I visited this site for the second time this year when I was in Arizona. it was less than an hour from where I lived. It is National Historic Site that is worth the trip. An ancient structure is preserved there underneath this canopy.
Many people I have talked to are surprised to learn that indigenous people were farmers when Europeans arrived in the 15th and 16th and 17th centuries. How could they farm in such a dry land like the American southwest? Their secret was that they learned to work with nature. They learned to work with water. They developed an incredible canal system to lead water to where they wanted it from where it was found. This is not that different than Americans currently do, bringing water from the Colorado Rives a hundred miles away. The ancient people of this region did that too. They actually built a vast system of canals that astonished Europeans when they arrived.
Our visit at Casa Grande Ruins National Historic Site started with a short film that explained the site to us in simple and graphic terms. I was surprised to note that the film was narrated by Winnipeg’s own Adam Beach. It showed great respect for the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People (“Ancestral Sonoran Desert People’). After that we went on a guided walk/talk led by volunteer Mark Houser. Mr. Houser was a very knowledgeable, interesting and enthusiastic volunteer. We enjoyed listening to him very much.
When Spanish missionaries arrived in the American Southwest in 1694, before Europeans had seen much in the eastern part of what is now the United States, they asked who were the people who had built this amazing structure and lived in this region and then abandoned it? Ever since people have wondered why they left. Some believe that as a result of their own success in farming their population grew too large and stressed the delicate and harsh environment here. Shortly after the main structure was built there were a serious of massive floods here that may have destroyed their canal system on which they depended for their survival.
The Native Americans who were present at the time of first contact with the Spanish answered that these were their ancestors and they ought to be called Huhugham. Sadly, this word was mistranslated by the Europeans, as so often happened, to Hohokam (ho ho KAHM) a name that their descendants consider an insult. Today archaeologists use the term Hohokam to refer to a cultural period. The name Hohokam means “all used up” or “those who have gone before.” The ancestors of these people don’t like the name. They prefer to refer to themselves as Ancestral people of the Sonoran Desert.
These ancient people deserve our respect.