The Repair Of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891 - Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the - Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893-94, - Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 315-348 by Cosmos Mindeleff
page 7 of 58 (12%)
page 7 of 58 (12%)
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is unique in that the walls are still standing to a height of more than
25 feet. While fragments of standing wall are not uncommon, either in the area mentioned or in the valleys of Gala and Salt rivers generally, no other example exists, so far as known, so well preserved as the one under consideration. For miles around Casa Grande the ground surface is so flat that from the summit of the walls an immense stretch of country is brought under view in every direction. In the whole southwest, where there are thousands of ruins, many of which represent villages located with especial reference to outlook, there are few, if any, so well situated as this. A ground plan of the ruin is shown in plate CXII and a general view in plate CXIV. The area covered and inclosed by standing walls is about 43 by 59 feet, but the building is not exactly rectangular, nor do its sides exactly face the cardinal points, notwithstanding many published statements to that effect. The building comprised three central rooms, each approximately 10 by 24 feet, arranged side by side with the longer axes north and south, and two other rooms, each about 9 by 35 feet, occupying, respectively, the northern and southern ends of the building, and arranged transversely across the ends of the central rooms, the longer axes running east and west. Excepting the central tier of rooms, which was three stories high, all the walls rose to a height of two stories above the ground. The northeastern and southeastern corners of the structure have fallen, and large blocks of the material of which they were composed are strewn upon the ground in the vicinity. The exterior walls rise to a height of from 20 to 25 feet above the ground. This height accommodated two stories, but the top of the wall is from 1 to 2 feet higher than the roof level of the second story. The |
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