The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-10-13
INDIANS OF ARIZONA.
Some of the Ruins of the
Aboriginal Villages.
TIE SYSTEMS OF IRRIGATION.
Ar Interesting Article on the
Natives of Our 81 uthern
Territories.

Though it has long been known that
that the tribes of aborigines who once
ex sted in the States and Territories [
the southwest had a system of aericu4-
ture which permitted them to suit
sist in towns of consid .rable size, We
have not realized until recently the
extent of their resources and the abil-
ity they displayed as engineers. The
Hemenwsv expedition has examined
ancient lines of canals in southwestern
Arizona in the valley of the ella and its
tributary the Sslado, rivers which pour
their waters finally into the Cult of
California, like their northerly neigh
Dor, the Colorado. Between the Sslsdo
and the ella, where there is now only
growth of such plants as endure tor
rid climate. without rain for the greater
part of the year, the ancient people had
their towns and cities. Some of the
communal houses were several hun
dred feet square and three or four
stories high. One city was traced for
three or four miles, and con-
tanned between forty and fifty of
thee large structures which were irreg-
nlarly placed after the fashion of In
dian towns. Each large house is sup
posed BY Mr.. Cushing, the ethnologist
of the party, who has made the Pu~ bio
Indians lifelong study. to have held
the members of one clan. The walls
were sometimes of adobe bricks, and
,metimes they were strengthened with
posts and wattles. Each town has a
separate larger ruin surrounded by
strong wall so as to form yard. Here
Mr.. Gushing locats 8 the abode of the
chief ruler or priest, the stores of the
town, and the citadel in case of an at
tack. 1t is estimated that the Two val
leys of the CHA and Sslado supported
ut one period not less than 200 900 souls.
This could only have been accom-
plished by irrigation. 1t appears that
the water from the Salado was run
across the fat land between it and the
ella for q distance of from fifteen to
twenty miles. The new settlers have
already begun to use the bitches con-
trived by the extinct population. The
canals were dug in terrace outline, filled
with brush and then burned out in
rider to solidify the bottom and sides.
"Mr. Cushing" says the American
Naturalist, lis of the opinion that they
used RATS made OF reeds for navigating
these canals. and this seems moro prob
able from the heavy materials that have
been brought from a distance. 1t seems
certain that they foated the pine tim
Der used in their building operations
down the Salt and ella rivers from the
distant moun tains."
These people burned their dead as
general ,ule collecting the ashes into
an urn, which was commonly broken,
in sign of death; but the expedition
found so many skeletons buried within
the larger buildings mentioned, lust be-
meath the floor, that it appears to have
been the custom to bury chiefs and
priests. A TO ID vessel and highly dec.
Grated water jar were buried with the
corpse, and sometimes arrow and
stone knife and turquois ornaments
were found. Tools and weapons are
generally of stone, aid there are few
copper ornaments, shell carvings in
laid with turquois. and other decora-
tions common to semi-bsrbarous
tribes. The pottery is of many colors
and carries a fine glaze. They had
smelling furnaces in the mountains and
appear to have stood upon much the
same plane of civilization as those
Zunis to whom Mr.. Cushing is guide,
philosopher and friend.
The opening up of these old canals is
ths first step to cause the deserts now
With modern appliances
it is not impossible that the Colorado,
rushing along the bottom of an enor-
nous cleft in the earth, down which
Major Powell made his venturesome
trip years ago, should spread its fertil-
izing waters over portions of the Yuma |
and Mohave deserts instead of losing |
them in the salt waves of the Gulf. The |
climate is adverse to irrigation in some |
because the more you separa'e |
the streams and rills the more you ex-
pose the water body to surface evapora-
ton. In land like Arizona and New |
Mexico the Persian system of under |
ground streams, broken at intervals by |
wells, ought to be tried. A system of |
covered canals would be The best |
in climate like that of New |
Mexico. for the evaporation up
ward would be at minimum.
Whether this country will ever be re-
claimed to do the work it can under |
thofough system of irrigation is ques-
ton. Perhaps it were best left to ladi-
vidual or municipal, to corporate or |
state enterprise. National schemes Of |
the kind ore too prolific of joboery and |
corruption. 1t is matter, however, |
that will repay the study of those hav-
ing large amounts to invest for slow but |
sure returns dependent for success on
the financial prudence and sound en- |
cheering which have caused Holland to |
become the richest country of its size in !
the world New York Times.
PREPARED by combination, proper
ion and process peculiar to itself.