The Mystery in Arizona

Babs began, “did you know that most of our people think the name Arizona came from the Papago word aleh-zon, meaning ‘small spring’? And did you know that the origin of the name Tucson is a Pima Indian word, stjukshon? It means ‘where the water is dark at the foot of the black mountain,’ or ‘the land of the dark spring.’ ”
    No, Trixie admitted. “I didn’t discover those facts when I studied up on Arizona for a theme I had to write last year. I thought that Arizona came from the Aztec word arizuma, meaning ‘rich in silver.’ ”
    “Many people will agree with you,” Babs said. “And there are still some who think that the name comes from aridazona, ‘arid zone,’ and that it was so named by the great Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez Coronado, because he was so disappointed in his search for the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. But anyone who has studied the Spanish language knows that you would not describe an arid zone as aridazona.”
    “Those Seven Cities of Cibola really were mythical, weren’t they?” Honey asked. “And the whole myth started because what the Indians thought of as a great city was not at all the same thing that the Spaniards had in mind. They expected to find great cities like their own Madrid and Seville.”
    “Oh, more than that,” Trixie put in. “They expected to find streets paved with gold and huge mansions of silver studded with precious stones. And what they found was a small town consisting of pueblos made of mud and twigs. What started out as a sixteenth-century gold rush ended up as the mirage to end all mirages. I can t imagine,” she finished, “how the whole thing got so frightfully exaggerated.”
    “I can,” Babs replied with a smile. “It is because we Indians are such very simple people. What seems like poverty to other nations is richness to us. One reason why my people have survived is because we are satisfied with so little.” She added proudly, “Up until the middle of the last century, when the Gadsden Purchase became effective, a great many Americans still called all of present Arizona ‘Apacheria.’ ”
    Trixie nodded understandingly. “At first Arizona was a part of the territory of New Mexico. I remember reading that. The Territory of Arizona wasn’t born until 1863, and it didn’t become a state until almost fifty years later. Even then I’m quite sure Tucson still consisted mostly of adobe huts, didn’t it ? ”
    “It was more of a small fortress,” Babs replied. “It was subject always to raids by my ancestors, who, quite naturally, objected to the presence of the interlopers—Spanish, Mexican, and American. At the end of the Mexican War in 1848, Tucson still belonged to Mexico. But to get to California via the southern route, gold-seekers had to pass through that part of Mexico.
    “Tucson—they pronounced it Tuhjon —was the only important city between Texas and California, if you can call such a small stopover place a city. Many of those who arrived in covered wagons were too weary to continue on westward, and they stayed within the walls of the village. Others stayed simply because they were afraid to continue on across vast areas which then were south of the Mexican border, where they could not count on protection from the Apaches by the United States Army.” She smiled without really smiling. “It is undoubtedly true that many of those who did continue on to California were treated cruelly by my ancestors, but it is equally true that my ancestors were doing nothing more than trying to defend their own land.”
    “That’s certainly true!” Di exclaimed. “I don’t know much about the history of Arizona, but Geronimo was always one of my favorite Indian heroes, and I think he was treated very unfairly by the Americans.”
    The attractive young stewardess shrugged. “There are always two sides to every story. So let’s get back to Tucson and why I feel it was always more of a fortress than a village. You probably know that for a long time there was no law and order there, and a great many of the badmen of the West used it as a hideout It was not occupied by American troops until 1856, and those Union soldiers were withdrawn at the outbreak of the Civil War. In February, 1862, it was occupied by Confederate cavalry but they abandoned it soon, and in May of that year the Stars and Stripes again flew over the town.”
    “But it really was always a small city,” Trixie argued. “I remember reading