indian men, and then moved downstream (west) to the village which he called San Felipe de
Upash. At this village he noted the presence of Indians from the Colorado River. He was
offered a recently captured slave boy (probably Yuman or Apache) by the Indians but he did
not have the ten mules they demanded, so they took the slaves to a village he called San
Marcello to sell them to the Pimas, who in turn would sell them to the Spaniards.
These villages as noted were on the Gila River in the vicinity of modern Gila Bend, and he
wrote that he then traveled nine leagues and slept on a river meadow of good pasture. The
next day he wrote that he plodded over the Sibupue Sierra to avoid a curve of the river:
“as they were descending they (his Indian guides) pointed out to us near the trail rocks which
had been painted or painted over with different kinds of figures, even with crosses.”
We know exactly his route here. He had gone along the river northwest of Gila Bend about 20
miles (nine leagues), and then cut across the hills just to the west. As he crossed the sierra,
he was following exactly the Painted Rock Road of today. He descended then to Painted
Rocks National Monument.
This next point is important regarding the Anza expedition route in 1775. Neither Anza nor
Font mentioned the painted rocks in their journals, and from their distances, it is most likely
they went the extra couple of miles around the curve of the river and never passed the
unusual rock carvings.
Next Sedelmair said they went back over to the Gila River and were refreshed with fish that
had just been caught. Their camp at the river would have been very close to Oatman Flat, the
scene of the 1851 Oatman massacre mentioned by Coues. Continuing, he wrote:
“Going on two leagues the following morning we arrived at the spot where in the trek of 1744
we left the Gila behind us and made straight for the Colorado forty leagues away.”
Here he tells about the trip he made in 1744 toward the Colorado, to a point just south of
Blythe, and we already learned that Garces traveled the same route in 1774. Sedelmair praised
the region as being almost a garden of Eden. Continuing on about ½ league:
“… came to a water hole containing hot water which had never been seen before…. The
waters soaked into the ground and created a cane brake and broad green pastures and good
fertile soil for the raising of corn, wheat, grapes and truck gardens. This fertile belt seems to
extend about two leagues to the banks of the river.”
The Gila River is actually closer than his two leagues of roughly 5 miles but it is still several
miles (and it may have been further south then). He went on suggesting it would be a great
spot for a mission:
“…..for it is the finest and most practical site that I have seen in the course of this journey. I
gave the rancheria a name: Santa Maria del Agua Caliente.”
Is this the same Agua Caliente that Font described?
“This place has a large hot water spring and small springs of not very good cold water, and
there also is grass – not however, very much of it and fairly despicable at that- reaching as far
as the river, which lies about two leagues away…It is an open spot having considerable view
around, but very scant qualifications for a settlement….”
At this point Sedelmair explained that he was losing his guides. Alexandro Cacuimtait was
going back home. He was a Pima, married into the Cocomaricopa tribe and understood both
languages. And another guide, El Bupugadam, was leaving with him. Here is the entry for Oct
27 where we learn about travel on the respective banks of the river:
“Although the Indians of the rancheria urged me not to go down to the Yumas, or if I did go, to
cross the Gila at this point and go along the south bank of the river which was more safe, I
nevertheless made up my mind to go down the north bank because I had never before
traversed that country.”
This entry is packed with information. The locals warned him not to go on the north bank (the
side of the river the hot springs was on) and said it was safer on the south side. That is
probably why Kino never mentioned the hot springs. The hot springs are several miles north
of the river so he probably never visited them. Sedelmair and his entourage went on down
the river and in three days of travel of ten leagues each (about 25 miles per day) they reached
the vicinity of the Colorado and said that they stayed near the river the whole time and did not
see any inhabitants. When a region is empty like this, it is a good indication there are warring
tribes at each end of the region. Sedelmair reached the junction of the Gila and the Colorado
on Oct 31, 1749 (vicinity of modern day Yuma) and he was not happy at the reception. He
managed to avoid trouble but soon turned back and high tailed it home to Tubutama.
Sedelmair wrote a report while in Mexico City in 1746 that sheds even more light on the
region. He described going to the Gila River in the vicinity of Casa Grande Ruins (now a
National Monument). He talked about his 1744 trip from the hot springs to the Colorado River,
where he went north along the Colorado to about the Bill Williams River. He somehow
learned that the headwaters of the Gila River were near the pueblo Acoma, in New Mexico and
noted there were Apaches along the upper stretches of the Gila River. He described the Gila
being joined by the Pima-Sobaipuri River (today’s San Pedro River, the junction is at
Winkleman) and said it was not known how far it was from there to the headwaters because it
had never been explored. He then said the distance from the San Pedro to Casa Grande was
twenty-two leagues (about 55 miles) and described the great ruins.
He also noted that south of the ruins six leagues (15 miles) was a reservoir built by the same
people that built the ruins. Kino and Manje noted the same reservoir around 1700 and placed
it in about the same location, but for some reason it has never been found. It is probably at or
very near Picacho Reservoir.
