The Coolidge examiner., 1930-05-02
(By IRWIN HAYDEN
Continued from last week.

covering an ancient village III ATT
zona. We work hard all day under
Arizona's turquoise skies and when
we are off the job we are a mer-
ry crew.
Well. why should we not be hap
DIV? Every one of us loves Gods
out-of-doors, we are all doing what
we like to do, and if we work rea-
sonably hard we have good beds
and good food and good fellowship.
If had $10,000,000 l would do just
as | am doing, so l count myself rich
er than if l possessed the SlO,O0J,-
GOO. For one thing, | do not have to
administer the millions, which
take to be some chore. Furthermore
there is solace in handling good old
earth.
Arthur Woodward, "Skeeter'
Williams. an ex-forest ranger and
cow-puncher, Conrad and all but
one of Van Bergen's Gophers'
climbed into the Ford station wagon
which is our transportation, ana
drove IS miles north of Phoenix
on the road to Flagstaff and turned
off the highway just north or the
Oasis ranch. Then we followed the
beds of dry washes and sheep wa
gon trails through cholla cactus
over boulders, up steep banks and
down until we we reached our des-
tination, which was flat topped
butte on which "Skeeter Williams
had observed some ancient ruins.
We had spent too long time at
the Phoenix sky harbor and did not
arrive at the ruins until 4:3O, by
which time it had begun to rain.
We ate our lunches as we climbed
the butte.
Visit Other Ruins
There were definite traces Of
stone walls, and sure sign of Indian
occupation in the form of potsherds.
We saw only plain or featureless
sherds To the north, across W lat
in New England might be called an
interval, were the terraced (per-
haps naturally garden patches
where the people who lived on the
butte grew their maize and squash
and beans.
No sooner had we climbed the
hill than we had to scramble down
again in order to get Mr.. Wood
ward into Phoenix in time to board
the o'clock train for Los Angeles.
We made good time in spite Of the
rain.
! Some day we will visit these
that any car would have gone
where we went; but the Ford sta
tion wagon, with seven hearty men
aboard, took us there and back with
never a falter. We had two flat
tires within the first 25 miles of
our journey and never bit of tire
trouble over the trail up the wash
es and over the boulders and stones
Some day we'll visit hese ruons
ruins again, and nearby similar
ones, to sink test pits and drive
test trenches, to learn, if possible,
who the folks were who lived
there.
Many things have / for which to
be thankful; | am particularly
grateful because | am carrying on
archaeological investigation for peo-
pie who are seeking information.
Museums and individuals who or
ganize and finance such work as
the Van Bergen-Los Angeles mu
scum field party is doing here in
the central Gila river valley, Ari-
zona, are too prone to place more
Importance on objects found than
on the information to be gained by
careful excavation and observa-
ton of data concerning walls and
floors, and all the phenomena which
exist in the ruins of human habita-
tion.
Many a good field archeologist
has had to leave his diggings with
a broken heart because as he had
reached stratified material, where
sequence of cultures might be OBJ
served, his superiors have said:
I'VE have all the specimens we
need, so we'll quit right here"
Our outfit values specimens, but
primarily because of the story they
tell, not for their intrinsic value.
This work is expensive; its reward
would be poor indeed if only pots
and arrow-points resulted.
Pretty Well Equipped
We are fully equipped with ex-
pensive cameras, transit and rod,
drawing tools and field mapping
outfit and the indispensable trowels
and brushes. How different from
the equipment of the party which
came here more than 20 years ago
to explore the ruins in search of
specimens am told that there was
not a trowel in the outfit and it had
no transit or level with which to
establish grades and other precise
measurements. 1t returned here the
second year with a condemned sur
veying instrument which had been
loaned to it, but which was unserv-
iceable. / know a man, one of our
leading Psychologists, who, in his