Casa Grande Ruins

Since about 300 AD hunter gatherer peoples lived in permanent settlements in this area near the flowing Gila River. Using stone and wooden tools to dig canals they became desert farmers.

In the fourteenth century this structure was built from the local mud. The four walls were facing the cardinal points of the compass and a circular hole in the west wall aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice

In 1694 a Spanish missionary, Father Kino, discovered this structure and named it "Casa Grande" the Great House. It became the nation's first architectural reserve in 1892 and became a National Monument in 1918. A steel roof structure was built in 1932 to protect the mud Great House. Now the roof structure is old enough to have been designated an Historic Building.

Dam Projects in the 1920's caused surface water in the river to disappear. Now a concrete canal system transports water from the Colorado River near this structure going onward to Southern Arizona farms and cities. An idea developed in ancient times, applied in modern times.

Tomorrow we will wend our way North for a two night stay at Grand Canyon.