1785 to 1810

In 1787, the presidio of Terrenate that had previously been moved Northward (to within today´s Arizona), was again relocated, now to the abandoned town of Suamca. From that moment, the town as well as the river changed their name to Santa Cruz, which is how we know them today. Additionally, the presidio of Tubac was reestablished.

That same year, the Internal Provinces were subdivided in two: Eastern and Western, with a Commander in each one. Besides this, Lieutenant Mariano de Urrea, whose grandfather had been killed by the Apaches in 1780, was named to command the presidio of Tucson.

Also, thanks to the colonization promotion policies along the Santa Cruz River, little by little new colonos started again colonizing it. Apparently, the first land petition in this new enterprise was made by Toribio de Otero, who accompanied by his wife, Maria Ignacia Salazar, from Santa Ana, acquired some lands near Tubac.

In 1791, Pedro de Nava took over the Comandancia of the Western Province, and among his first and more important acts was his order from October 14, relating to the Apache peace settlements (to promote, financed by the King, the settlement of peaceful Apaches), which would eventually would contribute enormously to peace.

In November the following year, the Internal Provinces were again reunited, now with Capital in Chihuahua, while Arizpe continued being the Capital of Sonora and Sinaloa. Pedro de Nava ascended to the General Command, and keeping with his reform acts, in 1794 he presented to the Real Council a ten year plan to secularize the missions and incorporate the Indians under the colonial system.

However, the general situation in Pimeria and along the border was terrible; In Altar, Fray Francisco Canales informed, August 5, 1796, that "there never have been indian settlements" in his mission, and the vecinos would be some 60 families, along with 90 soldiers, making a total of some 800 souls, as the exact number would be impossible to ascertain.

From Santa Cruz, on December 28, 1796, the priest, Fr. Matheo Diez de San Jose testified that he personally attended to the vecinos and "short number of Pima Indians [who live] as vecinos" making some 500 souls, without a church nor adornments for the sacraments.

Besides this, in 1797 the Missionary from San Xavier del Bac, Juan Bautista Llorens, opened a new church in his mission: an imponent building built with mudejar influence (we can see a photo of it, taken in 1894 by Willian Dinwiddie). This building, started under the administration of Fr. Juan Bautista de Velderrain, could be finished thanks to some money lent by a rich Spaniard: Antonio Herreros. This momey was a symbol of the new order of things in Pimeria Alta. Little by little, the new Mestizos had been ascending while the Indians declined.

If in 1774 the censuses have 2,018 Indians and 168 Spaniards in Pimeria Alta, at the start of the Independence movement there are 1,200 of each, and by 1820 there are 1,130 Indians against 2,290 Spaniards. This was originated not only through the physical disappearance of the Indians, but to their emigration to different places, looking for a paid work.

Soon before 1803 started the works to rebuild several churches in Pimeria Alta, thanks to a small economic boom that brought the discovery of a new placer in Noriega, near Altar, as well as new discoveries at Cieneguilla, where previously, during the 1770´s a gold discovery had originated a bonanza. That same year, the missionary of Tumacacori, Fray Narciso Gutierrez started to build a new church in his mission, and a little bit later, Fray Andrés Sanchez, from Caborca, excavated the cimentation of another one at his mission.

Both churches based their architecture in San Xavier del Bac. The one of Caborca (at the left) would be dedicated by Father Francisco Javier Vazquez on May 28, 1809, while the one of Tumacacori would remain unfinished, although was opened on December 13, 1822.

And returning to our chronicle: Again the Santa Cruz Valley again was populated again with missional cattle, some thousand head according to a report of 1804, in the pastures along the River, from South of Guevavi to near Santa Barbara.

In 1806 came the denuncio of the lands of the Tumacacori mission. Father Narciso Gutierrez asked for the measurement of the four sitios of the Fundo Legal of Tumacacori as well as an estancia that included the old mission of Guevavi, extending along the Santa Cruz "until the rancho of the Romero" as well as along the Potrero Arroyo, until the end of the large pond (today´s Meadow Hills, located North of Nogales, Az). In 1807 the title was given to him, and five years later, Agustin Ortiz, who had arrived a little earlier to Tucson, asked for a new merced of two sitios of land in Arivaca, and acquired the title.

All this land grants are indicative of the now more marked process of population growth among the criollos, accompanied by the decline of the indian population of the missions.