lO IRRIGATION FARMING. 



the years, we find that irrigation has existed as an aid 

 to agriculture for many centuries antedating the 

 advent of the Caucasian. Arizona is full of the 

 remains of ancient towns and irrigating canals, and in 

 Taos, Santa F^, Valencia and Grant counties, New 

 Mexico, the existing ruins of similar stru<5lures point 

 to a dense population existing at some remote period 

 under some form of organized government. The rem- 

 nants of this nation or nations are found in the Pueblos 

 of Acoma, Cochita, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Moqui, 

 Nambe, Picuris, Zuni, and others of New Mexico, and 

 the Chihuahuas and Tequas and others along the Rio 

 Grande in Texas. The writer has stood upon the 

 ruins of La Gran Quivera and traced for miles with 

 his eye the grade of a great irrigating ditch. Ruins 

 of ancient towns have also been found along the Pecos 

 river in Texas. There ^re few streams in Arizona 

 and New Mexico where traces of ancient w^orks cannot 

 be found. Earthquakes and wars with savage neigh- 

 bors brought about the destru(5lion of most of these 

 works. The Spanish marauders under Cabeza de 

 Vaca, and later on under Coronado, helped to bring 

 about further decay. In Peru, the land of the Incas, 

 and throughout Mexico and Central America, the 

 early Spanish explorers found such magnificent irri- 

 gating works that their astonishment was very marked. 

 The elaborate appliances for irrigation were neglecfted 

 and allowed to go to ruin. The now existing works 

 do not compare in magnitude to the ancient works. 

 Parts of Arizona and New Mexico were at some remote 

 period densely populated and then abandoned. Quite 

 extensive systems of irrigating canals of prehistoric 



