October 13, 2026

1973 photos document Akimel O’odham basket making in Stanfield

By Elias Weiss
Jan 18, 2026

HISTORIC PHOTOS

In the summer of 1973, Julia Francisco moved with practiced ease through the cattail thickets along the Stanfield Ditch south of Maricopa, near what is now the southern end of State Route 347. Arizona State Museum photographer Helga Teiwes captured her that August afternoon cutting long, straight cattail stalks, the plant that forms the bundle foundation of traditional Pima baskets.

The image is part of a remarkable visual record Teiwes created while documenting basketry traditions of the Gila River Akimel O’odham communities. Earlier that spring, Teiwes visited the Gila River Reservation near Bapchule to follow Francisco’s full basket-making process. She photographed the gathering of willow, devil’s claw and martynia, the careful cleaning and drying of the materials, and finally the creation of a woven basket with a squash-blossom design.

Teiwes returned in mid-August to Stanfield for the cattail harvest. The work was rhythmic and precise: Stalks were cut, bundled and hauled out of the ditchbank to dry before being stripped and shaped for weaving. For Francisco, the harvest was not simply a materials trip but a link in a generational chain. Cattail has been used for centuries as the supportive core inside coiled Akimel O’odham baskets, giving them structure beneath elaborate exteriors of willow and devil’s claw.

Elias Weiss

Elias Weiss earned his journalism degree from the University of Arkansas and began reporting for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He later led the Chatham Star-Tribune to a 2019 Best Weekly Newspaper award before working as an investigative reporter for Phoenix New Times and The Daily Beast. In 2023, he became managing editor at InMaricopa, winning top state awards for investigative and narrative reporting. In 2024, he took over as Editorial Director. Elias often discusses politics on KFNX. He currently works with Fox News