The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-10-14
PREHISTORIC ARIZONA.
Evidences of a Civilization Older Than Tha
of Egypt.

| ThGr1iO OhlC RhiZONR.
Evidences of Civilization Older Than That
of Egypt.
That Arizona was inhabited before
tie dawn of history, and by people,
perhaps two races of people, well ad-
vanced in the arts of civilization, is be-
yond question. The traces of their oc-
cupancy are of the clearest and most
unmistakable character, and while the
period in which they possessed it aud
the cause and manner of their expulsion
, are shrouded in impenetrable mystery,
proofs of their presence for perhaps
thousands of years are to be found in
the caves, mounds, ruined cities, and
canals which abound along the Salt and
Gila rivers from the point of their in
ception to their confluence with the
Colorado. The Little Colorado, the
Verde, and the San Pedro also show
many traces of people well informed
in certain civilization and who have
for at least thousand years been ex-
tinct
The peculiar dryness of the atmos-
| phere has had a wonderful effect in pro-
tecting the ancient relics from the raw
ages of time. In the mounds which arc
scattered through the country, and
which represent ruined houses, may bo
found ollas filled with parched corn and
beans in as good state of preservation as
they were the day they were hidden
from the elements by the fearful sand
storm that must have prevailed when
they were buried.
The loaves in the ash-covered ovens
of Pompeii were preserved on the same
principle. The fine sand of the desert
must have drifted over everything, and
they were thus preserved as the mute
historians of vanished race. Their
erection of concrete buildings through
out the country shows these lost people
to have been well versed in the construc-
ton of edifces adapted to the region
and its climatic changes.
By far the most interesting remains
of :his people are their network of ca
rails which prevail through all the val
leys of the Territory. The longest is
the one tapping the Gila river, and
which supplied with water the ancient
city, now only marked by one standing
building, This is the Casa Grande,
about which so much has been written
and which has excited so much interest
among archaologists during the last
ten years. This canal was ffty-fve
miles in length and for most of the dis
tance twenty-eight feet in width, with
HaI1th nf aiyfaan fanI
water taken out of the river must have
been immense, for it supported both
the animal and vegetable life of val
ley containing millions of acres. In
places this canal has become filled with
drifting sand, but for the most part its
course is easily traced.
One OF the most notable specimens of
these canals is in the Salt River Valley,
and only three miles from the present
city of Phoenix. 1t taps the Salt River
opposite Tempe, and for two miles runs
almost parallel with that stream. The
old headgate is partly standing, and for
this distance the ditch is perfectly open,
and all that would be necessary for it to
supply the country with water again
would be to open the headgate by re.
moving the stones and concrete with
which it is filed. Two miles from its
head the engineers who located the Mari
| copa Canal, made use of the old Aztec
ditch, and to-day the water rupa over
its pebbly bottom Just as 1t did two or
three thousand years ago; but how diff
ferent is the condition of the people it
supplies.
The ditch was only nine miles in length
and not so large as the one on the desert
Of the Casa Grande, but it ran through
the heart of a city with population of
no less than 100000.
For miles and miles the mounds, in
perfectly regular order, tell the tale of
houses destroyed by the ravages of time
and of magniticence not excelled to.
day. Mr., Gushing directed his atten-
tion principally to excavating in this
section during his researches for the
New England Historical Society, and he
was rewarded by unearthing many stone
axes, vessels, and even skeletons. His
conclusion was that the people must
have lived in the stone age, long before
the infancy even of Egyptian civiliza-
| ton"
Phoenix was built ON the ruins of this
ancient city, hence its name, and not
month passes but some one picks up
stone knife, axe, or some other relic, but
they are dumb as to the history of their
owners. The only hieroglypbiQs the
lost race have left ers those on the
painted rocks across the Salt River from
Phoenix. They cover the mountain side
for acres, and they have always puzzled
the student and scientist. The nearest
apparent conclusion that has been ar
rived at is that they tell of the martial
exploits of their painters and are his,
tory of their tribal wars,
One thing is apparent TO the student
of things ancient when he looks on
these canals and ruined cities permeat-
ing both this country and Mexico, and
that is that the civilization Of Egypt
was yet in its infancy when this people
had been exterminated.-San Francisco
Chronicle.