The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-01-04
The Buried Cities of Arizona.

The Hemenway expedition, under
the direction of Frank Cushing, has
been at work for several months and
eXcavated the ruins of a city three
miles long and two miles wide. The
excavations are not continuous, but
have been made at various points along
the main street and at the limits of the
town. Mr.. Gushing acquired from the
Zuni Indians, among whom he has
lived for some years, the knowledge of
customs and traditions which enabled
him to find the buried cities of the Salt
River Valley. The first one eXcavated
is called Los Muertos, the city of the
dead. Others that have been partially
excavated are Ell Pueblo de los Hornos,
the city of ovens; Ell Cludad de los
Puebltos and Ell Pueblo de los Pedros.
But these are only part of the chain
of cities that once covered the desert.
There are nineteen buried cities in the
valley alone, and Los Muertos, which
had population of 10000, is one of
the smallest. The entire valley was
once system of cities, with adjacent
farms, and up in the mountains are
sacrifcial caves and pueblos of stone,
many of which never have been eX-
plored and are entirely unknown to
the wandering tourist and sight-seer.
The people who lived in these were not
Aztecs, as has been supposed. They
were of the race that preceded the
Aztecs, and had upon this continent
civilization older than the pyramids.
This is proved by the human remains
and relics found chronological re-
search, prosecuted by Mr.. Cushing by
the comparative method, demonstrates
that the jewellers of the plain were
Toltecs, and that they reached high
state of civilization many centuries be-
fore the Aztecs appeared. They were
probably of Asiatic origin, but not
Mongoloid. The Indian of the Pacific
coast appears to be Mongoloid and
later immigrant from Asia. The age
of the Toltec ruins is reckoned in
thousands of years. The Toltecs were
an agricultural people and had the
plain of Tempe under a high state of
cultivation. The climate and charac-
ter of the soil were apparently the
same as now and vast system of irri-
CATION was required to make the soil
productive. The maps made by the
surveyor of the Hemenway party show
at least 300 lines of ditch work. The
WCIC DCllCl llllSdlOlo lhiil tuC
farmers of to-day. They were satisfied
were able to conduct water to every
part of the plain. The higher ground,
which is now desert, was reached by
levees upon which the water flowed.
The bottom of these bitches and levees,
hardened by the water flowing over
them, have resisted the leveling power
/ e 4 Il 10, L., 4
appeared, leaving the bottoms elevated
slightly above the plain, and these
hardened surfaces are now used as
roads all over the valley. In some
places the irrigating canal was cut
through the solid rock with stone i'm
plements. The cost of making the cut
to-day with improved implements would
be $4,000. The modern canal system
of the valley is only forty-one miles in
extent and cost 81 800, 900. The Toltec
bitches were of great size and extent
no less than 300 miles of canal alone
and could not be built to-day for less
than 81 800, 900. No less than 100000
acres were cultivated in Salt Lake Val
ley by means of these ancient bitches.
The Toltecs had no occasion to raise
more corn than they could consume,
and therefore the population of the
plain may be calculated on the basis of
cul waited acreage. The 1000 Pyma
Indians on the 1000 acres support
themselves and sell 100000 pounds of
wheat yearly. 1t is within bounds to
place the ancient population at 100000.
The ruins still uncovered, but traced
by unmistakable surface indications,
extend through the foot of the hills
into the mountains. The ruins of Los
Muertos are being thoroughly examined,
because they are typical, and also be-
cause they have been buried, and
therefore protected from the ravages
of time, tourists and ranchers. Twenty
two large blocks of buildings have been
uncovered and three carloads of relics
have been sent to Boston. These relics
consist of pottery, implements and skel-
etons. In one of the sacrificial caves of
the Superstition Mountains was skele-
ton that eloquently tells the story of
the earthquake and the terror of the
inhabitants. 1t is that of maiden
sacrificed, as the vessels and offering
on the altar show the ethnologist, to
appease the wrath of the earthquake
demon. There had been several
shocks, and the people had offered up
ordinary sacrifices in vain. AT last
the priest went up to the sacrificial
cave and made the supreme Offering of
maiden of the tribe. The people re-
turned to their homes, assured that
their danger had been averted. Then
came the greatest quake of all. Those
not caught in the ruins fled in terror TO
the fields. The gods had abandoned
them to the malignant wrath of the
powers of evil that even to-day are be-
lieved by the Indians to dwell in the
Superstition Mountains. They fled in
panic; the Toltec people were scattered
through the country, the wild tribes of
the hills and forests made war upon
them and drove them to the south, and
splendid civilization of prehistoric
times was obliterated from the face of
the earth.
IT WON'T BAKE BREAD.-In other
words, Hoods Sarsaparilla will not do
impossibilities. Its proprietors tell
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