Casa Grande

By Dawn Snell and Casa Grande Valley Historical Society

Casa Grande, Arizona, is located on desert and farmland between Tucson and Phoenix and began as the end of an unfinished railroad line thus its early name, Terminus. On May 19, 1879, when early summer heat halted construction of the railroad in what would soon become Casa Grande, only three buildings and five residents constituted the town. The names reflect the ethnic diversity of the sparse population: Buckalew, Ochoa, Smith, Watzlavocki, and Fryer. In September 1880, executives of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company named the town Casa Grande after the prehistoric Hohokam Indian ruins located 20 miles to the east. This volume illustrates how a desert railroad stop grew into a city. Today, as Casa Grande s population increases, new neighborhoods, schools, malls, and entertainment venues provide exciting new reasons for living here. However, as the population grows, the town struggles to retain its identity as an agricultural community.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Nov 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781439649824

Dawn Snell

Knowledgeable Casa Grande Valley Historical Society members have kept the history of the city alive through artifacts, exhibits, oral histories, and photographs. The photographs selected for this publication come from the extensive archives of the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society and through the generosity of past and current residents.

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Society.

INTRODUCTION

Today, Casa Grande is a growing city located along Interstate 10 in south-central Arizona. Interstate 10 is the latest trail in the area, but through the years, trails meant many things, ranging from the footpaths of prehistoric inhabitants to historical trade routes, and from cattle trails to railroads. Although early Casa Grande was not yet a city, or even a final destination, the area was well traversed through the centuries.

Before man inhabited the Casa Grande Valley, it was covered with water and then with a grassland environment that provided forage for a variety of large fauna—among them bison, wolf, giant sloth, mammoth, and camelops. Thus, animal paths were the first trails created in the Casa Grande Valley.

About 9500 BC, Paleo-Indians wandered into this desert grassland, sustaining themselves by hunting the big game that flourished here. Eventually, the Hohokam (an Akimel O’Odham word meaning those who have gone or all used up) moved into the region. The Hohokam or Huhugam were sedentary farmers who lived in the Sonoran Desert from about 300 BC to roughly 1450 AD. Their territory extended from Mexico to Prescott and from Yuma to Apache Junction. These desert dwellers created a complex society whose most amazing accomplishment was their hand-dug irrigation canal system. This system was one of the first man-made trails in the area. To date, more than 1,000 miles of their canals have been found. Many of today’s canals follow the same system that the Hohokam created all those centuries ago.

The Pima Indians, descendants of the Hohokam, traveled to the Gulf of California primarily to gather salt, and in the process, they collected seashells that they made into jewelry. These early traders followed a path that ran between Table Top in the Maricopa Mountains and the western portion of what would eventually be Casa Grande.

Early historical trails to and through Casa Grande were largely north-south trade routes from Mexico and places farther south. Turquoise, obsidian, pottery, and exotic bird feathers were common exchange items along the trails. Even a liquor trail has been identified coming through Casa Grande and on to Maricopa Wells.

The 1500s through the 1700s saw the arrival and passage of explorers such as Fray Marcos de Niza, Fr. Eusebio Kino, Fray Francisco Garces, and Juan Bautista de Anza. They were followed by fur trappers and traders in the 1800s. These mountain men established the first routes that ran east to west as they plied their trade between the mountains of New Mexico and the Pacific Coast. They are thought to be the first Anglo Americans to arrive in Arizona territory.

In the early 1800s, several military outposts were established to protect settlers from marauding Indians. The presence of these posts precipitated the need for consistent communication services, thus, the military telegraph system was built. The telegraph system connected military posts in southern New Mexico through Casa Grande and as far north as Prescott and Camp Verde before continuing west to San Diego. This was another type of trail that was instrumental in the establishment of new cities in the Wild West.

By the 1830s, several small mines were being developed in the area. Supply and ore wagons pulled by horses or mules traveled old Indian trails and established trails of their own as they transported material throughout the region.

By the mid-1800s, stagecoach lines, several of which followed old Indian trails, linked cities in the East with the West Coast. Many of the lines ran through or near Casa Grande. The Butterfield Overland Mail run, which began semiweekly mail and transport service between Missouri and California, passed through the Casa Grande Valley. Eventually, the stage coach business was relegated to short lines that connected settlements to each other.

In 1846, a war with Mexico began. The Mexican-American War provided an opportunity for the Corps of Topographical Engineers to map the Gila Trail, which in future years became a major route for gold seekers as they made their way to California.

After the war with Mexico ended (1848) and the Gadsden Purchase was completed (1854), American explorers and surveyors traversed the region. One of their more important undertakings was a survey to determine a southern railroad route from California to the East. Following the completion of two major east-west oriented transcontinental railroads, there remained a need for additional rails. This was especially true for mining companies and their suppliers, who had to travel great distances using horse- or mule-drawn wagons to haul supplies and ore.

Following the creation of the Arizona Territory in 1863, settlers began to establish homes in the area. The first modern irrigation canal in the Casa Grande Valley was constructed in 1864, and as irrigation increased, so too did the amount of land devoted to farming.

In 1879, the largest trail through the region was created as the Southern Pacific Railroad line from Yuma to points east halted construction in the middle of the desert. As a temporary stop, the place was called Terminus just like other temporary stops had been. In 1880, this particular stop was named Casa Grande after the prehistoric Hohokam Indian ruins located about 20 miles away. Once the railroad was established, horse- and mule-drawn wagons largely gave way to the expediency of trains. A few stage lines remained active as short runs, bringing customers to newly constructed depots.

The railroad hastened the growth of the town as it became a major supply point for the mines. The railroad transported mining supplies and equipment into the city, and ore from the mines was sent elsewhere for processing. In addition, as more wells were dug and farming increased in importance, Casa Grande was becoming known as a farming community. Farm equipment was brought to the city, and excess food was shipped out via the railroad.

World Wars I and II played a large role in the development of the region, especially as cotton became an important crop. The military listed about 11,000 uses for cotton products. Because food was also needed by the military, the farming community around Casa Grande expanded and grew more crops to support that need.

Livestock became a major growth industry after World War II, with more than 35 feed lots in Pinal County. Cotton growing and