The canal-builders of Phoenix Arizona


If you want to understand the history of Phoenix, Arizona, you have to follow the water. And it's not difficult to do, as the Salt River Valley (where Phoenix is) has been flooding since the end of the last Ice Age. Yes, a desert city was built where there was, and still is, plenty of water. It comes from the melting snow that falls on the mountains north of Phoenix every year, and then comes rushing down through the valley.


If you didn't know this, that's understandable. People built canals, and channeled the water, going back to the days of the Hohokam people. Like everything else, the technology has changed, but people remain the same. Those guys were good!


And here's the part that so many people seem to get twisted, and I kind of blame historians who want to label everything, like for a test or something. If you're wondering what group, or race, built the canals, it was people, because there's only one race - the human race.

Some of these people had darker, or lighter skin. Different languages were used, but they had the same things in common that people have always had - they wanted to live, to care for their families, and they used that wonderful thing that has always given humans an advantage over other animals - their brains.


Engineering has always impressed me, even though I don't know the first thing about it, and that's the point. When I turn on the tap to get water to make my morning coffee, I know that a tremendous amount of work has gone into making it so easy for me, and it's the same with everything that's at my fingertips, including the computer that I'm using right now.


The engineers who manage the water here in the Phoenix area get a lot respect from me, even if I have no idea how it all works. And it doesn't matter to me if they used their hands, ordinary rocks, shovels, steam machines, or pneumatic drills. And it doesn't matter if you call them Hohokam, or Phoenix pioneers, they were people who did some amazing stuff.

People do amazing things, and Phoenix, Arizona is one of those things.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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