The St. Johns herald., 1893-06-22
Prehistoric Ruins.

some time in q superficial examina.
 tion of those in the Salt river val ley in the immediate vicinity of
 Phenix, but with that exception lit
 tie investigation has been made
 though this Territory is filled, from
 the head of Tonto basin to the So-
 nora line, with the unmistakable
 evidences Of the existence of a peo-
 pie, far superior in the development
 of civilization to any found at the
 time of the European discovery of
 the continent.
 One of the monster engineering
 undertakings which they accom-
 plished has just been discovered in
 the valley of the Salt River, on the
 same ground where MT. Gushing
 conducted his exploration.
 It is a well known fact to those
 living in the vicinity C f Tempe, that
 several sections of land adjoining
 the town have always been too wet
 for cultivation. No fruits of any kind could be raised and even the
 production of alfalfa could only be secured by a regular system of drainage, similar to that in opera tiOn in the low sections of Louis jana. At the time Lieut. Cushing was doing his work, he was asked to examine and explain the cause for the rise of the water to such a height, but he was unable to deter mine the reason, and it so remained until about two months ago. when Mir. Chandler of the Consolidated Canal Co.,, decided to cut ditch across this swampy portion for the purpose of irrigating dry lands be- yond.
 During the work, at depth of about three feet they came upon what appeared to be an ancient wall. Thinking that they had dis covered one of the ruins that abound in that section the course of the wall was followed until it was found to be of greater length than any previously encountered. Parties interested in such investi- gation took the examination in charge and followed it's downward | course to the bottom, a distance of about twenty feet. The line of the ancient location was taken up and | followed to it's extremity when the building was found to be sub merged dam standing intact in every place. The work vas made of clay, of the height mentioned, and about sixteen feet in thickness at the top. After the material had been put in shape, large fires had been built on the top and sides and | the whole thing burned to the hard l ness of brick. It was thus Im- peryious to the action of water and 1 so we'll withstoOd time that during the thousands of years that it has stood it has so preserved it's en- tirety, thal even after washes and | flows covered 1t with sand and silt it still brings the underhow of the Salt river to within one to three feet of the surface, thus causing the excess of water in that locality.
 It is evident that the river once ran south of the Tempe Butte, a peak that now rises out of the wa ter's edge on the south side, and it was intended to catch the underfow with this submerged dam. The | dam itself is three and one half miles in length, extending from the Femme butte almest south to the | Double Buttes on the southern limit of the valley.
 At this point the formation is pe- culiar, the bedrock rising out of the soil and forming a rocky mesa in the foothills, while along it's sides the moist clay was placed in the form of wall and afterwards burn ed, when perhaps the earth was thrown around it in order to pro- tect it from the weight of the water, which must have otherwise crush