RUINS IN NORTHERN SONORA AND SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. 71 



two small villages are located near the dry lake. One village, a mere hamlet, lay on the 

 east shore at the top of the highest and sandiest part of the beach. Apparently the reason 

 for its location in this place was that sandy soil holds the moisture better than dry, and 

 hence is good for agriculture. The ruins of the other village lie on Cloverdale Creek, about 

 2 miles west of the old shorehne. In general they are like those already described, but 

 the pottery is different and the houses appear to have contained a greater proportion of 

 adobe and less wood or branches than those farther west. Moreover, the people do not 

 seem to have lived in individual houses, but in small communal dwellings, as was the 

 almost universal practise farther north. The village covered an area about 150 or 200 feet 

 north and south by 400 east and west. The abundant but highly fragmentary pottery is 

 mostly of a red variety with incised lines or dots. A little is yellow with black lines of 

 ornamentation, or else red with black or brown designs upon it. Much of it has been 

 carefully polished. The number of separate buildings is not certain, but seems to have 

 been from 8 to 10. Each one probably contained several families, and the largest may 

 have housed as many as 10. To-day the possibiUties of agricultm-e, according to the 

 one settler who lives near at hand, are most meager. During the three winters preceding 

 our visit in the spring of 1911 there had been no running water. The summers, however, 

 had been better, since only one during the past seven had been absolutely without water. 

 Generally a flowing stream comes down about four times each summer. From 200 to 250 

 acres of land are considered capable of cultivation, but during many years no corn whatever 

 is grown, only a little milo maize and sugar-cane for fodder, and a few beans for human 

 consumption. The universal opinion among the inhabitants of this region seems to be 

 that no one can Uve here without animals of some sort as his main rehance. The owner 

 of a pig ranch, with whom we spent a night in the center of the old lake-bed, expressed 

 himself forcibly to the effect that if it had not been for his pigs he would have been starved 

 out and forced to leave the country. "If a man had to rely on what he could raise to eat, 

 lots of years he couldn't raise it. Last year I got no rain, and didn't even raise a mess 

 of beans." 



Even the animals suffer severely. The year 1891 is said to have been the worst in 

 recent times, but 1892 was also bad, as was 1910, while in 1904 the wells in all parts went 

 dry or merely gave a seep of water insufficient to water cattle. Thousands of cattle died. 

 The "Diamond A" ranch lost 15,000 out of 40,000 to 50,000 animals, and also failed to 

 rear any of the calves, which usually number about 12,000. The animals died in large 

 numbers around all the watering-places, and the cowboys spent much of their time in 

 fastening ropes to dead animals and dragging them away from the water. Even the hardy 

 antelope among the mountains suffered just as did the cattle, and died in the same way 

 around the watering-places. 



In addition to the two ancient villages already mentioned there appear to have been 

 four others in the entire plain of the Animas Valley, which extends 40 miles northward from 

 the old strand to the railroad. There were also a considerable number of cUff and cave 

 dwellings in the mountains. The habitations in the mountains are said to be near spots 

 which have water in good years, although many of them are absolutely dry for periods of 

 over a year at a time. The largest villages of the Hohokam in this vicinity were located 

 nearly 30 miles from the old lake near the present post-office of Animas. Here, at three 

 different sites, fire-places and pottery are found scattered among old mounds, covered in 

 many cases with sacaton grass. Formerly stone foundations were visible, but the score 

 or more of settlers who have lately brought their families hither have carried them away. 

 The number of inhabitants must have been considerable, for one of the settlers stated 

 that he once hauled away a load of 50 metate stones to use in lining a well, and his neighbors 

 have done likewise. The Hohokam, here as elsewhere, were a distinctly agricultural people ; 

 their number, if the ruins are a safe guide, must have much exceeded that of the present 



