s, and make excavations of all the mounds in the
vicinity for the purpose of learning the history of the wonderful
people who once lived here and erected the buildings and built
canals?
* * * * *
Very sincerely, yours,
Isaac T. Whittemore,
_Custodian Casa Grande_.

II. _Indorsement of the Mr Whittemore's by the Acting Secretary of the
Interior_

Department of the Interior,
_August 7, 1895_.

Respectfully referred to the Director of Bureau of Ethnology for
consideration of so much of within letter as relates to the Casa
Grande ruin, and such recommendation as the facts may warrant, and
report.

Wm. H. Sims,
_Acting Secretary_.

III. _Letter of the Acting Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology
to the Secretary of the Interior suggesting an examination of Casa
Grande with a view of its further protection_

Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology,
_Washington, August 28, 1895_.

Sir: Your request of August 7 for a report concerning a
recommendation by Reverend Isaac T. Whittemore, under date of July
25, that provision be made for further protecting Casa Grande ruin,
near Florence, Arizona, by the erection of a suitable roof, has been
under consideration.

In many respects Casa Grande ruin is one of the most noteworthy
relics of a prehistoric age and people remaining within the limits
of the United States. It was discovered, already in a ruinous
condition, by Padre Kino in 1694, and since that time it has been a
subject of record by explorers and historians. Thus its history is
exceptionally extended and complete. By reason of its early
discovery and its condition when first seen by white men, it is
known that Casa Grande is a strictly aboriginal structure; and
archeologic researches in this country and Mexico afford grounds for
considering it a typical structure for its times and for the natives
of the southwestern region. Many other structures were mentioned or
described by the Spanish explorers, but the impressions of these
explorers were tinctured by previous experience in an inhospitable
region, and their descriptions were tinged by the romantic ideas of
the age; very few of these structures were within the limits of the
United States, and nearly all of these situated in the neighboring
republic of Mexico disappeared long ago; there is hardly a structure
l