Arizona republican., 1898-04-05
THE HOUSE THAT CANT BUILT
CHAPTER II.

About this time trouble began to brew in that otherwise peaceful and happy community. Trouble which cost MT. Cant many tug at the heart strings, many tug at the purse strings, many tug at the old mares tug and many a mile of travel. Trou- ble that actually threatened to in volve the whole neighborhood. It is long story and the bottom of it all might be called 'The Ditch That Cant Bought"
 In 1886 the Goodwin boys went out south of Tempe and constructed branch of the Tempe canal two miles south thence one mile west and thence one mile south. In 'SS Lon Harmon rented the section of land which Mr. Cant now owns and also the quarter section which is known as the Daggs land and which lies at the southwest corner of the Cant section. MT. liar mon could not get water enough to suit | him on the. Cant and Daggs land through the Goodwin ditch, So he con- l structed a ditch of his own.
 For the benefit of those who are not informed it will be stated that the
 Salt River valley was once inhabited, perhaps by a more intelligent race than that which now gains subsistence | in it. The handiwork of this extinct race can be seen everywhere, cut deep 1 into the surface of the valley or piled conspicuously high above it in the form of great canal systems, through sections which as yet this civilization has utterly failed to water because of it's great elevation; sections, too, which if watered would be as valuable as any farming or orchard land on earth, in the form of silent, sombre ruins of public buildings, homes and work shops. In this district, which is un- der discussion, these proofs of the past are exceedingly numerous and a great
 many pieces of pottery, axes, skele- tons, ornaments, household imple-
 ments and many other things have l been found and are now part of many l highly prized collections.
 MT. Harmon discovered an old water
 way lined with ruins, which takes it's course right down and diagonally
 through the Yaeger section, across 1 corner of what is now Zech's land, a corner of Gant's section which lies i'm mediately west of Zech, diagonally through the Daggs section which is at
 the southwest corner of Gants, and uldSOHdlly tuIOuSH MISS S6dSS QudTI6r 1 section, which is south of the Daggs land. So it is seen that this was a
 diagonal waterway according to the
 cardinal points of the present day and
 age and that this dead people con-
 structed ditches where they would sup
 ply water to all the land whether it ] spoiled the appearance of a section of
 land or not Were there no other
 evidences in the case which took place
 years after MT. Harmon discovered this
 waterway, this fact alone that the people who first subdued this desert
 waste constructed a canal down this
 ridge is proof enough that this is abso-
 lutely the best natural waterway
 through that country.
 MT. Harmon began at the corner
 where the Goodwin ditch turns west two miles south of the end of the south
 ern branch, and reconstructed this Az
 tee waterway down to the Daggs cor
 ner and watered this land and the Cant land for his sheep. Two years - later, in 1890, R. G. Goodwin filed on
 the Zech section.
 Col. Shultz took Valentine Cant out and showed him section 26, as MT
 Cant wanted to buy. MT. SRu1tz showed him the Goodwin ditch which as has been stated, ended at the cor ner of this section and which was ir
 good condition. But MT. Cant, who : was a man of great experience in