Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1885 — An Ancient American City. [ARTICLE]

An Ancient American City.

Tucson, Arizona, is an ancient city. Antedating Jamestown and Plymouth, and first visited in 1540 by Coronado, it saw its first European settlers in 1560, and its first missionaries in 1581. But long before the year 1540 there was an Indian village established on the site of the present city, so that the Tucsonians can, if they please, claim an age for their town as great as Santa Feans claim for theirs. For all practical purposes, however, 1540 is a date sufficiently far away, and if Tncson only continues to improve with age, or becomes as good as she is old, much may be expected of the place. Built by the Spaniards, who brought so mucn religion to the people whom they conquered, San Xavier (San Havier) is today one of the largest, as it is one of the best preserved, of all the churches built during the years of the Spanish occupancy 6f the Southwest. Biding from Tucson for nine miles up the valley of the Santa Cruz River, one has glimpses from time to time through the groves of olive, oak, and meskete trees of the white walls and graceful towers of the church as they stand clearly outlined against the sky beyond. It was down this valley of the Santa Cruz, which is to-day attracting so much attention as an agricultural section, that , Cpronado marched on his way from old Mexico in 1540, and before the advent of this intrepid explorer and ever since the valley has been inhabited by the Papago Indians, whose adobe honses with thatched roofs are scattered along the road leading to the mission.— Tombstone Epitaph.