Ancient Casa Grande Ruins of the Hohokam People

Ancient Casa Grande ruins are south of one of the branches of the Gila River. Here the Hohokam people built an extensive network of canals, farms, and cities. In 1694 Father Kino, working his way along the trading routes toward modern-day Phoneix, first documented the ruins of a great four-story high adobe structure. Father Kino gave the structure the name Casa Grande or the great house.

Hohokam people

After thriving for more than a thousand years and being visited by the Hohokam people for at least 1400 years, the people were gone and left the great network of canals and farms abandoned. These canals were more extensive than any in the Americas and totaled more than 100 miles, all dug without the aid of metal tools. These stories are the same throughout the southwest. Spanish explorers find empty cities. With the exception of a few remaining families of descendants, everyone was gone.

Ancestral Sonoran Desert people

Hohokam wasn’t really the name of the ancient people, but rather a term describing the situation. Hohokam in the Piman language groups (spoken by the Pima tribes) means “used up” or “exhausted”. The indication of the name was to describe the farmland as no longer viable.

Currently, the most accepted name for the Hohokam people is Ancestral Sonoran Desert People. The Pima O’Odham, Hopi, and Zuni claim to be descendants of these ancestral people. This story is similar to the stories of the Ancestral Pueblo People, who not long ago were known as the Anasazi. Descendants of these Ancestral Pueblo People mostly include the Navajos and Puebloans. While there is some overlap generally, the Ancestral Pueblo People occupied areas to the north and east of the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People.

Father Kino

Father Kino was a Jesuit Priest sent to found missions in the new world. In 1694, Father Kino was following the traditional trading routes exploring to the north starting from Mexico City. He traveled all the way to California. Following the traditional trading routes to the north was not new to the Spanish. Cortez, more than one hundred years prior, explored much the same way. Anza, mentioned in our previous article Seeking Early Spring Wildflowers in the Anza-Borrego Desert also followed traditional trading routes, including a visit to Casa Grande.

Father Kino’s Maps

Kino’s maps of the locations were so accurate that more than one hundred years following his death they were still being used. Casa Grande was along one of these trading routes and noted on Kino’s maps. The maps were great for the time, but included some unresolved errors. Including errors that concluded that Baja California and other parts of California were islands. New map makers gradually changed these maps to represent more current knowledge. The map below is a combination of Kino’s work and some revisions.

This is a picture of a reprint of Father Kino’s maps of the area. The Sea at the bottom is what we call the Gulf of California. Rio Colorado is noted and named by Kino. The river named Rio Azul is likely the Salt River cutting across Phoenix.

Landmarks

The reason these landmarks, like Casa Grande, were included on maps, was to aid orientation. Some of these features could be seen from vast distances. Picahco Peak, directly south of Casa Grande is one of these. It has a distinctive shape and can be seen for at least thirty miles. To get to Casa Grande, turn north on the west side of Picahco Peak and travel due north until you see Casa Grande. Casa Grande is about two miles south of the Gila River.

This picture is a close-up of Father Kino’s depiction of Casa Grande. I assume that Picacho Peak is depicted to the north. The purpose of this map was a map of the missions.

For you and me, Casa Grande is located just to the north of the town of Coolidge.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument is about 90 acres of land that includes the ancient buildings and remnants of the canals. The Hohokam people irrigated a vast area including the area inside the monument. Most of the ancient canals are invisible and are now buried under modern farms.

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison dedicated Casa Grande as the first prehistoric and cultural reserve in the United States. President Woodrow Wilson re-designated it as a national monument. Between 1937 and 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps built some additional adobe buildings using traditional methods to serve as administration buildings.

Since 1903 Casa Grande, has been covered by a shelter to help preserve the adobe structure.

Our visit

As we traveled east from the Yuma valley heading towards Tucson, we stopped again at Picahco Peak State Park. For us, it is more than a landmark, it is a super great place to visit and camp. During this visit, we were overwhelmed at how green Picahco Peak looked, including all the cacti that looked well watered.

The desert wildflowers that we first started seeing in Anza Borrego State park have been getting more brilliant and more frequent. Since it was the end of February during our visit to Picahco Peak State Park, we only hiked a couple of times. While there we visited the Casa Grande Ruins by driving north from the town of Picahco to Coolidge. We didn’t know what we would find and were presently surprised at how intact a nine-hundred-year-old adobe structure could be.

Please subscribe and join us on our journey

We will add you to our email list and send you updates about once a week. Here is a link. Subscribe

About our links

As you know, our blog income is zero – this allows us to be independent and just tell the truth.  We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements.  We don’t make recommendations but instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.

Links

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Seeking Early Spring Wildflowers in the Anza-Borrego Desert

Campsite Review: Picacho Peak Campground