The Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve is a site in North Phoenix which is dedicated to the protection of petroglyphs created by the various indigineous communities that have inhabited the Salt River Valley for centuries. These particular petroglyphs were first studied in 1980 when an archaeological expedition team led by J. Simon Bruder from the Museum of Northern Arizona investigated Native American petroglyphs and other artifacts on sites within the area of the Adobe Dam, one of four dam projects by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which finished construction in 1982, with the purpose of controlling the flow of Skunk Creek. While conducting research in this area, Bruder and his team found over 1,500 petroglyphs and other objects relating to the indigineous peoples who have previously lived near the Deer Valley area and in the Salt River Valley.

Flooding has always been a challenge and detrimental to the development of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, especially its far northern sections. It is even speculated that the reason why the Hohokam people left the region was due to the increase in flooding. As Phoenix’s population grew, so did the need to control the environment. Efforts to control flooding in the early days of Phoenix often did not work. In 1959, the Flood Control District of Maricopa County was established with the goal of controlling the frequent flooding that has made development of Maricopa County and the Phoenix area much harder. Throughout the mid to late twentieth century, there were a series of major floods which destroyed a great deal of property. Such events helped the local government get the support they needed to pass legislation in order to build the dams and other flood control measures. Dams built by and developed by the Flood Control District, such as the Adobe Dam, have had to be able to properly prevent serious flooding of residential and areas of major human development while also protecting the local ecology. This would also extend to the protection of archaeological sites in the areas in which flooding needed to be further controlled. Such dams were also built with help from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers were first brought in to help with flood control in Maricopa County in the mid 1930s for work on controlling Queen Creek.

Planning for constructing more dams in the Salt River Valley started in the early 1960s. The Comprehensive Flood Control Report was released in 1962. Like the name suggests, this report detailed various projects that would be needed in order to properly control flooding in Maricopa County. The report contained solutions and summaries of various flood control projects as well as estimates for the cost of individual projects. The Adobe Dam was estimated to cost $3,133,000. The total cost of the projects would be around $102,000,000. Nearly all of the projects listed in the report, including Adobe Dam, were completed in the 1980s.

The Skunk Creek Watercourse Master Plan was one such project that had to deal with the conflicting interests of flood control. This plan came up with several goals to do this. Protecting residents from floods and damages associated with flooding and minimizing future costs of flood control and management are some of the stated goals of this project. Consideration for the potential damages done to the natural environment of the areas that needed to be controlled was also important. Ecologically important areas needed to be maintained in order to preserve the integrity of the local environment. While conducting research for this project, the researchers were mostly concerned with what would be the impact on the native ecology of the area of Skunk Creek Wash if it were to be destroyed by development. With preservation of the natural environment being a goal of flood control in Maricopa County, the protection of archeological sites, such as the ones found in Deer Valley, was enabled.

The petroglyphs found in the area were not restricted to one particular culture or group and they do not all originate from a single period in time, instead they cover cultures that date as far back as 5000 BCE and all the way up to 1400 CE. They may not have all been created for the same reason either, though the exact purpose for their creation is currently unknown. Various different images and objects are depicted on the rocks. Some of the petroglyphs include humans, various animals, and abstract shapes like circles and spirals. Members of Native American communities in Arizona and some anthropologists treat the petroglyphs as holding religious meanings even if the reason for their creation is not clear in order to show respect.

The oldest petroglyphs are associated with what is known as the Archaic Tradition of Native American petroglyphs, however the ones found in Deer Valley most likely do not date all the way to the origin of the tradition. The exact dating method for petroglyphs can not always be entirely accurate due to the nature of their construction. However, due to the overall style of the petroglyphs it can be ascertained as to what period they were generally created in. The creators of petroglyphs in the Archaic Tradition are the predecessors to those who would live in the area and create more petroglyphs later on. One such group would be the Hohokam. They were a prominent group in the Salt River Valley and are widely known for their construction of a great canal network that stretched across the valley.

In order to better preserve the petroglyphs and artifacts in the area of the dam, the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve was established. This was a joint effort between Arizona State University, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Maricopa County Flood Control District in order to preserve the petroglyphs from vandalism, which had occurred prior to the preserve's establishment and also to ensure that the dam would not cause further damage to the site. In 1994, the Deer Valley Rock Art Center was built within the grounds of the preserve. It is intended to educate visitors about the nature of the petroglyphs and artifacts found in the area. Since this time, the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University has operated the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve and the Rock Art Center.

