392 ANNUAL BEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



another large village m this vicinity on the farther side of the Point 

 of the Mountains, that is half or three-quarters of a mile downstream. 

 Here for nearly a mile and a half along the gravel terrace above the 

 alluvial plain of the Santa Cruz, and overlooking at a distance the 300 

 acres now under cultivation, pottery and the usual accompanying 

 artifacts are thickly scattered. The central part of the village occu- 

 pies an area of about 200 acres, while the surrounding part where 

 population was less dense covers a slightly larger area. In the center 

 of the village, pottery is thickly strewn, and the upper layers of earth 

 are full of it to a depth of 2 feet, indicatmg very long occupation. 

 This lower village was larger than the one on the other side of the 

 mountains, and, to judge from the degree of ruin of its ceremonial 

 chambers, it appears to have been occupied longer and abandoned 

 earlier. Moreover, there are no defensive walls, so far as we could 

 discover on the side of the hills facing it, although there are plenty on 

 the other side. All these things suggest that the original village was 

 doA\Tistream from the Pohit ol the Mountains, and existed during a 

 time of peace, prosperity and densc^ population, while the other village 

 was occupied later, perhaps at a time when the water supply was 

 becoming less so that it was necessary to move upstream above the 

 rocky dam of the mountains. At the same tinie war-like conditions 

 perhaps began to prevail, possibl}^ because of the distress due to lack 

 of rain, and accordingly the people of the village were obliged to 

 build places of defence upon the mountain side. 



Below Charco Yuma agricultural conditions become less and less 

 favorable. Nevertheless ruins of villages are fomid at Nelson's Des- 

 ert Ranch, 26 miles from Tucson, at Picacho, 16 miles farther down 

 the Santa Cruz, and in several localities south of Toltec Station, 

 which is about 55 miles northwest of Tucson. These last sites lie in 

 a region where a recent attempt at irrigation has been made on a 

 large scale. A dam of earth was tlirown up to collect flood water, 

 and canals were constructed to distribute it over a plain of the richest 

 soil. My first knowledge of the project came from the sight of a cloud 

 of dust which I saw from a mountain top many miles away. ' ' That," 

 said my companion, "is the dust of the 4,000 acres that the Santa 

 Cruz Reservoir Co. plowed up and planted mth barley last fall. 

 Not a grain of their barley has come up in the whole 4,000 acres, 

 and yet they are trying to sell farms." Later I rode through the 

 dust of the great plowed field — dust ankle deep — and saw with my 

 own eyes that there was not a vestige of sniy growing thing. During 

 the winter no water came down to fill the reservoir; the next sum- 

 mer brought no better success, and the project was abandoned. The 

 entire group of ancient villages in this region of unsuccessful irriga- 

 tion below Charco Yuma must have contained as many people as the 

 groups at either Jaynes or Charco Yuma. In every village of this 



