238 ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN VERUE VALLEY. [eth.ann. 13 



than one farming season, would probably be placed on stone founda- 

 tions, as the soil throughout most of the region in which these remains 

 occur is very light, and a wooden structure placed directly on it 

 would hardly survive a winter. 



In the valley of the Rio Verde the profitable use of adobe at the 

 present time is approximately limited northward by the thirty-fourth 

 parallel, which crosses the valley a little below the mouth of Limestone 

 creek. North of this latitude adobe is used less and less and where 

 used requires more and more attention to keep in order, although on 

 the high tablelands some distance farther northward it is again a 

 suitable construction. South of tlie thirty-fourth parallel, however, 

 adobe construction is well suited to the climate and in the valleys of 

 Salt and Gila rivers it is the standard construction. Adobe construc- 

 tion (the use of sun-dried molded brick) was unknown to the ancient 

 pueblo builders, but its aboriginal counterpart, rammed earth or pis6 

 construction, such as that of the well known Casa Grande ruin on Gila 

 river, acted in much the same way under climatic influences, and it is 

 probable that its lack of suitability precluded its use in the greater 

 part of the Verde valley. No walls of the type of those of the Casa 

 Grande ruin have been found in the valley of the Verde, although 

 abundant in the valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers, but it is possible 

 that this method of construction was used in the southern part of the 

 Verde region for temporary structures; in the northern part of that 

 region its use even for that purpose was not practicable. 



In this connection it should be noted that all the ruins herein 

 described are of buildings of the northern type of aboriginal pueblo 

 architecture and seem to be connected with the north rather than the 

 south. 



IRRIGATING DITCHES AND HORTICULTURAL WORKS. 



One of the finest examples of an aboriginal irrigating ditch that has 

 come under the writer's notice occurs about 2 miles below the mouth 

 of Limestone creek, on the opposite or eastern side of the river. At 

 this point there is a large area of fertile bottom land, now occupied by 

 some half dozen ranches, known locally as the Lower Verde settlement. 

 The ditch extends across the northern and western part of this area, 

 riate XXXIV shows a portion of this ditch at a point about one eighth of 

 a mile east of the river. Here the ditch is marked by a very shallow 

 trough in the grass-covered bottom, bounded on either side by a low 

 ridge of earth and pebbles. Plate xxxv shows the same ditch at a point 

 about one-eighth of a mile above the last, where it was necessary to 

 cut through a low ridge. North of this point the ditch can not be 

 traced, but here it is about 40 feet above the river and about 10 feet 

 above a modern (American) ditch. It is probable that the water was 

 taken out of the river about '2 miles above this i)lace, but the ditch 

 was run on the sloping side of the mesa which has been recently 