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William Hartranft founded Encanto Park in 1934, seeking to create a park for Phoenix that was like San Francisco's Golden Gate Park or San Diego's Balboa Park. William Hartranft emulated parks inspired by Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of Central Park, whose plan shaped urban parks across the United States, including Golden Gate Park. Hartranft's inspiration tells us how Americans living in the 1920s imagined what a park should look like. Olmsted imagined parks as public places where men could escape the dirt and noise of the city and find natural, uplifting spaces. Olmsted romanticized nature and sought to improve it by designing viewsheds, hills, and lakes. His vision permeated San Francisco's planning for Golden Gate Park. However, he recommended a different location and a design more in keeping with California's unique landscapes. Olmsted argued for a similar park to promote civility and grant a meeting place for all classes in San Francisco. Likewise, New Yorkers wanted Central Park opened to all classes of society. Hartranft duplicated that inclusiveness with family-oriented recreational areas for all ages. Such ideals influenced parks across the United States, including those in Encanto, Golden Gate, and Central Park.  Early designs for Encanto Park promoted a naturalistic style that drew upon both the design and organic materials used on the East coast. Not surprisingly, this preference for lawns and shade trees proliferated in Phoenix as it grew in the desert. Photographs and drawings demonstrate how Phoenix's early residents replaced the natural Sonoran Desert with lawns and trees, though often with palm and other desert-hardy trees, such as willows.  If claims about the public good motivated Hatranft's rhetoric, his motives surely included the desire to build an amenity that would enhance his own economic interests. Hartranft and business partner Dwight Heard began to develop property in the nearby Palmcroft plat in 1927. They sought to build a neighborhood that would appeal to well-heeled middle-class residents and planned amenities accordingly. These eventually included Encanto Park, complete with a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, and a swimming pool.  The Park's orientation toward elite residents (and new development) was evident in its location. In fact, residents originally called Encanto Park Dorris-Norton Park, with a nod to the nearby residents and developers who sold the land to Phoenix for the Park. James C. Norton and James W. Dorris had large estates on the land. The impressive Norton House abutted Encanto Park, as did Dorris's estate, Casa de Rojas (which later became Encanto Community Church). In the context of Phoenix's development, locating Encanto Park at the lightly populated northern edge of the city, where city elites lived and/or were moving, indicates that Hartranft and his peers imagined an amenity that would serve the well-heeled residents of the Encanto Palmcroft district. And more broadly, Phoenix remained a primarily agricultural settlement, except for its multi-ethnic neighborhoods immediately south of the central business district. Moreover, prior to the city's purchase, the land for Encanto Park had been vacant property primarily for agriculture, especially grazing animals. In letters to nearby property owners after the sale, the Phoenix City Manager informed them that "you are herewith notified that in allowing stock to graze on this land you are trespassing upon Private Property, and unless you immediately cease this trespass the City of Phoenix proposes to take the necessary legal steps to evict you."  Over time the relationship between the Park and its surrounding community changed, growing increasingly contentious as the years wore on. After World War II, the connections between the Park and the nearby neighborhood remained close, and families continued to flock to the Encanto-Palmcroft neighborhood. In 1946, Kiddieland opened on an island in the Park's lagoon. The new addition drew neighborhood children and tourists to its eleven amusement park rides, including a now-famous carousel. However, the community gradually became more middle class, adopting the inexpensive ranch-style houses often characteristic of the post-war American West. This was partly related to cost; creating custom homes became cost prohibitive, and the ranch style emerged as an affordable and respectable style of architecture. Still, the Encanto-Palmcroft neighborhood remained relatively exclusive. Its post-war housing boom was characterized by more elaborate and sometimes custom-built, rambling ranch-style homes.  By the 1960s, however, tensions emerged between the users of Encanto Park and its neighbors, setting off a twenty-five-year struggle over the soul of the Park. Though newspapers reported almost daily on the positive activities happening in the Park, those news reports were sprinkled with concerns by the latter half of the decade. Through the summer of 1968, the Arizona Republic reported on the lagoon's pollution and overgrown weeds, confirmed by the operators of Kiddieland. At the same time, the Arizona Republic noted that a "cold war erupted this week into open battle" between 'hippies' and the police who were defending "adult society." The newspaper opined on the importance of "law and order" and worried that Phoenix "won't remain a choice place if Encanto Park is made into a Western version of Central Park in New York." By the mid-1980s, park leaders in Phoenix sought to restore Encanto Park's aging infrastructure and update its amenities, including Kiddieland. A public debate ensued on a variety of park features: the future of Kiddieland (it was closed) and the fate of its carousel (a citizens' group preserved it), whether to buy "natural" boulders for the lagoon or manufacture them from concrete and how to best preserve public safety. The bandshell was lost to fire in 1987, though planners had intended to demolish it anyway. Civic leaders claimed that removing the bandshell was a safety issue as its construction was substandard. Still, one wonders whether evening concerts had produced too much tension between residents and park users over the years. By 1991, the Park had been rehabilitated, now serving a neighborhood that had become less exclusive from Phoenix and its surrounding communities.   Even so, the Park itself remained an expression of the same park ideas that shaped the growth of urban parks throughout the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It reflected the romantic ideals of 19th-century landscape designers with its open spaces, artificial lagoons, and use of grass and trees to frame views and experience. In some respects, it may have become even more important as an oasis from the vicissitudes of urban life as Phoenix expanded around it. At the same time, the continued emphasis on amenities--whether in the form of golf, swimming, tennis, or the amusements of Kiddieland--suited the more rationalistic urban planners of the 20th century. They wanted to create functional spaces that drew visitors not just for contemplation but for recreation, especially children and families. Like other American parks, Encanto Park combined romantic and rationalistic perspectives. It had broad landscapes to complement romantics and unique attractions to suit more rational planners.

