Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona | Page 6

at a little distance from the river groves of
other kinds of trees are found. All these trees, however, are confined to
the immediate vicinity of the river and those of its tributaries which
carry water during most of the year; and as the mountains which hem in
the valley on the east and west are not high enough to support great
pines such as characterize the plateau country on the north and east, the
aspect of the country, even a short distance away from the river bottom,
is arid and forbidding in the extreme.
[Illustration: Plate XIII. MAIN COURT, RUIN NEAR LIMESTONE
CREEK.]

Within the last few years the character of the river and of the country
adjacent to it has materially changed, and inferences drawn from
present conditions may be erroneous. This change is the direct result of
the recent stocking of the country with cattle. More cattle have been
brought into the country than in its natural state it will support. One of
the results of this overstocking is a very high death rate among the
cattle; another and more important result is that the grasses and other
vegetation have no chance to seed or mature, being cropped off close to
the ground almost as soon as they appear. As a result of this, many of
the river terraces and little valleys among the foothills, once celebrated
for luxuriant grass, are now bare, and would hardly afford sustenance to
a single cow for a week. In place of strong grasses these places are now
covered for a few weeks in spring with a growth of a plant known as
"filaree," which, owing to the rapid maturing of its seeds (in a month or
less), seems to be the only plant not completely destroyed by the cattle,
although the latter are very fond of it and eat it freely, both green and
when dried on the ground. As a further effect of the abundance of cattle
and the scarcity of food for them, the young willows, which, even so
late as ten years ago, formed one of the characteristic features of the
river and its banks, growing thickly in the bed of the stream, and often
forming impenetrable jungles on its banks, are now rarely seen.
Owing to the character of the country it drains, the Rio Verde always
must have been subject to freshets and overflows at the time of the
spring rains, but until quite recently the obstructions to the rapid
collection of water offered by thickly growing grass and bushes
prevented destructive floods, except, perhaps, on exceptional occasions.
Now, however, the flood of each year is more disastrous than that of
the preceding year, and in the flood of February, 1891, the culminating
point of intensity and destructiveness was reached. On this occasion the
water rose in some places over 20 feet, with a corresponding
broadening in other places, and flowed with such velocity that for
several weeks it was impossible to cross the river. As a result of these
floods, the grassy banks that once distinguished the river are now but
little more than a tradition, while the older terraces, which under
normal circumstances would now be safe, are being cut away more and
more each year. In several localities near Verde, where there are cavate

lodges, located originally with especial reference to an adjacent area of
tillable land, the terraces have been completely cut away, and the cliffs
in which the cavate lodges occur are washed by the river during high
water.

DISTRIBUTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF RUINS.
All the modern settlements of the lower portion of the Verde valley are
located on terraces or benches, and such localities were also regarded
favorably by the ancient builders, for almost invariably where a modern
settlement is observed traces of a former one will also be found. The
former inhabitants of this region were an agricultural people, and their
villages were always located either on or immediately adjacent to some
area of tillable soil. This is true even of the cavate lodges, which are
often supposed to have been located solely with reference to facility of
defense. Owing to the character of the country, most of the tillable land
is found on the eastern side of the river, and as a consequence most of
the remains of the former inhabitants are found there also, though they
are by no means confined to that side. These remains are quite
abundant in the vicinity of Verde, and less so between that point and
the mouth of the river. The causes which have induced American
settlement in the large area of bottom land about Verde doubtless also
induced the aboriginal settlement of the same region, although, owing
to the different systems of agriculture pursued by the two peoples, the
American