Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09

pcIuueLG mas proved SUCCESSFUL an0
that, once the assembled photographs
are available, it will be possible from
them to chart nearly every mile of
canal that served the prehistoric popu-
lation Of the ella and the Salt River
Valleys.
Each with IL years service, these
two Army men have flown together
eight years; together they have worked
on official assignments from the Great
Lakes to the Philippines. But shoot
ing ancient irrigation bitches was a
new job.
Before our first test flights I in
quired OF Lieut.. Bobzien whether it
would De possible, on the prints, to dis
tnguish between the old canals and
those modern ones long since aban-
doned and overgrown. And he replied:
"Stockwell has never yet failed to get
what we went after"
When asked the sergeant the same
question, he answered: IF the crate
can ny, the lieutenant will fly 'er; the
| Fairchild does the rest and she gets
what she Sees"
Difficulties of the Task.
Mapping the prehistoric canals of the
Rio Salado was no simple task. Smoke
blanketed the valley each morning; the
ground haze rarely lifted before II
o'clock. Then, somewhere around q
they came back again-ground haze
followed by smoke. Flying time was
reduced to two, or at most three, hours
at midday. At the higher attitudes
wool-lined leather suits and sheepskin
moccaSins were just comfortable
enough, while Phoenix smiled under
Midwinter temperature of 80 degrees.
Clouds bothered, too, as though come
in answer to prayers for rain that Cen
trail Arizona's seven-year drought might
be broken. And here canals have re-
placed canals since the ancient farmers
first conceived their necessity to local
agriculture.
With the big blue Douglas riding
lazily on air waves at, say, 1000 feet,
one looks down on Pueblo Grande,
situated on the very outskirts of Phoe-
| nix. Massive mound that it is, Pueblo
Grande stands as the finest surviving
example OF those major structures that
lowered above lesser dwellings in In
dian communities once dotting the val
ley for miles in each direction. Hap
PLY, the ruin Is now owned and pre-
served by the city.
Phoenix may justly boast itself the
only city in the United States that has
sought to save as an educational asset
real prehistoric ruin. Phoenix may
feel justly proud that, under direction
of its archaeological commission, Pueblo
Grande is being explored by Odd S.
Halseth.
Close by, in the city's Park of the
Four Waters, are three short sections of
canals that watered fields of maize,
beans and squashes cultivated by the
builders of Pueblo Grande. Here, also,
Is the nearly obliterated remanent of
Salt River Valleys first modern canal,
begun by Jack Swilling and colleagues
back In 1867. Rather, 1t is the second
modern canal for the first "Swilling
Ditch" was merely a trench along the
bottom of prehistoric canal and was
abandoned even before its completion.
SwillingS crazy scheme promised
such success that other pioneers set
tied near by; they called a town meet
ing on October 20, 1870. and needed
the plea of Lord Dupper" that the
new settlement be called Phoenix, since
1t so obviously was risen upon the re-
mains of an older city, and ancient
civilization"
Incident Of Sixty Years Ago.
Few there are in Phoenix today who
recall that only 60 years ago mail was
carried on horseback from Wickenburg
to the main route station at Maricopa
Well. Few there are who remember
that corner lots sold in 1874 for Sill,
and an apology. Or that over on the
south side, at Tempe Butte, Pioneer
Charles T. Hayden, encouraged by the
success of his ferry, erected the first
local store in 1S71-a building whose
walls were of mud-plastered willows.
The new Hayden's mill, powered by
re ~
ecessor, served as one of our chief
landmarks in the aerial survey just
completed. Indeed, as one motors COM
fortahly about Salt River Valley and
basks in the warmth of its MidWinter
sunshine, one finds it almost impossible
to realize that the desert has been so
completely conquered in the short space
of half century.
Irrigation, of course, has made this
conquest possible The Mormons, who
settled Mesa IN 1878, cleared out and
utilized section of prehistoric canal
and thus saved an estimated $4,000
in labor alone. Part of that recon-
| structed ditch Is still in use, but the
greater part has been replaced by the
later and larger consolidated canal.
Elsewhere in the valley the work of
ancient Indian farmers was made to
serve the pressing needs OF American
pioneers.
These early settlers testified amply to
the engineering skill of the ancient folk
when they took over, in whole or in
part, the irrigation bitches OF the lat
ter. Modern canals frequently parallel
the older ones, using the same gradient
or rate Of fall. One requires no further
proof that our prehistoric farmers, With
out instruments of precision, were
mighty clever engineers.
Traces Of Old Canals.
From the air, no matter what the
altitude, one looks down not only upon
history in the making, but upon pre-
history as well. Traces of old aboriginal
canals may still be seen from Granite
Reef to the White Tank Mounts; from
Squaw Peak, on the north, to Bel
Buttes and beyond. But what most I'M
presses the flyer is the network OF
modern canals and laterals-tnln oIue
ribbons that stretch gracefully away
from the river finally to lose themselves
in neatly squared fields, bordered oy
wide, straight roads.
Like erandmothers' quilts these fields
are dark brown where freshly ploWeo
reddish in hue when still covered oS
dead cotton stalks, green with young
alfalfa, pale yellow when sand preoom'
mates. Orange and grapefruit grove;
seem nurseries of miniature pottec
plantS-tiny dark green balls, all !alc
out neatly. row upon row. Young oatt
palms, bundled in golden straw. Sllverec
cotton woods with just suggestion o.
coming Spring.
But through this patchwork Of farm
lands, through vineyards and plowet
felds-I cannot but think, from tn'
queer patterns they trace, that farmer:
often play at their work-through. al
these the ancient Indian canals plainly
show Not always, but usually. ] canno
yet understand why an old ditch 81
completely erased that it cannot b'
quite evident from a height of 1000 o.
, 1000 feet Nor can I comprehend VIII!