32 THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



Prehistoric Ruins of tiie Salt 

 River Valley. 



Arizona contains many wonders, 

 both natural and artificial. Among 

 the latter are pre-historic ruins of the 

 Salt River valley. While not as well 

 known as Casa Grande and "Monte- 

 zuma's Castle," they are nonetheless 

 interesting to the student of Archae- 

 ology. 



There are seven important groups of 

 ruins within a radius of 20 miles from 



the city of Phoenix. In each of these 

 groups of ruins there is one or more 

 temple (?) ruins. 



There are two "species" of temple 

 ruins. The Sun Temple is elliptical 

 in form, and in the center there is a 

 depression. Many persons suppose 

 on first sight that these Sun temples 

 were reservoirs in which the Ancients 

 stored water. They are not reservoirs, 

 as the Ancients of this valley had a 

 fine system of canals, and they no 

 doubt would use the water from them 

 for domestic purposes. 



The other kind of temple ruins are 

 rectangular in form and are generally 

 the largest ruins in the group. Walls 

 can be found in these ruins by digging 

 a few inches below the surface. Jast, 



after a rain many of the walls can be 

 seen very plainly. 



There are other ruins in these 

 groups, which are supposed to have 

 been the residences of the common 

 people. On digging into these rrrins 

 we find large chunks of dirt and frag- 

 ments of cajons. The chunks of dirt 

 once covered the thatched roofs, as 

 many of them show imprints of sticks, 

 corn stalks, reeds and the like. Par- 

 ticles of charred sticks, are often 

 found imbeded in these chunks of dirt. 

 The cajons ate evidently from the 

 walls, although one ruin which I ex- 

 amined, the walls appeared to have 

 been made or stone mixed with mud. 

 When the chunks of dirt and cajons 

 removed, a layer of ashes and char- 

 coal is brought to light. They are on 

 the floor, and fragments of pottery 

 (some of them decorated similar to the 

 cut) are mixed with the ashes and 

 charcoal. 



It is quite apparent that the homes 

 of these people were destroyed by fire, 

 as this debris proves it. 



I fear I have made this article too 

 long, so I will close, hoping that I 

 may have the pleasure of writing 

 again. BuRT Ogburn. 



More than 40,000 Sparrows have 

 been destroyed in Gratiot County, 

 Michigan, during the past twelve 

 months, as shown by the bounties 

 paid, but the birds appear to be as 

 numerous as ever. One man makes a 

 good income as aSpanow hunter, col- 

 lecting an average of $60 a month in 

 bounties. 



Old Betty, a Nisqually Indian in 

 Washington, is over 120 years old 



