The Coolidge examiner., 1930-05-30

At RUINS
(By IRWIN HAYDEN
Continued from last week.

knew of a cave near Superior,
which he had entered to distance
of some 300 feet He had seen In
dian pottery in it. We engaged
him to take US there.
Arrived at the entrance. ne said
he had last seen the cave 25 years
ago. We believed him, for today
he could not possibly squeeze into
or through the small entrance. But
two of US did. We carried electric
torches / carried my kitbag. with
trowel and other necessary equip
ment, carbide lamp and carbide,
and a gallon canteen filled with
water. The other man carried q
small caliber rifle in case Of cats.
Our good friend must have been
slenderer 25 years ago than he is at
present The cave consists of very
narrow corridors in limestone. and
the floors, if such they might be
called. are damp and even wet in
the lower levels: no chance there
for preservation of Indian objects
other than stone or pottery. l led
the way and penetrated the pas
sageways for perhaps 200 feet
One learns to be thorough in in
vestigations; we had come far to
see this cave. it might contain the
bones of extinct animals as well as
artifacts. / went the limit, even
TO crawling backward on my tum-
my into the last chamber. Then
/ had to crawl out backward, very
muddy and rather doubtful as to
my success.
Had | had time or inclination.
could have collected many names
and addresses of folks who have
entered the cave. Such data are
everywhere on the walls.
In the uttermOst chamber visited
by me l found the piece Of the shell
of a coconut. 1t was quite fresh.
/ never hope to learn, do not care
to learn, the identity of the person
who entered there to eat a cocoa
nut l prefer such delicacies out in
Gods sunshine. or at least in the
open air.
Since the building Of the Cool
idge dam in the valley of the Gila
river in Arizona, hundreds of, acres
of land have been cleared Of mes
quite and creosote bush, and put un-
der cultivation. This year many
more acres are being cleared
Hardly an acre of this land but has
on its surface or beneath more or
less evidence of the canal build
ing Indians who, inthe long ago
farmed the valley, producing maize
beans, melons, ssquash and cotton
This particular district has been .
known to be rich in archaeology
but no one knows much about it.
American archaeology knows of it,
ever since Kino's visit in 1894 The
area is famous, every student of
1t is astonishing the almost utter
ignorance as to the prehistoric
ruins here: brt e. en- more ason-
ishing is the fact that American
archheologists have so neglected it. .
it must be that it has been taken
for granted that DR.. Fewkes, and
Bandelier and Mindeleff, if indeed
have the two later names correct +
exhausted the locality. or it may be
that the ruins in the cliffs and
New Mexico were more spectacular. /
How else can one explain the situa-
tion.
Rich Scientific Field
From the scientific point of view
can testify that there is every
reason to regret that the present I
activities hereabouts are putting an
exceedingly rich archaeological area /
forever beyond the reach of human
ken. The plow. the scraper, plus
irrigating water, and the vested I
rights of farmers are destroying
and closing a document which +.
should have been read thoroughly 7
in the last 80 years.
We of the Won Bergen-Los An /
geles Museum Field party have (.
already unearthed unheard of OBJ .
jects, undreamed of evidence. Not F.
undreamed of, for Superintendent .
Pinkley has hypothecated much Of
what we are finding. Thirty years
at Casa Grande ruins have given /
him ample time for dreaming; he .
is an authority on local and South /
western prehistory Would that the
valley for miles around could have I
been reserved for intensive study. +
To the casual eye there was no /
thing on the surface to indicate /
what lay beneath. The man who
made the discovery claims some I
sort of second sight; but we know
that he is but ordinary clay, be- /.
cause he declared the area COM
pletely excavated at the very time I
that he was within few inches of I
its most important content Ito
date) and went elsewhere to exer- /
else his vaunted faculty, with no
success. Yet he did have method /
in his attack on the problem for
he began his testing for crema- I
tiOn buria1S east 0f frac ch mOuud