Global Food Heritage Project:

Hohokam Irrigation Canals

Remains of a prehistoric Hohokam irrigation canal at "Park of the Canals", in Mesa, Arizona.
(photo source: Waterhistory.org)

Park of the Canals:
In 1878, Mesa was founded by Mormon pioneers. Upon exploration, they discovered the Hohokam's abandoned canals, parts of which they used to develop their own irrigation system. Evidence of the canals can be seen today at the 31-acre "Park of the Canals." This is one of the only areas where the remains of the prehistoric canals can be easily observed. Their size and scope is amazing, and a stop here is well worthwhile. In addition to the canal remains, the parks boasts a desert botanical garden featuring vegetation from four different desert regions. Additionally, a large playground area is available for children. This city park is located at 1710 N. Horne in Mesa.

Artist interpretation of irrigating fields (image source)

The Hohokam People couldn't have survived in the middle of the desert without the extensive system of canals they built. "The canals represent the most complex and extensive water control system that existed in North America north of Mexico. Canals were built along the Salt, Gila, and Verde rivers but he most complex canal systems were those on the Salt river, in the fertile valley now occupied by Phoenix" (Archeology in the City 26). Some of these canals diverted water from the river up to 16 miles, which enabled the Hohokam to move farther from the river. The Hohokam used these canals mainly to irrigate crops, however they did serve other purposes such as providing water for: drinking, cooking, potterymaking, and to support the every day life in the villages. The Hohokam started building these canals as early as the "Pioneer period (300 A.D.) And continued through the Classic period (1450 A.D.) where they reached their maximum extent" (Gumerman 157). The Hohokam eventually built over 600 miles of canals (not all being used at the same time of course), which would be like digging a canal from Salt Lake City Utah to Phoenix Arizona. The canals ranged in size from about 64 feet across to 6 feet across. The larger canals were the main inlets from the river. From there the progressively got smaller as they ran through the villages and eventually to the fields to water the crops. The effort required to build these canals is phenomenal. (Continuing reading here.)

Irrigation canals preserved within Phoenix' SkyHarbor Airport (image)

Two large Hohokam irrigation canals are visible (above) in this small area of undisturbed ground. These and other Hohokam canals are preserved below ground within portions of Sky Harbor Airport.

Sky Harbor is located in the historic floodplain of the Salt River. Despite intensive surface activity throughout the twentieth century, substantial evidence of prehistoric agricultural activity was preserved below ground. The Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport project resulted in a major reassessment of how the Salt River floodplain was used by the prehistoric Hohokam. (source: Desert Archaeology, Inc.)

About the Hohokam

An early farming community is established, and eventually a system of irrigation canals—as in this Hohokam village circa 1350—brings water from the Santa Cruz River to the tribe's farmland. (Image)

Hohokam is the name applied to one of the four major prehistoric archaeological traditions of the American Southwest. Variant spellings in current, official usage include Hobokam, Huhugam and Huhukam. The culture was differentiated from others in the region in the 1930s by archaeologist Harold S. Gladwin, who applied the existing O'odham term, to classify the remains he was excavating in the Lower Gila Valley. According to the U.S. National Park Service Website, Hohokam is an O'odham or Pima word used by archeologists to identify a group of people that lived in the Sonoran Desert.

The Hohokam may be the ancestors of the modern Pima and Tohono O'odham peoples in Southern Arizona according to local oral tradition.

The Hohokam tradition is believed to have been centered on the middle Gila River and lower Salt River drainage areas, and extended into the southern Sonoran Desert in what are now Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua. They built extensive irrigation canals without the benefit of modern engineering or equipment. There is evidence the Hohokam cultivated varieties of cotton, tobacco, agave, maize, beans and squash, as well as harvesting native plants. Their reliance on an agricultural system based on canals, vital in their less than hospitable desert climate, may have led to their apparent lack of participation in warfare. They also had far-reaching trade routes with ancient mesoamerican cultures to the south, and show cultural influences from these southerners as well. Finds and features from settlements, such as Snaketown, include ball courts, platform mounds and some mesoamerican decorative elements on pottery. (read more here)

Links:

WaterHistory.org

About the Hohokam

Hohokam Agriculture

Hohokam Irrigation

Casa Grande, National Park Service