mentioned in Spanish
history in the narrative of Castaneda, in 1540. The Spanish expedition
of Coronado in search of gold stopped here awhile, and washed some gold
from the sands of the Canon del Oro on sheep skins. It is well known
that that expedition drove sheep. The Spaniards, from this experience,
remembering the island of Colchis, named the place Tucson,--Jason in
Spanish. The "ancient and honorable pueblo" has borne this name ever
since, without profound knowledge of its origin.

The patron saint of Tucson is San Augustine, and as it was now the last
of August the fiesta in honor of her patron saint was being celebrated.

As we had a long march and a dry time, the animals were sent out to
graze in charge of the Papago Indians living around the Missions; two
weeks' furlough was given the men to attend the fiesta, confess their
sins, and get acquainted with the Mexican senoritas, who flocked there
in great numbers from the adjoining State of Sonora.

Music and revelry were continued day and night, with very few
interruptions by violence. The only disorder that I observed was caused
by a quarrel among some Americans, and the use of the infernal revolver.
There were not more than a dozen Americans in the pueblo of Tucson when
we arrived, and they were not Methodist preachers. The town has grown
with the country, and now contains a population of nearly ten thousand
people, of many shades of color and many nationalities.

The first question to be settled was the location of a headquarters for
the company. We had come a long way, at considerable risk and expense,
and fortunately without disaster. We were now encamped in view of the
scene of our future operations, and the exploration and settlement of a
territory of considerably over a hundred thousand square miles was
before us, and the destiny of a new State was in embryo. It would not be
prudent to expose the lives of the men and valuable property we had
hauled so far to the cupidity of the natives; and therefore a safe place
for storage and for defense was the first necessity in selecting a
headquarters. We had some hundred and fifty horses and mules, wagons,
ambulances, arms, provisions, merchandise, mining, material,--and
moreover, what we considered of inestimable value, the future,--in our
keeping, and a proper location was a grave consideration.

The Spaniards had located a presidio at the base of the Santa Rita
Mountains on the Santa Cruz River, a stream a