The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-17

which water was distributed over the soil.
 Except in rare instances these smaller
 ditches have been filled. and in that part
 of the desert are obscured by the sand storms that prevail: but the larger one is
 distinct and measures sixty-four feet in
 width. with an average depth of twelve
 feef nnort rarSugh of this TSy the water for ts
 Gila Rivers was conveyed, and 1,6no
 square miles of country, now destittfe of
 all vegetation, except the sahuafa, and an
 occasional palo verde w9s irriga atad by it.
 This canal reached t6 within R. short
 distance of the Gila River,s and fh aswater-
 was taken from the Salt River for the
 apparent reason that at this p9ip3 the
 north bank of the Gila was sd hfkh That
 the builders were unable to reach the
 current with a canal, and they evidently
 knew of no way to raise the water to the
 level of the surrounding conntry. This part Of the desert Is covered with ruins, and must have been at one time the .resi- dence of a teemine population. Imfnedi- ately south of this region several large canals were taken out of the Gila. and
 they extend quite a distance into the val ley. one of them supplying the city which contained the Casa Grande-the largest, best preserved. and most noted prehistoric ruin in the United States.
 Ruins of Ancient Cities.
 On the other side of the Salt River there are more waterways. though they are not of such length. Here, also. was the prin- cipal city ,twenty-eight miles in length py twelve in breadth. It contained many large buildings, which are now little more than shapeless mounds of stone and nor tar All the wooden parts of these struc- lures have been destroyed by the ravages of time. and even the joiSts where they were protected by the stone and mortar have decayed. leaving only the vacancy they once filled. Near Phoenix, in one of the ruins which are evidently those of some public building. the walls and roof n tO have haen crnGhad fnppth hay. with great force, forming a huge pile of debris. yet standing to a height of twenty feet. The wooden beams in the structure. some of them eight inches in diameter, were bent broken and thrown across each other in great profusion. In this position the broken stone and mortar settled around them. and in the course of time the mass hardened again, so that when the wooden timbers finally decayed they left holes the size of the timbers. When the fact is considered that rain seldom falls here. and that cold and dew are con ditions entirely unknown in the valleys + is apparent that ages must have clans ed while this process of decay was going
 At some distant period. but more recent than the habita tion of these people, the Bradshaw Mountains have been in erup- ton, and large quantities of lava have found their way out through the Black Canyon and the valley of the Verde. though 1t seems that the Salt River has acted as a Darrler thaI stopped Lnls now and none is found further south than its present channel At a later period in the geological history some great deluge has apparently deposited a wash to a depth of three to five feet over the entire northern part of the valley. To this is due the fact that many of the canals are filled up and partly obliterated, though the formation is such that their courses are still easily traced; and by digging down a few feet and breaking through the sheet of lava. hn rcbar fOdS fha h0ttou1 which a sediment of lime has formed during the years of constant use. Geolosfsts believe that the now extinct craters have not been active during the last 2.ooo wears. and as the matter from them Ia found in these canals. it must be that the people lived before the last eruption.
 Cliff-Dwellers More Modern.
 One of the errors into which writers upon this subject have fallen is the be- lief that the builders of these ruins were evidences of which are found throughout all the mountain ranges. especially in the northern part of the Territory. There were undoubtedly two eras of inhabita- tiop, that of the cliff dwellers being the more recent of the two, and prhaps as long after the valley races had become extinct as our age is after them. As Vet no theory has been advanced by which we can so much as approximate the age of the cliff-dwellings. Their buildings were rude. and more unsettled than the of the valleys. and they lived by war and the chase, as is proved by the weapons found about their abodes, On the contrary. the people of the valley lived peaceful lives. built magnificent temples. to a certain. extent encouraged the fine arts. and titled the soil with a system of irrigation equal to that of the most prosperous days of ancient Egypt
 Recent surveys prove that at one time not less than 100000 acres of land were capable of irrigation from the canals then In existence, while now we have only 337.- o00 The population must have been enor- nous. The extent of their civilization is | not so much enveloped in mystery as is | their origin or the cause of their total de-