494
BERNARD L. FONTANA
ing within the larger framework of a 'desert' " (Hastings and Turner,
1965, pp. 7, 8, and 11).
THE PIMERIA ALTA
When New Spain first extended its religious and secular conquests into
the northern reaches of the Sonoran Desert in the late 17th century, its
clerical, military, and civil representatives found the region inhabited by
several groups of Indians, all of whom spoke mutually intelligible dialects
of the same language and who came by Europeans to be called "Piman"
Indians. Linguistic brethern of these same people had already been encountered to the south, the Pima Bajo, so by extension, the northern
Pimans were called "Pimas Altos" and their vast domain, Pimeria Alta,
the northern lands of the Piman Indians.
Although Pimeria Alta lies almost wholly within the Sonoran Desert,
its native inhabitants were spread over two major subdivisions of it, the
Lower Colorado Valley and the Arizona Upland. The aboriginal boundaries of the Upper Piman Indians seem in the late 17th century to have
been the Colorado River on the west, the Gila River on the north, the
San Pedro River and Rio San Miguel on the east, the Rio Magdalena and
Rio Conception in the south, and the Gulf of California in the southwest
(Bolton, 1948). There was a single Pima village on the headwaters of
the Rio Sonora, east of the Rio San Miguel, but the Spaniards removed
these people in the 1690's (Spicer, 1962, pp. 118-119) (see Fig. 1,
showing mountains and valleys).
The parts of Pimeria Alta beyond the desert pale were those portions
of the upper and central San Pedro River Valley, the Upper Santa Cruz
River Valley, adjacent mountains and tributaries, and the Baboquivari
Mountains, which get into desert-grassland and evergreen-woodland
(oak-pinon-juniper) country. The numbers of Pimans living here was always a small proportion of the total, however, and they were dislodged
from the San Pedro Valley and surrounding mountains by Apache Indians
early in the 18th century never to return.
It is convenient to subdivide the Pimeria Alta into three major districts
based on the availability of water. These are the extremely arid western
portion (0-13 cm of annual rainfall), the seasonally more moist central
portion (13-25 cm of annual rainfall), and the northern-eastern-southern
perimeter which is comprised of river systems that once had permanently flowing water in them and which in places received about 25-38 cm
of rainfall a year. Local variability is of course enormous, and yearly averages conceal the fact that many years, of virtually no rain might be interspersed with a 1 day downpour that dumps more water than the locale
BERNARD L. FONTANA
ing within the larger framework of a 'desert' " (Hastings and Turner,
1965, pp. 7, 8, and 11).
THE PIMERIA ALTA
When New Spain first extended its religious and secular conquests into
the northern reaches of the Sonoran Desert in the late 17th century, its
clerical, military, and civil representatives found the region inhabited by
several groups of Indians, all of whom spoke mutually intelligible dialects
of the same language and who came by Europeans to be called "Piman"
Indians. Linguistic brethern of these same people had already been encountered to the south, the Pima Bajo, so by extension, the northern
Pimans were called "Pimas Altos" and their vast domain, Pimeria Alta,
the northern lands of the Piman Indians.
Although Pimeria Alta lies almost wholly within the Sonoran Desert,
its native inhabitants were spread over two major subdivisions of it, the
Lower Colorado Valley and the Arizona Upland. The aboriginal boundaries of the Upper Piman Indians seem in the late 17th century to have
been the Colorado River on the west, the Gila River on the north, the
San Pedro River and Rio San Miguel on the east, the Rio Magdalena and
Rio Conception in the south, and the Gulf of California in the southwest
(Bolton, 1948). There was a single Pima village on the headwaters of
the Rio Sonora, east of the Rio San Miguel, but the Spaniards removed
these people in the 1690's (Spicer, 1962, pp. 118-119) (see Fig. 1,
showing mountains and valleys).
The parts of Pimeria Alta beyond the desert pale were those portions
of the upper and central San Pedro River Valley, the Upper Santa Cruz
River Valley, adjacent mountains and tributaries, and the Baboquivari
Mountains, which get into desert-grassland and evergreen-woodland
(oak-pinon-juniper) country. The numbers of Pimans living here was always a small proportion of the total, however, and they were dislodged
from the San Pedro Valley and surrounding mountains by Apache Indians
early in the 18th century never to return.
It is convenient to subdivide the Pimeria Alta into three major districts
based on the availability of water. These are the extremely arid western
portion (0-13 cm of annual rainfall), the seasonally more moist central
portion (13-25 cm of annual rainfall), and the northern-eastern-southern
perimeter which is comprised of river systems that once had permanently flowing water in them and which in places received about 25-38 cm
of rainfall a year. Local variability is of course enormous, and yearly averages conceal the fact that many years, of virtually no rain might be interspersed with a 1 day downpour that dumps more water than the locale