The Park of the Canals in Mesa lies in a very interesting spot. It is the only completely visible and exposed portion of the old Hohokam canal system which lies directly next to the fully functioning, newer South Canal built in the 1870's. There is a mere 30 to 40 feet between something built 800 to 1,000 years ago and abandoned and something built 130 years ago and still in use and operation. It's a pretty amazing site. Also, about a half mile down canal is the spot where this South Canal is split into the Tempe Canal and the Consolidated Canal which flows to Chandler and Gilbert. I was pretty excited to see two really cool parts of the system all in one.
Also, I went out on this glorious day to check out the site of a few caches. There were two in the park and one at the split, and I was looking forward to honing my cache skills. I realized that the first cache, one located in some rocks near a bridge, was just way too visible for me to attempt on a Saturday morning because of the amount of other people/non-cachers around (also known as Muggles). There were children and their parents all around a playground (strangely titled Indian Compound Playground). I decided to look around the park first instead.
The park consists of two sections that seem to be parts of the original canal as well as a circular “orientating” trail which Boy Scouts use to learn compass and map using skills as well as a botanical garden. I decided to get a lay of the land by walking the circular path around the park first.
This lead me to the smaller of the canal spaces, what seems to have been a lateral for the Hohokam (laterals are smaller canals used to spread the water to more spaces). It ran near and parallel to the larger canal and was lush considering the areas around it. In the background are housing and palm trees.
I circled around to the playground again and decided to take a deeper walk into the real canal. This canal would lead me to the present canal, and I really wanted to be in the spot of the water, to walk in the path of the flow.
There is a marked difference between the green and brown/tan nature of the land, and with the bicycle tire marks it mostly makes me think that this land, and the burms around it, were created for sport and spectacle. The shift toward green makes me change my mind about the origin, though.
I became interested in the housing next to this spot. More curious than interested, actually. The houses looked (and later it’s slightly confirmed that they were) older and seemed to be of a more middle to upper middle class origins. The clay shingles and white stucco walls, real design and not fabricated subdivisions, made me think of the class divisions and stratification that happens because of water and the proximity of a home to water in similar ways that a persons height in a cemetery denotes social status. The higher the grave the higher the status, the closer to water the higher the status.
I started to really explore using this land, the canal space as a metaphor for this division, setting the walls of Native American canals as a wall against the new “settlers” to this land. Fences made of hundreds of years of history.
Walls and barriers and separations, hills and fences and water as a divider. Class and race and space and place all coming together over that fence, where the old canal is at your back and the water is on the other side.
And always the artifacts of what was once there, the remnants of the past. At first my mind raced, imagining these shards were pottery from some ancient civilization, then I picked one up and realized that it was probably some hikers coffee mug that had been dropped and abandoned. I’m still wondering about the story around the light bulb, though....
And after coming through the wash, this is the sign that was given to me from this place. It seemed all too fitting.
And at the other side, there was water. This is the southern tip of the South Canal, Mesa Arizona.
Canal life and power issues struck me at this point of the hike. There was even a bell (to get to later) to the left of these houses.
Pumping station, where the citizens opened up the canal for the laterals that fed the neighborhood. Not so long ago, neighbors living close to these stations opened the gates to their neighborhoods on a rotating basis. Now you’ve gotta watch out for the 40 ounce bottles.
Two different kinds of place and ownership markings.
Taken from the bridge facing north.
There was a geocache on this site, and after just a little bit of struggle I was able to find it. I won’t reveal everything, but here were the goodies.
Magnets, a dangly pink earring, and a logbook.
Taken from the bridge, this is where the canal splits. Facing south, water that goes to the right flows to Tempe and water that goes to the left flows to the Consolidated Canals and Chandler and Gilbert. This process is pretty interesting, the water splitting and flowing into two different neighborhoods.
Facing east toward the Superstition Mountains.
Facing west toward Tempe and Phoenix.
And with anything in a park, there is a plaque.
And from this plaque comes the name of this blog: Canal 3 is divided at this spot to equal Canal 6 and Canal 5. Interesting and ornate syntax and language used to denote the importance of this place.
