Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-08-03
ANCIENT CANAL As Described by An Ancient
 Yuma Indian. 1t Supported Large FIocks aud Hun dreds Ot rhcusauds of People in
 Years Gone By.

Years Gone By.
 Now Yuma comes to the front with an ancient canal system, one that was in vogue before the coming of the Aztec or Toltec. and before tbs Moctezumas had reached the birth place of the "Planchas de Plata, or Cortez had dreamed of the wealth Of the western world. It is true. The story chn ali be proved by the an- cient ruins of the canal and by the leg ends of the old, cid IDdlaps, who have gone or are rapidly going away, never to return. It Is a good story, but the best cf it is that the deuizeas of that ancient pueblo have just found it out.
 It is now more than 9 years since four or five of our principal citizens were at the Real del Castillo, when they met old .QuerO Largo, that veteran Indian, then
 MORE THAN 150 YEARS OLD,
 As proved by the records of the old mis- sion here, for he was 155 when he dIe6, and this was only short time before his death; wb0 came into our camp and sat down. Dinner was nearly ready and we invited the old chief to dine with us, which he did. When we were through and had had 8 smoke, the old man, through his interpreter, began to talk b u8 of the past. While telling us of ths thousands 0; people who once lived in the valley Of New River he mention ed Yuma, where the old man said there used to be another great canal, great cities and thousands of people. As We had all been in Yuma, at once We felt anxious to hear more of
 ''THE HOTTEST PLACE ON EARTH" While talking, evidently to make it more plain, the old man marked ont the
 line of tine canal in the sand, hs he said his great, great, old fathers had told him and showed it to him when he was a boy. He began up the Colorado some where near PicGcbo; for this old peak, Gs be marked 1t out, had a charm for h;m. lis line lay from big rock in ina river, near the north side, then across level valley, thence along the river bank to near another big rock ID the rlver; thence along the foot of the n15sa to a marrow rocky place in the Glla river aODe miles east Of Yuma, where he said they had dam which the big wa lsTs, meaning the floods, gt times wash ed aHGy; then he marked his line down the south side of the Gila to where Yuma BOW is, where be said the river ran at one time, where the town then stood, when he said on time a great
 EARTHQUAKE CAME,
 Killing some, lnjuring many and fright ening thousands away to the mountains, many of whom never returned. He run his line around north and west of the hill where old Fort Yuma then stood, now the Indian Fchool, and where the canal and Giia united with the Cobra Gc. The ol5 man said that the earth quake broke the bill into, at point be- tween the Arizona prison farm and the Yuma Indian school, but not enough to let the river through, but he said there came another earthquake many years after, which made the crack in the hill wider. The IUdjGns went to work and made @ tunnel Of this crevice, so as to carry the water in their canal down into the valley to ifrIgate their fields, and built their canal down to the great mesa below Yuma, now rear or below the Mexican boundary line. Then the old man told us
 HOW THE GREAT FLOODS CAME,
 Made the hole through the hill bigger, until the tops and sides fell in, and from that time On the Colorado and Gila un- tied and run drought the great break between the prison or where it now stands, aud the Indian school.
 This WAS the story as 1t WAS told to the old man by his great grandfatbers. a lgend of the past. He further told us of the herds Of horses and cattle, the piles Of gran, or corn and beans they had. How well they lived, how numer- ous, thriving and wealthy they were, but eaid the old man ss he grew eloquent, "where are they now? Gone, the white man comes" and he hid his face in his hanos, as if overcome with grief.
 WHAT DO WE FIND NOW?
 Engineer George W. Norton, who is locating Guma's great canal, having finished the preliminary work and found it feasible, finds evid ances that this old QI3rO Largo canal did have its head gate ct Hiuton's rock or island just be- low Picacho. that between there and Castle Dome four miles of the canal still exist i1 the Ortego valley, through l which both Capts Polh8mous and Mul- l len have run their steamers at high wa ter in years gone by, that more than | two miles Of good canal still exists in the | Lsguna valley Gnd that ts course would | carry the canal t5 the rocky | ford at the narFows near Gilg City. l
 Evidences are yet seen of the old | canal between Yuma and the Mexican | line. Some years since 1 traced it for | miles, That this car be utilized there is l no doubt The Colorado nov runs be- | tween the prison and the Indian school, l only when, as in '9l it takes a nation to | take its old channe, and run around the | hili and straight line for Fl Rio. Eu- | rineer Norton is now convinced, so is | Yuma, that the old canal did exist, did | rrigats thousands of acres of the best | land or the coast and supported tens if 1 cot bu-dred's of thousands of people, -6e Sane
 THAT YUMA's GREAT CANAL
 Will d3 when once it is finishSf
 1crt nf rich and fertile<s