Weekly Phoenix herald. [volume] (Phoenix, Maricopa County, Ariz. Territory [Ariz.]) 1882-1896, 1883-05-10
AN ANCIENT ACEQUIA.


A. feW days since, under the guild
ance of Mr.. Mcdonald, of Mes
City, we had the pleasure of exam
ming what is known as the Mormon
ditch, which, it is weli~known, occu
pies the site of an ancient Aztec ca
nal. The ancient work left the Sal
river two or three miles above wha
is now ka0wn as Jonesville, and
takiag direct southwesterly direc
ton, reaches The frort of the mes,
b uff, and gradua " mounts the sur
face of tn bluff, Hn'il The plane O
the mesa is reached At this poin
the dith turns abruptly to the soutf
and keeps that direction for a mile
or more, te a roint where The an
Gent work seplratcd into hvt
branches The arm raised 10 the
level OF the sloe3der, with the elbow
bent al an angle of about thirt.i de-
grees aud the finger spread wide
b lck # the hand up, gives very
perfect ou'l ne idea { f tire old we ks
the elbow representing the point ii
which Che ditch has climbed the
bluff TO the plane OF the mesa. The
orig nal cutting must have been "a
many places twenty feet in depth,
with a wild h at the surface of up
wards of thirty feet. The work
been pushed through a hard cement
and cob'le tone ma II of the way,
aud must originally have cost an i'm
mensc am unit of labor.
just where the nam ditch lakes
the turn at the edge of the mesa Il
branch has been led back down The
declivity at an acute angle for the
purpose either of affo ding an es-
cape for surplus water Or of irrigat-
ing the bottom lands below most
probably the latter. Each of the
five branch canals leads to a section
of the Mesa of excellent soil or to
different parts of the same area of
cultivable sol, and originally must
have spread over upward of forty
square miles. Ia the construction
of The new ditch the settlers found it
necessary to go some three miles up
4he river above the head of the old
canal in order to get level that
would carry the water through it
along the fIoa Of the bluff, oircu<n
stance that points to one OF two
things the great age of the
original work, thus giving tine for
the vast amount Of erosion that must
have occurred 10 chlnge the level
between the canal and the river TO so
great an extent; or tat there have
been subtcrranean forces at work,
helving up the mesa or lowering he
bottom lands; but we are inclined to
think that the change has been
wrought By erosion only. Along the
edge Of the mesa where it breaks off
20 the bottom lands of the river and
the. Q, neral trend Of which is north
east aud southwest are still TO be
seen the remains OF long line of
bindings scattered at some distance
from each other To he southwark
IF them stretched the farming lands
of this mysterious people, bat among
viii h we do not know eff any ruins
beng found For miles, nowcver,
they are yet discerninlc along The
edge of the bluff in the shape of
mounds CT white clay Of greater or
les dImenSi ms aad in the mid-t IF
which is one of huge proportions
covering, wth its outlying works,
probably two acres of land and at
the southern extremity of which it
still rises to the hight Of twenty-five
or thirty feet above the surface OF
the plain.
What manner of men have occu-
pied these lands is but conjecture,
though we know from these remains
of their werk that they occupied Il
position in civilized life. But the
mystery of mysteries is their COM
plete disappearance and the utter
want of anything that gives clue
TO their history.
Considering the circumstances, it
is somewhat of a wonder to us that
the e Salt river ruins have not been
thoroughly explored to the very
foundations So far, but verv little
has been done
GENERAL. CROOK IS reported to be
stirring up matters among the In
A.. a., ,ba Jav;o,p esda opd cot