Going downstream from the ruins (west) he said there were three rancherias. The first he
called Fuquissan, then in 4 leagues Tussonimo and then shortly the Gila disappeared
underground in hot weather. Where it re-emerged was the great rancheria called Sudac-
sson. All raised corn, beans, squash and cotton, and at Sudac-sson they irrigated and also
raised wheat (introduced by Kino). He said a trail led northward straight to the Moqui but was
now dangerous because of the Apache. He related how Father Keller had tried to make this
trip in 1743 and lost most of his horses to the Apaches, making it difficult to return home.
Anza and Font visited these middle-Gila villages in 1775 with the expedition. Anza said the 1st
village where they camped was called Juturitucam, the 2nd Sutaquison and said they passed
a couple of others. Font called the villages San Juan Capistrano de Uturituc and La
Encarnacion de Sutaquison. In his journal found in the Vatican, Font named the two villages
they passed - San Andres and Atizon. Both he noted were smaller than Sutaquison).
The Gila River makes a great horseshoe bend to the north now to get around the Sierra
Estrella. Sedelmair said he traveled the whole bend in 1744 and noted a large number of
villages on the Gila after passing the confluence of the Rio de la Asuncion (in modern day
Phoenix, and which he noted was formed by the Salado and Verde; the latter two rivers still
bear the names Salt and Green).
From the fork he suggested that it was 12 leagues (about 30 miles) to the first village and then
there was one after another all the way to Agua Caliente, which he noted was the end of the
Cocomaricopa villages. The total distance occupied by villages he estimated at 36 leagues
(about 90 miles).
He explained that he used a Guicamopa as an interpreter, although on his trip in 1744 he had
taken a Yuma Christian Indian that had been captured by the Cocomaricopas and sold to the
Pimas. In turn the Indian had been sold to the Spaniards and was loaned to him for the trek.
Very interesting was his description of the Cocomaricopas living at the Colorado River at the
end of the trail from Agua Caliente. He described then as kindly folks and said they provided
him with large quantities of food – watermelons, squash, calabash, and beans of different
colors; maize and other grains.
Best of all though he told us a little bit about the local Indians and their habits:
“The dress of the men is that of innocence. Yet in many places after the fathers came and
because of their teachings, the natives have woven good blankets from the large amount of
cotton which was given them to plant. With these garments many now clothe themselves,
especially when they have to appear in my presence. Many of these blankets they sell to our
Pimas for horses, knives, petticoats, pack-needles and the rest. When it is cold their blanket
consists of a lighted torch which they hold near their stomachs. Thus they trudge along in the
mornings. But when the day grows warm, say about eight o’clock, they throw it away. Along
the trails one sees many a discarded torch, which can serve as a guide for the wayfarer, so
that all these streams could be called Rivers of the Torch.”
Thirty years later, these same friendly Indians made the same impression on Father Garces;
remember how he explained that one carried a firebrand, pushed his horse along, and carried
water on his head. Amazing what savages they were!
Post script: For purists, here is my attempt at reproducing the renditions of the villages as
given first by Bancroft in the 1880s (History of AZ and NM) and then Dunne in 1955. Some
letters and punctuation have been highlighted to illustrate the differences in the two
sources.
Bancroft:
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.
Dunne:
Stuc Cabitic, Norcheam Gohate, Noscario Guiass, Cocoigui, Tuessapit, Comarch Dut, Jajahaye,
Tuburhcaborh, Pipiaca, Oxitahibuiss, Aycatum, Pitaca, Sonacdut, Aopo Mue, Arihiaqui, Cohate,
S. Felipe de Upash, Arotutoc, Urchaoytac, Tubutbabia, Tahapit, Amoque, Shohotarcham, Aqui,
Tuburch Tucsass, Cuaburidurch, Oytac, Toha,Caborica, Cuduri Muhitac, Sudac Ssasabac, Si
Bupue, Aycate, Aquimuridurch, Toac Dut, Tuburch Duoz, and Tumac.Several village names
show up in the Anza expedition. Arotutoc, San Felipe Uparch, Urchaoytac, etc. but it is
interesting the village name Si Bupue became in Sedelmair’s travels a sierra that he
traversed to get to the Painted Rocks (Sibupue Sierra) in 1749.
In conclusion, I don’t believe Tumac (or Dueztumac) is the same village as San Bernardino.
The first reason is that it was the last village that Sedelmair mentioned at Agua Caliente and it
is not clear if the name we have is even correct. In addition, Sedelmair said that in going west
down the river no inhabitants were encountered. Hence he surely did not see the village. And
finally, the lost village of San Bernardino is far enough from the river that it could easily have
been missed by travelers descending the river (going west). Since there was a trail from a
bend in the river to the village as travelers went east, it was apparently more natural to head
to the village going eastward.
There is surely more that can be gleaned from all this, but it has taxed my mental capacity to
get this far. AND something has to be left for future historians.
An Indian Village on the Anza Trail, but not
necessarily that of Dueztumac.