Tumacácori

National Historical Park Arizona Tumacacori National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Photograph by Edward McCain Mission to the Pimas When the Jesuit Eusebio Kino and his party approached the Pima settlement of Tumacacori in January 1691, they were riding the wave of a century of missionary expansion northward along New Spain's west coast corridor. The Jesuits had reaped tens of thousands of baptisms and made themselves the most powerful social and economic force in the region. But the tide carried them no further north than the Pimeria Alta, the home of the upper Piman Indians. It was here that Kino founded mission San Cayetano de Tumacacori on the east bank of the Santa Cruz River. The next day Mission San Gabriel was founded at Guevavi, 15 miles upriver. After Guevavi was made mission headquarters in 1701, the priest there periodically traveled to preach at Tumacacori and other visitas without resident t missionaries. Because the Spanish wete impressing Indians for forced labor in mines and on \ ranches, the Pimas southwest of Tumaca- cori rebelled in 1751. In sympathy those at Tumacacori fled to the hills. As a result, a 50-man presidio was founded at Tubac and the mission at Tumacacori was resettled on the west bank of the river. In 1767 King Charles III, for political reasons, abruptly banished the Jesuits from all his realms. The Franciscans who took over the missionary effort in Pimeria Alta inherited all the woes that had frustrated the Jesuits: restless neophytes, Apache hostility, disease, encroaching settlers, and lack of government support. The Tubac garrison was transferred to Tucson in 1776, and by 1786 only a hundred Indians remained at Tumacacori. The next year an 80-man Pima Indian company reoccupied Tubac, but as Apache pressure mounted, Calabazas and Guevavi were eventually abandoned. scaffolding still clung to the bell tower. The Indians and a few settlers, with the aid of visiting native-born Mexican priests, hung on for another 20 years, but a series of Apache raids and the hard winter of 1848 drove the last residents from Tubac and Tumacacori. The 157-year thread of continuity begun by Father Kino was broken. Missions and Presidios in Pimeria Alta 1690-1850 About 1800 Fray Narciso Gutierrez began building a large church to replace Tumacacori s modest Jesuit structure. But his mission's poverty and the Mexican wars for independence slowed construction, and when all Spanish priests were forced by a Mexican decree to leave the missions in 1828, the Padre on Horseback The mission at Tumacacori was sustained for a century and a half by members of two religious orders. Jesuit "blackrobes" laid the foundation and Franciscan friars carried on their work with the same courage and perseverance. In a climate of exploitation, they were often the only ones who had the Indians' interests at heart. Though he was never a resident priest at Tumacacori, one man is forever associated with the mission: Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. Born in 1645 to minor Italian nobility, Kino vowed to become a priest during a serious illness when he was 18. After his education in Italy and Germany, where he excelled in mathematics and astronomy, he joined the Jesuit order and was sent to Mexico in 1681. In his assignment in 1687 to the Pima Indians, he found his calling. Quickly establishing a mission at the Pima rancheria of Cosari, Kino expanded his reach throughout the Pimeria Alta. Both tough-minded and sensitive to the needs of the Pimas, he seemed born to the work. His understanding of Indian ways and lack of dogmatism won the confidence of his charges, and the relations he established with the Pimas set the standard for his successors. He astutely mixed practical help—introducing wheat, livestock, and fruit trees—with impressive church ritual and pageantry. When his travels took him to Tumacacori, Kino offered communion and baptized the Pima children. Kino criss-crossed the Pimeria Alta for 24 years, establishing missions, blazing new supply routes, and mapping the area for New Spain. Though he loved this kind of work, he also was an excellent administrator, returning often to the missions he had established and overseeing the work of the fathers under him. When Kino died in 1711, Spain lost one of its greatest missionaries. Nustration by Richard Wiiliams 1572 1691 1753 1821 1828 Indians kill pioneering Jesuit missionaries in Florida and on the Chesapeake Bay. These failures and a rebellion by Indians at a mission in what would become Carolina cause Jesuits to shift efforts from Atlantic seaboard to New Spain. Father Kino first visits Tumacacori and Guevavi at the request of Sobaipuri Indians from those two villages and from Bac. The Father Visitor accompanying him, impressed by this tribe of the Pima nation and their land, decides to expand the missionary effort there. I n response to the revolt, a presidio is built at Tubac and Tumacacori is moved to west side of river. Name is changed from San Cayetano de Tumacacori to San Jose de Tumacacori. Mexican Independence; construction of church resumes, but Spain withdraws aid to the missions, and work ceases. Mexico orders all Spanish missionaries to leave the country. Only native-born Mexican priests are left to care forthe missions, causing an extreme shortage of priest administrators. Tumacacori again becomes a visita. 