Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-19

| While travelling through an unfrequented
| region lying across the boundary line be-
| tween Arizona and Mexico and south of
the land of the Papagoes, Prof. MCGEE
| says he came upon a valley scattered with
hundreds of strange mounds. which, upon
examination, he found to represent the re-
mains Of several ancient ruined cities, be-
| lieved by him to have been built by some
unknown natives of that region before
| the landing of Columbus The valley in
| question is a triangular desert, extending
| from the ella river on the north to the
city of Guaymas, Mexico, on the south,
| and sloping down from the Sierra Madre
| range on the east to the Colorado river
| and the Gulf of California
| Since the trip to the southwest was pure
| ly chronological. and since he had neither
| time nor means to unearth many of these
dwellings, Prof. MCGEE, when interviewed
| by the writer, said that he was only able
| these villages and those only hastily.
This settlement, which, he says, like all
| of the others, showed no indications OF
previous investigation, is situated beslde
| the river Aribaca, in Arizona. plot Oh
| the ancient village, which was made from
hurried survey. shows a collection OF us
huts, built on a slight elevation running
| up from the river bank. They are all
rather rounded. but without either SYM
| metry or uniformity of architecture me
walls, he says, are of a mixture OF small
| stones and clay, winch mas udTueAeu AA "
a concrete mass. almost as strong as MOD
| ern masonry. These structures all differ III
size. the smallest measuring about one foot
| high by twelve in diameter. and the lafg-
| est five feet high by about seyenty-iive in
| diameter. They are all scattered careiessly
| over the ground, without the remains
either of streets or paths leading in any
direction. Cutting diagonally across the
settlement there rlns "a straight trough
| Ike indention, from 6tN to SOU rect IN
length and about fifteen feet broad, cut
| into the ground to the depth of a loot.
At either end of this is placed large
stone. At first glance Prof MCGEE says
he took this to be a street, but on further
| examination he found no dwellings, racing
| smallest of them all. On this account he
! takes the structure to be gaming GROUND
| of some kind. either a race track or
bowling alley and the stones to be goals or
ImpIements and Pottery.
| The most conspicuous feature of the
| whole ruin, he says, is a broad, elevated
| depression, originally either oval or crude
| ly rectangular, now about fifteen inches
deep, fifty feet wide and hundred feet
long, and surrounded by wall. construct
| ed similarly to the houses. about two 1eet
| in height This, he says, was formerly
| either a reservoir temple of worship.
although indications point more strongly
| toward the latter, no sediment having. been
| found at the bottom.
| In another section of this strange town
| he found a similar inclCsure. with the o't-
| lircs of a very poorly constructed square.
In one corner Is small basin, probably
| reservoir. This may have been either an
| Enclosure for animals or an eXtensiv" uV-
| ing apartment for men. Running up from
| the river, and leading to the same town, he
| also came across a long ditch. about nfteen
| feet in width. This in all probability was
used for leading water inland.
| Distributed about the dwellings, he says,
| he found numerous stone implements aud
1rlir oil oh
| he has no doubt that hundreds of skele-
| tons could have been unearthed had he
| had time to make diligent search. The
| stone implements differ but slightly from
| these of cur other Indian aborigines, but
| the pottery is of a class characteristic only
| of the southwest. All of the specimens
| found were broken into bits. but their
parts showed that these early people man
ufactured two kinds of earthenWare-one
| rude and porous, such as the more north
ern Indians used for refrigeration and the
other carefully shaped and highly deco
| rated.
| Leaving this village and going further
| south into Arizona, Prof. MCGEE says he
| observed the other mounds, similarly col
| lected into villages, and which, ii unearth-
| ed. would doubtless prove even more in
| teresting and extensive than those de-
| scribed. In all of these could be found
similar implements and pottery. while the
| huts themselves varied but little In distri-
| button and size, except further down.across
| the Mexican line, where one settlement
had a dominating mound. suggesting a
! form Of government different from that
| indicated by the small huts in the north.
Primitive Irrigation Methods.
| On the slope of a mountain in the same
valley, in Mexico, he found a peculiar stone
WALL built like a fertilization and bearing
the same indications of age. This, he said,
undoubtedly indicates that the ancient
race at one time was at war, and this
| strife doubtless resulted In it's extermina-
| ton.
From all of these scattered ruins Prof.
MCGEE draws many interesting deductions.
First, he says they are indicative of a
highly domestic and Industrious people, al
though later there appears the period of
warfare suggested by the wall in the
| mountains. The geological features of the
country show that a great transformation
has occurred since nature first threw up
the scattered mcuhtains and drew in the
scant and shallow rivers. All of the
streams found there at the present day
run in cross directions to the divides in the
mountain ranges, which paths were worn
by water at some distant day in the past.
The land has tilted pveE until it now slopes
down toward the gulf and river on the
ton, although they are too small to reach
the sea. This change of course, took place
many years ago in a geologic period,
probably prior to the advent of man. How
ever, the country was left almost barren
desert and Its people coming afterward,
settled in spots where they could best util-
lie what little water there was 10 De Iound
They became domestic, people. and, unlike
the rowing tribes to- the north built perma-
nent abodes, and improved the soil by irri-
cation. =,
Their irrigation systems, he says, show
higher knowledge of engineering than those
now used by the Spaniards in the adjacent
territories. The towns were built upon the
banks OF the rivers, generally below falls
or gradual slopes. At high elevations they
led the water inland by means of trenches
found to give an inclination of about twelve
inches to the mile. In this way the water
could be brought far inland, and thus they
built their cities up from the river banks.
But the modern Spaniard digs his bitches
with fall almost twice as great, and con-
sequently can only irrigate half as high
above the shore.
Importance of the Discovery.
AS for the period Of warfare Prof. Nc
Gee believes the intruding party to have
been the Apache. The domestic race. having
been conquered were forced to mngle with
their aggressors, and their cities were final
ly deserted because of the lack of industry
manifested by the new rulers It may be
that the two tribes internaarried and that
the modern Papagoes are their descend