By
Michelle McCollum
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Bus tour offers unique perspective on some of Tucson's historic areas
In the West, legend is forever intertwined with history.
Every story possesses an element of fact, an element of fiction, and a certain bit of mythical humor that fills the Southwest with the wildest of American spirits.
"Take Wyatt Earp," says Tim Eslinger, docent of the Arizona Historical Society. "Everybody thinks he was a hero. But if you read some books he comes out as an evil villain or a man just stuck in the middle."
"All we really have to rely on are eyewitness accounts, and the eye witnesses have their own axes to grind," he adds. "That's how most things are in the West. It's a matter of viewpoint more than anything else."
And Tucson is no exception.
The Arizona Historical Society organizes downtown tours to tell odd stories and legends that relate to the city, as they are part of the history and uniqueness of the city, Eslinger says.
"We organize a tour about once every week, or week and a half," he says. "The city is changing so fast there's always something to talk about."
Starting at the Arizona Historical Society, the tours take an air-conditioned bus trip to "A" Mountain, the Presidio, and various University of Arizona destinations.
The tour highlights such UA sights as the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, Old Main, and McKale Center.
The tour also stops by Hillenbrand Stadium, home of UA's national champion softball team, and Sancet Field, home of UA's baseball team.
"Unfortunately it seems the softball team could beat the baseball team real good right now," Eslinger announces.
"What do you mean 'unfortunately'?" quips a voice from the back of the bus.
The UA, like most of the city, has its own story. While it is now a world-renowned university, it was once very unwanted.
Tucson residents in the nineteenth century counted on delegates to claim the title of "capital of Arizona" for the city, but instead the delegates came back without the title and with news that Tucson would be host to a new university.
"The townspeople were so angry, they bombarded the delegates with rotten vegetables," Eslinger says. "One sore townsman reportedly threw a dead cat."
"When one of the big saloon owners was told that we were going to have the university, he grumbled to himself and said: 'Well, what do we want a university for? Students don't drink beer,'" Eslinger adds.
Mabel and Harold Chapman have lived in Tucson for 10 years and took the tour to solve a mystery.
"We always saw these lights coming from the other end of town," said Mabel Chapman. "We always wondered what they were, so we took the tour and now we know they're coming off 'A' Mountain. That's one thing to check off my list."
"A" Mountain not only offers a panoramic view of the city, but also an enormous hole where builders took volcanic rock to build St. Augustine's Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave., and the low wall surrounding the UA.
"The hole is called Bishop's Hole, which seems fairly apropos," Eslinger says. "They took the stone for the wall around the university, not to keep the students in, as you might obviously think, but to keep the cows out."
Eslinger says Tucsonans in the late 1800s often let their cows graze freely on the land that has since been developed.
"Things change so quickly here. I always laugh because I'll be driving down the street and see things I'd never seen before," said Lee Kuvista, a Tucson resident since 1961, who took the tour to see the changing city. "It's difficult to be historic when you keep tearing things down."
