DESCRIPTION.


THE CASA GRANDE GROUP.

The Casa Grande has been variously placed at from 2 leagues to 2 miles
south of Gila river. The writer has never traversed the distance from
the ruin to the river, but the ruin is about a mile from Walker ranch,
which is well known in that neighborhood, and about half a mile from the
river. This question, however, is not of much importance, as the ruin is
easily found by anyone looking for it, being located directly on one of
the stage routes from Casa Grande station, on the Southern Pacific
railroad, to Florence, Arizona, and about 9 miles below, or west of, the
latter place.

The name Casa Grande has been usually applied to a single structure
standing near the southwestern corner of a large area covered by mounds
and other débris, but some writers have applied it to the southwestern
portion of the area and even to the whole area. The latter seems the
proper application of the term, but to avoid confusion, where both the
settlement as a whole and that portion which has formed the theme of so
many writers are referred to, the settlement will be designated as the
Casa Grande group, and the single structure with standing walls as the
Casa Grande ruin.

Probably no two investigators would assign the same limits to the area
covered by the group, as the margins of this area merge imperceptibly
into the surrounding country. The accompanying map (plate LI) shows this
area as interpreted by the writer. The surface covered by well defined