1687 Father Eusebio Francisco Kino is first Jesuit missionary permanently assigned to Pimeria Alta. . , - i " i r t j ; . * . 1749 At Guevavi during the months of February and March, disease kills nearly two neophytes daily. 1751 Pima Revolt: Indians kill two priests and more than a hundred settlers and destroy buildings at several missions. Leader surrenders four months later. Emblem of Jesuit Order 1757 Emblem of Franciscan Order Early 1770s The new missionary builds a small church that will serve the residents for the next 65 years. Franciscans redecorate church, build adobe dwellings for Pimas, and wall in the mission. 1767-68 c. 1800 Jesuits are expelled from New Spain. Franciscans are assigned to former Jesuit missions. Franciscans begin building larger church. Lack of funds brings construction to a halt the same year. 1771 Mission headquarters is moved from Guevavi to Tumacacori; for the first time the mission has a resident priest. 1823 Final phase of church construction begins. 1848 War with Mexico cuts flow of supplies to area. Apache attacks are stepped up and the winter is one of the coldest on record. In December soldiers abandon Tubac and the last residents leave Tumacacori. 1853 Gadsden Purchase: Tumacacori site becomes part of United States. 1801 In June, an Apache attack nearly wipes out all of Tumacacori's flocks. Water gourd in Pima rope bag i GPO1995-387-038/0O265 National Historical Park Arizona Tumacacori National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior The River People "In San Cayetano \ Tumacacori] they had prepared us three arbors, one in which to say mass, another in which to sleep, and the third for a kitchen. " So w r o t e Father Kino of his first e n c o u n t e r with t h e Pimas at T u m a c a c o r i . Kino f o u n d t h e m "docile . . . affable . . . [and] industrious." Tumacacori and o t h e r rancherias in t h e easte r n part of t h e Pimeria A l t a w e r e p e r m a n e n t f a r m i n g s e t t l e m e n t s . T h e Pimas raised c o r n , beans, and squash in f i e l d s i r r i g a t e d w i t h water d i v e r t e d f r o m rivers, s u p p l e m e n t i n g their d i e t w i t h h u n t i n g . T h e i r d w e l l i n g s w e r e m a d e of sapiings b e n t o v e r a n d c o v e r e d w i t h brush and e a r t h , f o r m i n g sturdy, d o m e - The Pimas have long been known for their distinctive coiled basketry. Bundled bear grass fibers are bound together in a continuous spiral with strips of yucca leaves, yucca root, and a black bean pod called devils claw." By the regular variation of the colors, the artisan can weave a number of geometric designs. s h a p e d s t r u c t u r e s . All w e r e w i t h i n h e a r i n g d i s t a n c e of t h e c o m m u n a l " r a i n h o u s e , " f r o m atop w h i c h a c r i e r b r o a d c a s t i n f o r m a t i o n . Each v i l l a g e had a leader, but g o v e r n m e n t was by c o n s e n s u s , and he d e p e n d e d u p o n his p o w e r s of p e r s u a s i o n . D u r i n g a r m e d c o n f l i c t , a war c h i e f t o o k a b s o l u t e c o m m a n d of t h e v i l l a g e . T h e rancherias were politically s e l f - c o n t a i n e d , but d u r i n g war n e i g h boring settlements m i g h t form loose alliances against a c o m m o n e n e m y . T h e y w o u l d also j o i n t l y p a r t i c i p a t e in g a m e s a n d r e l i g i o u s o b s e r v a n c e s , s u c h as t h e rain c e r e m o n y . T h e s e rituals of c e l e b r a t o r y s o n g s , m a s k e d d a n c e r s , and t o b a c c o s m o k i n g r e c r e a t e d t h e h a r m o n y of n a t u r e at t n e c o r e of t h e i r spiritual life. Photograph by Edward McCain Frontier Church By the t i m e an 1803 report on t h e missions in Pimeria Alta called Tumacacori's c h u r c h s u b standard, t h e Franciscans w e r e already at work on a new one. It was an ambitious undert a k i n g — t h e y w a n t e d s o m e t h i n g to m a t c h t h e f r o n t i e r b a r o q u e g l o r y of t h e c e l e b r a t e d M i s sion San Xavier d e l Bac not far to t h e n o r t h . later, a p e r s i s t e n t friar f i n a l l y g o t t h e r a n c h e r to pay his bill, a n d w o r k r e s u m e d . W i t h i n a f e w y e a r s t h e c h u r c h was a l m o s t c o m p l e t e d , a l t h o u g h t h e bell t o w e r w a s n e v e r c a p p e d w i t h its d o m e . T h e c h u r c h m u s t h a v e b e e n a s t r i k i n g l a n d m a r k in t h e flat S a n t a C r u z Valley, w i t h its e m b e l l i s h e d a n d p a i n t e