Below that name there is this description, titled divide and connect. It’s a bit hard to read, both here and in person. Here is what it says:
Division Gates: Mesa’s Great Divide
You are standing at a unique location along the Valley’s 150-mile canal system: the only place where one canal feeds several others. The South Canal (3) flows toward you from Granite Reef Dam. The Tempe Canal (6) flows west to Tempe. The Consolidated Canal (5) flows east/southeast to Chandler and Gilbert. From this strategic point, canal water flows to most of the Valley south of the Salt River.
From Manual to Remote Control
In the past, zanjeros raised and lowered the gates by hand. Many calls went back and forth between the dam tender at Granite Reef, the zanjeros and users. Zanjeros “kept you on order,” insuring delivery of the right amount of water to where and when it was needed. By 1962, remote push-button operation controlled the Dividion Gates, and since the mid 1970’s a centralized computer controls most of the SRP system.
“Things get pretty peppy after a rain....”
The Canal That Rang a Bell
Mr. And Mrs. L.H.Mayes (left, 1947) managed the Division Gates from their home just northeast of the Gates. A telemater at the Division Gates measured the height of the water in the South Canal. When it rose too high, a warning bell rand in the house. As Mrs. Mayes reported, “Things get pretty peppy after a rain or wind storm, especially if there is heavy rainfall between the Gates and Granite Reef.”
That bell was further up the canal, near the four power boxes I photographed earlier. I started thinking about water rights and issues of plenty along this place. The trees along this canal were varied and many, and included coniferous as well as deciduous trees, but there was water for all. As I thought about the story of the Mayes, though, I realized one thing. They were opening the water for the people upstream, up the canal, to make sure that they weren’t being flooded, not sending water down canal for the others in Tempe and Chandler/Gilbert to use. Oh,the power of water and who controls the knobs.
And back, almost to the park, I noticed the ramp to the canal blocked off and a few sets of discarded swim suits abandoned in the dirt. There are many uses for the water that we consume.
This sign was in the park:
Approximately 300 B.C., Prehistoric Indians entered the Salt River Valley. They developed an extensive canal system and raised corn, squash, agave and cotton.
Over 500 miles of Hohokam canals have been recorded in the Salt River Valley. Estimates suggest that the canals may have supported between 30,000 and 60,000 people with up to 100,000 acres under cultivation. Some of the canals extended over 12 miles in length. For reasons still unknown, the Hohokam abandoned their canal system and left the valley by 1450 A.D.
In 1878, Mormon Pioneers constructed their first major canal by clearing out an ancient Hohokam canal. This canal is located West of the cactus garden. The bridge to the playground spans another prehistoric canal. A third ancient canal is located just North of the playground.
The Park of the Canals preserves about 4,500 feet of ancient canals. The National Geographic Society has listed this park as an important site for Native American heritage. The American Society or Civil Engineers has awarded the Hohokam canal system an Award of Excellence in Prehistoric Engineering. This is the first time that an ancient civil engineering project has been so honored. The Park of the Canal is listed as a National Historic site.
I love how the Hohokam received an award for their engineering.
Upon returning to the park I hunted and found the other cache. Small, cute cache.
So, for the "what have you learned from this experience" point of the post. I really went into the space to experience the land, to walk both canals and see what there was to see. I knew of the history of the place, next to each other and such, but really tried to keep any preconceived notions about what I may find out of my mind so I could merely recognize and take in.
What I found was a very complex place layered with past and present, a direct attempt to keep or preserve what was there now. But, as argued by Aldo Leopold, preservation is merely an after the fact attempt to keep what is there as it is now. Layers of time, privilege, class, race, and the changing nature of place all intertwine with stories of Latino zanjeros, bell ringers, artifacts and conifers. And in my youth I would have scorned the creation of a park in such a historically rich place, but now I see it as a way of preserving and keeping that place precious. Now I only wish the playground name didn't reference both an incorrect and insensitive nomenclature or fringe religious groups. And that it wasn't made of plastic.
