A Mountain

A Mountain is believed to be the location of the original Native American settlement of Tucson, called San Cosme del Tucson by Father Eusebio Kino in the 1690s.

On Thursday, October 26, 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza and his colonizing expedition, traveling northward from San Xavier del Bac on their way to San Francisco, passed by the Tohono O’odham settlement they called Tuquison, at the base of A Mountain. Earlier that year, on August 20, 1775, the Spanish authorities founded the Presidio of San Agustín del Tucson, immediately across the Santa Cruz River. Anza was commander of the Presidio from 1776 to 1777. Padre Font, an expedition member, made the following observations in his journal entry for October 26, 1775.

"We set out from the mission of San Xavier del Bac at half past eight in the morning, and at one in the afternoon we halted a league [about 2.5 miles] beyond the pueblo of Tuquison … the last Christian pueblo in this direction …This pueblo of Tuquison is larger than that of San Xavier del Bac … Although as far as here is very dangerous from the Apaches, they did not come out to attack us, nor did we see them … if the Apaches had sallied forth no doubt we should have suffered disasters, for the troops were few and green, and as they traveled they were so occupied with their little children that some of the soldiers carried two or three youngsters at a time, and most of them carried at least one little one."