d f a c a d e a n d plaster walls i m b e d d e d w i t h c r u s h e d red b r i c k . T h e i n t e r i o r w a s e v e n m o r e c o l o r f u l , e s p e c i a l l y t h e s a n c t u a r y a n d altar (left). As o n e e n t e r e d t h e 7 5 - f o o t n a v e , t h e c h o i r loft w a s d i r e c t l y o v e r h e a d . T h e b a p t i s t r y w a s in a d o m e d r o o m b e n e a t h t h e bell t o w e r . O n t h e walls, t h e r i c h i m a g e r y of C a t h o l i c i s m M e x i c a n b a r o q u e statuary, p a i n t i n g s of t h e apostles, c a r v i n g s d e p i c t i n g t h e S t a t i o n s of t h e Cross, s y m b o l s of t h e V i r g i n M a r y — w a s d e s i g n e d to c a p t u r e t h e i m a g i n a t i o n of c o n v e r t s to t h e f a i t h . Work was b e g u n a b o u t 1800 u n d e r t h e d i r e c t i o n of a master mason and a c r e w of Indian and Spanish laborers. T h e y laid f i v e - f o o t thick c o b b l e s t o n e f o u n d a t i o n s that year, but c o n s t r u c t i o n g r o u n d to a halt as f u n d s d r i e d up. Over the next few years t h e y w e r e able to add a f e w c o u r s e s of a d o b e bricks, b r i n g i n g the walls up to s e v e n f e e t , but it was not until 1821 that w o r k t r u l y r e s u m e d . A n e n t e r p r i s ing Franciscan sold 4 , 0 0 0 head of t h e mission's cattle to a local rancher, and w i t h t h e first p a y m e n t hired a new master and p u s h e d the w o r k a h e a d . T h e walls w e r e raised t o 1 4 feet, but the rancher stalled o n his p a y m e n t s , and c o n s t r u c t i o n again c e a s e d . Two y e a r s i he churci i cuter enu sanctuary wall as they appeared before the mission was abandoned. The flanking niches probably held statues of saints. The Original crossshaped plan for the church called fdr barrel. vaulted nave and tran- „ septs. Domes would cover the crossing ar\d the bell tower. Lack of.funds forced the Fran-, ciscans to scale back their vision twice, first eliminating the transepts and later replacing the barrel vault over the nave with a flat roof and moving the dome over the sanctuary. The bell tower dome was never built. Illustrations by Dorothy Michele Novick About Your Visit Tumacacori NationalMonument was established by executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. The National Park Service took over management of the site from the Forest Service in 1916. In 1990 the ruins of the missions of Calabazas and Guevavi were added and the name was changed to Tumacacori National Historical Park. There are no plans for restoration. The main unit of the park is 45 miles south of Tucson and 19 miles north of Nogales at exit 29 off Interstate 19! The mailing address is P.O. Box 67, Tumacacori AZ 85640. The telephone number is (602) 398-2341. The park is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas days, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There are picnic tables available, but no campgrounds. The Mission Sites Guevavi Tumacacori Built in 1751 and abandoned about 1771, only a portion of the Church at Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi is still standing. Low mounds mark the location of other buildings and the convento area. The physical remains of the mission church San Jose de Tumacacori and the associated cemetery, mortuary chapel, and portions of the convento area are included in the self-guided walking tour. An adobe visitor center, built in 1937, contains exhibits. The adjacent patio garden displays plants of the mission period. Calabazas Tumacacori National Historical Park Some walls of the visits of San Cayetano de Calabazas remain, together with subsurface ruins of nearby associated buildings. Sites of related interest in the area: Tubac The mostly subsurface remains of the presidio of San Ignacio de Tubac (see map on other side) are protected and interpreted by the State of Arizona. Tubac Presidio State Historic Park has a fine museum with exhibits relating to the history of the area, an underground archeological display, the 1885 Tubac school- house, and a picnic area. San Xavier del Bac An active Franciscan mission to the Tohono O'odham Indians (near Tucson), it was established in August 1692, just one year after Tumacacori. The church was completed in 1797 and is the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the United States. For Your Safety We wish your visit to be safe and caution you about the hazards of any unfamiliar area: uneven walks and floors; unexpected steps; low doorways; plants, animals, and insects. Please be alert for the safety of yourself and your children. i | I c CI O) o o JE 0_ Anita Antone, of the Tohono O'odham Reservation, demonstrates her tribe's centuries-old basketweaving technique at the Tumacacori Fiesta. Visitors to the Fiesta, held annually on the first Sunday in December, can see crafts and ceremonial dances and sample foods of the Tohono O'odham, Yaqui, Apache, and Pima cultures.