wrNrjELEFF] CLEAR CREEK WORKS. 243 



a stream like tbe Verde, and certainly a hundred, or at most a hun- 

 dred and fifty years would suffice to accomi^lish it. At the present 

 time a few floods deposit an amount of material equal to that under 

 discussion, and if subse(iueutly the river changed its channel, as it 

 does at a dozen diflerent points every spring, afew decades only would be 

 required to cover the surface with grass and bushes, and in short, to 

 form a bottom land similar to that now existing over the ancient ditch. 



In conclusion it should be noted, in support of the hypothesis that 

 the ditch was built before the material composing the bluff was laid 

 down, that immediately under the ditch there is a stratum of hard 

 adobe-like earth, quite different from the sand above it and from the 

 material of which the bluff is composed. This stratum is shown 

 clearly in plate xxxvili. 



The hypothesis which accords best with the evidence now in hand 

 is that which assumes that the ditch was taken out of the river but a 

 short distance above the point illustrated, and that it was built on the 

 slope of a low hill, or on a nearly flat undulating bottom laud, before 

 the material composing the i^resent bottom or river terrace was depos- 

 ited, and that the ditch, while it may be of considerable antiquity, is 

 not necessarily more than a hundred or a hundred and fifty years 

 old; in other words, we may reach a fairly definite determination of its 

 minimum but not of its maximum antiquity. 



On the southern side of Clear creek, about a mile above its nwuth, 

 there are extensive horticultural works covering a large area of the 

 terrace or river bench. These have already been alluded to in the 

 description of the village ruin overlooking them, but there are several 

 features which are worthy a more detailed description. For a distance 

 of 2 miles cast and west along the creek, and perhaps half a mile north 

 and south, there are traces of former works i^ertainiug to horticulture, 

 including irrigating ditches, "reservoirs," farming outlooks, etc. 



At the eastern end of these works, about 3 miles above the moutli 

 of Clear creek, the main ditch, after running along the slope of the 

 hill for some distance, comes out on top of the mesa or terrace nearly 

 opposite the Morris place. The water was taken from the creek but a 

 short distance above, hardly more than half a mile. West of the point 

 where the ditch comes out on the mesa top, all traces of it disappear, 

 but they are found again at various points on the terrace. Plate xxxix 

 shows a portion of the terrace below and opposite the rectangular ruin 

 previously desci-ibed. In the distant foreground the light line indi- 

 cates a part of the ancient ditch. Plate XL shows the same ditch at a 

 point half a mile below the last, where it rounds a knoll. In the dis- 

 tance is the flat-topped hill or mesa on which the rectangular ruin 

 previously described is located. About a hundred yards southeast of 

 this point further traces of the ditch may be seen, and connected with 

 it at that point are a number of rectangular areas, which were culti- 

 vated patches when the ditch was in use. 



