What the streets of Phoenix, Arizona would have sounded like in the 1870s


I was talking with a friend of mine today who is very knowledgeable about Phoenix history, and he was wondering, since Phoenix was platted in 1870, what it would have sounded like if he could have walked around back then.

Walk with me. First of all, of course, there would be no cars or airplanes. The train didn't even get to Phoenix until 1887, so there wouldn't be any noise like that. As we walk along Washington, let's listen to what we can hear.

Of course we'd hear all of the sounds of the desert, there would be birds, and insects buzzing. I'm not kidding here, if you've ever gone waaaaay out into the desert, you know the loud sound of buzzing insects. In other words, it would be very quiet, compared to nowadays.

We'd hear dogs barking, horses neighing (or is it winnowing?), and the cluck-cluck of chickens. Oh yeah, and there would be pigs wandering around. In fact, all barnyard animals would be within earshot. I'm a city boy so I'm not really sure what those sounds are, but we'd hear them.

Of course there'd be gunshots. I don't mean people shooting each other, but firing guns would be perfectly natural, and only frowned on if you accidentally shot someone's goat, or something. We'd hear the sound of wood being chopped, probably mesquite.

If people were selling fruit or vegetables they would be shouting. Fresh "peeeeaches!" or whatever.

Like dogs, kids would be wandering around, laughing and shouting, the way that kids do when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. We'd hear female voices shouting their names, at about sunset.

And while we would hear the English language, we would also hear Spanish, and the languages of the Native people. And now that I think about it, there would be sound of music. If there were someone sitting there playing a Spanish guitar I'd stop and listen. I can't imagine that any pianos were in town quite that early in history, but in a few years there would be a lot, and you'd hear them all of the time.

A buckboard might go rolling by, and I'm sure that there would be at least one squeaky fan turning slowly in the wind, like the one in the movie "Once Upon a Time in the West".

Overall, seems a pretty peaceful place. Pardon me, I see a livery stable, I'm going to lie down for a siesta.
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