CLIMATE OF NORTH AMERICA HUNTINGTON". 387 



partly irrigated land. To this number nothing could be added by 

 dry farming without irrigation; for Prof. Forbes expressly states that 

 at the present time, in spite of various attempts, no such thing as 

 genume dry farming exists in the State of Arizona. Promismg 

 experiments give hope of some success in the future, but they involve 

 re])eated and expensive plowing of the soil after each short period 

 of rain, and this must be kept up for two years before any crop can 

 be harvested. It may safely be assumed that the ancient Hohokam, 

 with no iron tools, no beasts of burden, and no great laiowledge of 

 science, could scarcely cultivate as much land as the modern Ameri- 

 can. Moreover, as they had no whiter crops, they could scarcely 

 have raised as much food per acre as is now possible, even had they 

 not been otherwise handicapped. For the sake of argument, how- 

 ever, let us suppose that with the aid of game, wild fruits, and seeds 

 in bad years, and with their lower standards of hving, the Hohokam, 

 if they were here to-day under the present conditions of cHmate, 

 might support themselves to a maximum number of four or five 

 thousand. 



Granting that four or five thousand Hohokam might possibly find a 

 living in the Santa Cruz Valley under present climatic conditions, 

 let us see where they would be located. Inasmuch as the ancient 

 people were agricultural, they must have lived where both land and 

 water were available. At present about 1,500 of the 6,000 arable 

 acres are at the Indian reservation and old Spanish mission of San 

 Xavier, 9 miles up the Santa Cruz to the south of Tucson. Six or 

 seven hundred Indians now live there, cultivating the land, raising 

 cattle, and going out to the neighboring city to work. In the days 

 of the Hohokam a somewhat dense population lived at San Xavier, 

 as is proved by various ruins, including a fort on a hilltop. Around 

 Tucson itself the modern houses and streets make it impossible to 

 determine exactly how large an area was occupied by the Hohokam. 

 In all the outskirts of the town, however, pottery and other evidences 

 of early man arc abundant, and there is a fort on Tumamoc Hill, 

 where the Desert Laboratory is now located. Evidently many 

 Hohokam lived near Tucson and cultivated the 2,000 acres which 

 can there be irrigated. A tliird large area of modern cultivation is 

 found along the RiUito, a stream from the southeast which joins the 

 northward flowing Santa Cruz, 8 miles north of Tucson. Here 

 nearly 2,000 acres are now in use. In the past the Hohokam evi- 

 dently made use of the same land, for traces of villages are found 

 near Agua Caliente, Tankc Verde, Fort Lowell, and elsewhere. The 

 three areas of San Xavier, Tucson, and the RiUito VaUey include 

 about 5,500 out of the 6,000 acres available for cultivation, while 

 the remaining 500 are scattered here and there in insignificant 

 patches. 



