The times., 1899-08-07
BURIED ARIZONA CITIES
Great Ruins Where Once Lived a
Forgotten Race.
Indications That Earthquakes Kill
ed Many of Their Inhabitants and
turn - Artificial Rivers Dug With
an Infinite Amount of Labor.

| asking that steps be taken to protect the
! buried cities of wonderful prehistoric race
in southern Arizona. 1t is hoped that Con-
gress will create Government reservation
or park which will embrace several OF the
best preserved remains of large cities in the
Gila Valley. The famous ruin of a pre-
historic temple at Casa Grande has been
successfully preserved by the creation of
Government park of four acres. Without
his protection it would probably have been
obliterated now.
Many Americans familiar with the de-
tails Of the unearthing of the temples at
Nineveh and the explorations at Babylon
and Thebes have little or no knowledge
concerning the remains of prehistoric COM
munities in the West OF their own country.
In the Gila and Salt River valleys of south
ern Arizona are relics of mysterious inter-
est which battle investigation, and they are
being hacked to pieces and carried away
piecemeal, because Americans know little
about them and the Government does not
care. They have been more rapidly effaced
during the last dozen years than in the
previous century. The ranchmen and the
farmer are clearing the land Of prehistoric
walls and excavations to SOW wheat and
alfalfa crops. Modern irrigation systems
are QeIHOllSQlnS dDOFlS1ual masterpieces Ol
masonry, and curio hunters are hacking TO
pieces mural works and digging into ancient
tombs, merely to get something uncommon
TO keep or sell. Every curio store in the
Southwest has for sale great heaps Of relies
from Arizonas buried cities.
On broad sloping plain beginning at
the confluence of the ella and Salt Rivers,
forty-two miles from Phoenix. are the
| greatest ruins of the prehistoric towns
Some men OF science say these towns were
built in the stone age. Others say they
existed 1000 years ago. There are out
lines of two towns among the sandy wastes
that must have had populations of 10000
and SO, 600 each, while there are half
dozen other ruined towns of 10000 popu-
lation Their builders had a high degree
of engineering skill. Huge trees were
, transported to them from forests sixty
, miles away, great masses of stone were
brought from far-on quarries. For about
ninety square miles the CHA Valley is an
aggregation of ruins Irrigation canals,
the oldest known in the civilized world. are
found throughout the region.
Marvellous skill.
These waterways were built with ex-
: actness and skill. The largest has been
{ sadly torn to pieces in the last few years
by the ranchmen, but it still shows the
wonders of its construction 1t has an
, average width of seven feet. it is sixty
miles long and it terminates in reser-
voir mile long and half mile wide Think
of the enormous labor of constructing such
a canal and reservoir with stone imple-
ments and of carrying the excavated earth
away in wicker baskets But that is only
l one of seventeen distinct prehistoric irri-
cation systems in the Gila Valley.
The size of these canals gives some idea
of the scale on which these people con-
constructed an artificial river to supply the
: water which their crops required. They
grew great quantities of corn, and they
also raised beans as well as two or three
varieties of squashes. Prof. MCGEE OF the
Smithsonian Institution thinks it probable
that they kept the guanaco in domestica-
: ton, and evidences are found which tndi-
cate pretty certainly that they had tur-
keys. One may walk for miles in this
region and find every foot of the sandy
, | surface more or less mixed with pieces oi
: broken pottery. The paint is still on
| them. and is not in the least faded, though
they have lain exposed for centuries.
In the neighborhood of Tempe an over
. flow from the ella at some distant period
| washed against the ruins until they erum-
, bled and were spread out level with the
| country Back ten miles from the Giia
!, River the ground is higher and was once
: the site of a city. Portions of the buried
Z city wall, by which 1t was protected, are
> | still standing more than twenty feet IN
: thickness Inside are the mound-like ruins
: OF the houses. which, being less durable
| have crumbIed. The buildings must have
. been very large for In some instances the
i mounds are 800 feet in length by 200 in
| | width and twenty in height. Much OF the
: country is very little higher than the
, present bed of the Gila, and at one time a
i branch of that stream must nave howed
into basin which formed a natural reser-
voir There was rise of about ten feet al
one point between the basin and the river
and the sandstone formation shows unmis-
r taxable signs of having been cut by arti-
fetal means, perhaps with the idea OF as
J, | sisting the entrance of the water by en-
larging the passage. Five canals lead Out
of the basin. ali on the south and west
a which confirm the belief that 1t was once
5 a reservoir formed chiefly by nature. and
n ! used to store water against the PERIODS oi
drought.
> Seven Buried Cities.
The expedition that worked during the
winters of 1S96@97-9S under the patronage
, of Mr. Bottume, in the neighborhood Oh
= | Mesa, little town in the eastern part
q of Maricopa county. revealed vast posi-
bilities for scientific investigation In these
e buried communities. The site OF the IN
n yestigations was what is known as the
: Mesa Grande, or big upland, between the
T two principal rivers in southern Arizona
o the ella and the Salt, whose combined cur
: rent finds vent in the Rio Colorado al
= Yuma. One of the seven buried cities
n there is known as Las Acequias. 1t covers
: an area nearly two miles and half square
g and probably once had about 25,Oo0 peo-
Die. Exploration shows that the grea'
s artificial canals, which were Its arteries
: of commerce and agriculture, were elao-
o orately terraced. Millions OF cobblestones
d we're used to retain the canal BANKS Az
e army of thousands of men and women
IT must have spent months, perhaps years
z in carrying loads of stones In wicker
II baskets on their backs from the distant
O places to the banks. The largest cana
" leading to Las Aceluias consisted OF q
IS central ditch five feet in width at the bot
! tom and broadening above to thirty feet
d II was fourteen feet deep. 1t was twenty
a four miles long 1t terminated in CLOSED
; reservoir mile in length by half mile
= wide The construction of such worl
nowadays would be no mean engineering
% enterprise. But the vastness OF the
! | undertaking by little city where only
n stone implements for digging and wicker
q baskets for transportation were known ]!
4 extraordinary
"a The Bottume explorations also revealed
. the interesting manner III which the mys
terious race protected its canals agalns
% | seepage OF water therefrom, for water OBJ
!, tanned at such physical expense Is very
!. precious in any community, ancient OF
= | modern To render the clay beds OF th'
= | canals impervious, is was first puddled ant
!, | then by means of burning brush ana woot