danger points, under the escort of the military, and arrived in Tucson on the 7th of February, 1868, where they were hospitably received and entertained by W. S. Oury and Don Juan Elias.

A few weeks later Don Elias, with the help of some of his friends, purchased a house and lot in the vicinity of the place in which the church had already been commenced for the use of the missionaries. The house was enlarged at different times, and is now the priest's house.

Continuing, Bishop Salpointe says:

"On their arrival at Tucson the priests sent from Santa Fe took their destinations according to what had been determined by their Bishop, the Right Rev. J. B. Lamy. The Rev. J. B. Salpointe had been sent as parish priest of Tucson, with the faculties of Vicar Forane for the Territory; the Rev. Francis Boucard, as assistant priest of Tucson, and the Rev. Patrick Birmingham as parish priest of Gila City, the name of which has been changed since to that of Yuma. After a couple of weeks spent in Tucson, the Rev. J. B. Salpointe started for Yuma in order to put Father Birmingham in possession of the parish assigned to him by the Bishop. Meanwhile, Rev. Boucard remained in Tucson, having, at the same time, to attend to the San Xavier mission. The journey to Yuma was made on horseback, and mostly by night, in order to avoid the heat of the day. The distance was 300 miles. At about eighty miles from Tucson were seen numerous small villages of the Pima Indians, at a short distance from the Gila River.

"In 1866 Tucson numbered about six hundred inhabitants, almost all Mexicans. There was no other church but the small house spoken of be

fore, which Father Machbeuf had used as a chapel at the time of his visit to Arizona in 1859. As already stated, a church had been commenced in the town by Father Donato Roghieri. The two Jesuit Fathers who succeeded this priest had some work done on the same building, but left it unfinished, the walls being only eight or nine feet high. The first care of the priest recently put in charge of the parish was to see how he could have the church completed. He found in the inhabitants a truly good disposition to help him in this work. Contributions were asked again and again, and what they brought was enough to have the walls of the structure raised to a suitable height. This was only the easiest part of the work. The real difficulty consisted in providing the building with a roof, and to think of purchasing the necessary quantity of lumber at twenty-five cents a foot, would have been simply thinking of an impossibility, as the people had already overtaxed themselves for the building of the walls.

"At the request of the priest a few men volunteered to go with their wagons to the Santa Rita Mountains, about twenty-five miles southeast of Tucson, to ascertain whether good timber could be had from there or not. On the appointed day five men, having the parish priest at their head, started for the mountains. The next day they reached as far as the road would permit, and from this point it could be seen that there were plenty of good pine trees, but all far up on the tops of the peaks, and no practicable way could be found to bring them down to where they could be loaded on the wagons. For this reason the expedition failed almost entirely,

though it was thought that another trial, with a suitable force of men, might prove successful. The wagons were loaded with whatever pieces of lumber could be cut in the vicinity of the camp, and the party moved at once for the return to Tucson. After consideration, the project of a new attempt in the Santa Rita Mountains had to be abandoned, as it would be too expensive to build practicable roads.

"In the meantime the warm season had broken out, and it was felt that the house thus far used as a church, was untenable during the holy offices. It became necessary to have a kind of temporary roof laid on the sanctuary of the new church, so that masses could be said early on Sundays with more comfort for the priests and for the faithful.

"On his return from Gila City the Rev. Salpointe went to San Xavier to install Mr. Vincent in the functions of school teacher for the Papago Indians. The school lasted only a few months, owing to the carelessness of the Indians in regard to the education of their children. The teacher was then removed to Tucson, where there appeared better prospects for a good school. Indeed, Mr. Vincent found there pupils enough to occupy his time. The only difficulty was that the school had to be taught, for a time, in the priests' house, which consisted of but one room 15 by 22 feet, and a little alcove. For about six months the room had to be used alternately as parlor and schoolroom, and sometimes as dormitory when the weather did not allow sleeping outdoors. The furniture of the priests' house comprised three chairs, a writing table, and a pigeon-hole case for papers, the whole of which

had been left in care of W. S. Oury by Father Bosco, for his successors. The bedding articles of the missionaries were as yet the blankets they had brought for camping out, and these could be easily rolled up and placed in the alcove for the daytime.

"Four months had elapsed since Rev. Birmingham had been stationed at Gila City, and nothing had been heard of him. The lack of a regular mail service was thought to be the explanation of this protracted silence, but at last news came that the priest had left his mission on account of sickness and gone to California in order to improve his health. This was a reason for the Rev. Salpointe to look for the first opportunity of a caravan, and to start for Gila City, leaving, as before, the Rev. Boucard in charge of Tucson and of San Xavier. He reached the mission on Sunday morning after seven days of travel, mostly on horseback. He said mass and preached as usual, but fell sick in the afternoon with chills and fever, a disease which very likely he brought from Tucson, where it prevailed, and which kept him four months in the locality. During this length of time the priest was given hospitality and all possible care in the house of Jose M. Redondo, one of the principal citizens of the place. The missionary thought seriously that he could not get over the sickness, which was increasing in him every day, and had no desire but an opportunity of making his confession and receiving the last sacraments of the church before departing from this world, but he could not even entertain any hope for such a blessing, as he was separated from all priests by

300 miles of dangerous roads, almost without communications.

"At last the fever subsided, and, after a short convalescence, the priest was able to leave on horseback for a visit to La Paz, an inhabited place about seventy-five miles above Gila City, on the Colorado River. During his stay at Gila City the Rev. Salpointe had a flat roof put on a small church, the walls of which had been built by the people at the request and under the direction of the Rev. Birmingham. The population of this locality was about 1,000 inhabitants. The town owed its start to the discovery of gold placers, made in May, 1854, at Laguna and at Picacho, fifteen and twenty miles, respectively, from the town. The first settlers of this part of the country, after the discovery of the placers, were the Redondo and the Contreras families, who had already worked in the California mines. "La Paz, which was founded at about the same time as Gila City, counted in 1866, a little over four hundred inhabitants. It had been a prosperous mining town, but, at the date just mentioned, the mines and placers were exhausted, and the people who remained there yet had to depend for their living mostly on cattle raising and cutting wood for the steamboats, which ran on the Colorado by the place, down to the Gulf of California.

"In 1867 was commenced, on the church block at Tucson, a schoolhouse which was to be occupied by the Sisters of St. Joseph. This building, as far as the walls were concerned, was put up in a short time with no more difficulty than for the walls of the church. Everyone contributed willingly, either money or work for the