edited 12/17/2019: mt

edited 10/07/2022: jls

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Developed along the banks of the Salt River, the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa, Arizona, both depended on the river and feared its seasonal flooding. Controlling the river emerged as a central challenge to economic development in the Salt River Dam. Construction of the Roosevelt Dam played an essential role in controlling the river and also represented significant investment by the federal government in the Arizona territory. It was no mistake that Arizona became a state in 1912, shortly after the dam was finished.

The origins of the dam begin with the need to tame the Salt River. With its origins in East-Central Arizona, at the intersection of the black and white river, the Salt River flows over 200 miles until it empties into the Gila River in Southeast Phoenix. Nearly two thousand years before any of Arizona's notable pioneers settled, an ancient Native American civilization known as the Hohokam built an irrigation-based civilization not far from its banks. After years of successful cultivation along the banks of the river, the Hohokam were ultimately pushed to near extinction by the cruel conditions of the desert and historically violent floods. Anglo settlers in the 19th century discovered the remnants of the Hohokam canal network and re-purposed it toward agriculture development of the valley. Soon early Anglo pioneers discovered the seasonal flooding that was so much a part of the Salt River ecosystem.

The development of Tempe owes at least part of its start to Charles Trumbull Hayden, when his journey northward was temporarily halted by a flooded Salt River. Upon climbing the Tempe Butte and consulting local Pima Indians, Hayden was impressed by the valley. He discovered that the Butte was the best point for crossing along the River and also to survey the expanse of the valley. Hayden saw an opportunity to build “an agricultural empire” in the desert. In the following years, his connection to the river and Hayden’s Ferry--now known as Tempe--would help drive the region to prosperity. For the Valley along the Salt River, the next twenty years are defined by the continuous debate over how best to reclaim the valley’s natural resources.

Charles Hayden and his son Carl Hayden emerged as leaders in the struggle to control the flow of water through the valley through irrigation, dams, and waterworks. For example, two years after his initial entrance into politics, Tempe Town Councilman, a young Carl Hayden became an early advocate for water reclamation when he wrote a letter to Arizona's Congressional delegate, J.T. Wilson, expressing his opinion that, "the chief interest of Tempe citizens lies in a system of water works". By 1902, Carl Hayden was twenty-five years old and lobbying on behalf of the oldest water source in the Valley: the Salt River. Members of the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association (SRVWUA) were already seeking funds from Washington, which threatened the water rights of Tempe and the encompassing Phoenix area. Hayden spent weeks debating with locals about whether or not Tempe should join the SRVWUA, even complaining to his mother that, “The situation is so complex that I doubt if I could explain it all in forty type-written pages”. After realizing a federal project would be built with or without the consent of the city, the citizens agreed to join. Despite his reluctance towards the trip, Carl Hayden and representatives from Tempe left for Washington.

In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt passed the National Reclamation Act of 1902. A year later, Carl Hayden was informed that the newly founded Bureau of Reclamation deemed the creation of Roosevelt Dam in Arizona to be its first project. The creation of the dam was an effort to combat the unpredictability of flooding and dry seasons along the Salt River by regulating the water going to the valley and creating a reservoir to save water in times of drought, while the hydroelectric plant was intended to cut the costs of the local farmers. After a coalition of Arizona farmers put up their land as collateral, the United States Government approved the building of the Roosevelt Dam for construction in 1905.

