Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-11-22
The Ruined ella Cities.
Ari1ons's Prehistoric People aud Their
Mysterious Taking on.

ATiIona's Prehistoric People aud Ihetr
Mysterious Taking on
The attention Of people interested in arch.
geology and ethrology generally has long
been directed to the ruins Of the cli1
jewellers in northern Arizona and southern
Colorado, but there are comparatively few
persons side of Arizona and New Mex.
leo who know that in southern Arizona
there is a field far more interesting and Of
wider range. SO eminent authority as
Major J. W. Powell, recently Of the United
States geological survey, is quoted IN sup
port Of this statement. Conservative es-
Inmates put the population Of the ella
country at fully 100000 when it was at
its height
The ella remains have been but little
explored because Of the iuaccessibility OF
the region. the intolerable dry heat during
two-;hrls of each year, and the total lack
Of water where il is needed. The mining
prospeciors who have tramped for years
over all the mountains and through every
. valley in the territory have given no heed
20 this part Of the ella country, because.
no water being there, it would DE useless
to attempt to develop mine even on good
surface indications. The area Of the
country in which the remains Of prehs
toric people are found is some 800 square
miles. IL extends from the junction Of the
ella and Colorado rivers eastward to the
Superstition Mountains, and from Phoenix
on the north almost 70 the Mexican line.
7 Near Casa Grande the most extensive In
/ dian remains are 10 be found.
The country is a ruin from one end TO
! the other All parts Of it bear unmis.ak-
able evidences Of irrigation canals several
hundred miles long and built with exact
ness and skill, and OF cities of $4,000 and
10000 population. One can walk for
miles and fiud every foot Of the sandy sur
face more or less mixed with pieces Of
| broken pottery. The paint is still on them,
| and is not in the least faded, though it has
lain exposed for ages In the locality Of
/ Mesa City and Tempe an overflow from
the ella at some distant period washed
agains. the ruins until they crumbled and
were spread out level with the country.
Back ten miles from the ella river the
ground is higher and was once the site of
a CITY, Portions OF the wall by which il
was protected are still standing, more than
twenty feet in thickness. Inside are the
mound-lke ruins Of the houses, which,
being less durable have crumbled The
buildings must have been very large. for in
some instances the mounds are 800 feet in
] = l..
The space enclosed by the wall is about fif-
~ miles by three. Much Of the country is
very little higher than the present bed Of
the ella, and at one time branch Of that
stream must have flowed into basin and
formed natural reservoir. There was a
rise Of about ten feet greater at one point
between the basin and the river, and the
sandstone formation shows unmistakable
signs Of having been cut by artificial means,
perhaps with the idea OF assisting the en-
trance Of the water by charging the pas
sage Five canals lead out Of the basin.
all on the south and west, which confirms
the belief that 1t was once a reservoir
formed chiefly by natural causes, and used
TO store water against the periods of
drought. The prehistoric city is laid out
north and south, at least, in a majority Of
instances the streets run to the cardinal
points. The walls seem TO vary a little
from this rule; in fact, are crooked in
places, as if they might have been con
structed for the support of bastiOns or tow
ers.
South Of Phoenix, on the mesa, are the
ruined corrals or stock pens in which their
animals were kept. Many finds prove the
purpose for which they were used. What
the animals were is not so easily deter.
mine. On stats found in ruins south OF
the Salt river are splendid figures OF llamas
In the ruins that have best withstood the
exposure Of the ages many interesting spec
linens Of the ceramic art have been found
Ollas OF all shapes and sizes, urns contain.
ing the ashes OF the dead, and jars partly
filled with parched corn and beans ar,
found in remarkable state OF preserva
ton. 1t seems as if the entire city haC
| IN he IA
houses melted down, or they were shaken
by an earthquake and toppled into a thou
: sand fragments, giving the inhabitant:
barely time to escape. Few of the skele
! tons that The amateur diggers have taker
out show signs of mutilauon or have bro
ken bones. The people appear to have
, died Of suffOcation or some natural cause
that left no mark upon the frame. In
working in several spots where bones have
2 been found deeper digging has brought e
! light large quantities of bone dust as fin,
} and light as gunpowder. In one spot neal
Tempe, several tons of bone dust have
been found recently, in what appears tC
have once been trench some 20 feet Ions
, and two deep, nine feet below the surfac,
J of the sunbaked earth The edges of tn,
! deposit of bone dust were broken and un
even, so that it could not mark a place Of
burial. Does it consist of the remains o
animals, or is the dust that of human
beings? II the latter, was it the result OF
funeral rites or were the bodies deposited
there by some great food that came owe
the land without warning? The MAORI
ty of the skeletons discovered in the Gill
Valley are in good condition, and it is
therefore, not easy to reconcile this fac
with the finding of the great deposits o
2 bone dust.