The Roosevelt Dam encouraged the economic and urban growth of Arizona, and, while also serving as a political stepping stone for Carl Hayden, who would return to Washington 10 years later as the state’s first Congressman. Originally estimated to take only two years to construct, the dam was finished six years later at a cost of over $3.3 million. Setbacks ensued when floods washed away construction and materials, however their efforts were eventually solidified after 344,000 cubic yards of masonry stone and cement were laid, thus creating the largest manmade lake of the time: Roosevelt Lake. This 280 ft. tall, 723 ft. wide dam began operation in 1911, one year before Arizona became a state. By that time it provided water to over 30,000 farms and quality hydroelectric power that would not be offered elsewhere in the country for another 10 years. This structure, and others following along the Salt River, allowed Phoenix to blossom into the ‘agricultural empire’, originally envisioned by Hayden. Over the next 100 years, water reclamation in Arizona allowed Phoenix to become one of the largest producers of vegetables and grains in the West.

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In 2003, Tempe Town Lake finally emerged on the bed of the Salt River after nearly 40 years of planning. In 1995, the beginning of the construction was marked by a huge ceremony near Tempe Beach Park, which was a focal-point for recreation in Tempe.. The concept for the lake called for dispersed islands, but plans were changed making the lake a body of water flowing along the channel.

The idea for the lake first developed in 1966, when a group of architecture students at the Arizona State University was challenged by the dean of the college of architecture to create a plan that could combine flood control and environmental design. The students created the “Rio Salado” project. The purpose of this project was to transform the Salt River into a major asset for the town of Tempe.

After years of public debate, construction work started in 1995 south of Curry Road in Papago Park. Bridges were built for people and cars to cross over the lake, which is two miles long and 800 to 1200 feet wide, depending on where it is measured. It can contain up to 980 million gallons of reclaimed water. Four years and many millions of dollars later, Tempe Town Lake was completed on June 2nd, 1999, and water from the Salt River started flowing in, filling it within a month and a half.

Later, on November 6th, 1999, a large opening ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of the project. More than 30,000 people attended the event, and Mayor Giuliano gave a speech concluding, “… and to the citizens of Tempe, this is your lake, this is your project, this is your legacy.” The lake was open to the public the very next day.

The dams of the lake are made out of strong, inflatable rubber barriers secured to a concrete base. These tubes are controlled by a system that regulates their inflation and deflation so the water can flow easily. On the west dams, water can flow over the top of the dams to create a waterfall. This water is then recollected and pumped back into the lake

The dam that produced the lake is only the most recent dam along the Salt River. As early as 1906, Arizonans sought to slow down the unpredictable flooding of the Salt River and to provide a consistent water source to the growing valley through the construction of dams. The Roosevelt Dam was dedicated on March 18, 1911. More dams and canals were constructed over the following years, and the Salt River was diverted in many places for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses.

As the Salt River was dammed, the riverbed adjacent to Tempe (as well as Mesa and Phoenix) became drier and drier through the year, which is what prompted efforts to rethink the Salt River in the 1960s.

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After World War II, the area surrounding Indian Bend Wash experienced an explosion of growth. New technology firms moved to the area to manufacture electronics and thousands of people, eager to work the relatively high-paying jobs, followed. The invention of air conditioning also helped fuel the migration of people moving to Scottsdale. By the 1950s, high tech manufacturing giants Motorola, Siemens, and Smith-Kline Beecham built plants in the area and new suburbs sprouted in the farmland along the Indian Bend Wash.

Indian Bend Wash proved both a headache and a valuable resource for industry and residents. Seasonal rains often flooded city streets, damaged homes and businesses, and divided the City of Scottsdale. In 1961 the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed that the city should address the problem by replacing the wash with a 7-mile, 23-foot deep, 170-foot wide concrete-lined channel that ran from the wash's headlands north of Indian Bend Road into the Salt River in the South. Although such channels were the standard method for flood control in desert areas at that time, Scottsdale residents called the proposal an eyesore. Ensuing debate resulted in the "Greenbelt" concept through which floods would be controlled through a series of grassy parks and recreation areas. Completed in the 1970s, the Greenbelt transformed how desert cities controlled water.

Ironically, though, the construction of the Greenbelt did not mitigate a pollution problem that was lurking deeper beneath the surface of the wash. As water that ran down Indian Bend Wash, it soaked through the sand and soil recharging the shallow aquifer beneath it. The city pumped groundwater from the aquifer for residents. However, from the 1950s, before modern environmental regulations, Motorola, Siemens, and Smith-Kline Beecham disposed of their toxic chemical wastes which included Trichloroethylene (TCE), a volatile organic chemical and carcinogen, into dry wells and waste ponds near Indian Bend Wash. This negligent dumping practice continued until the mid-1970s. The waste percolated down into the aquifer and during big rains, the waste would overflow and run into the Wash and eventually soak down into the groundwater. In 1981, TCE was discovered in south Scottsdale water wells.

As a result, the Indian Bend Wash was declared a Superfund site in 1983 when industrial solvents were discovered to have contaminated the groundwater in an approximately 13-square-mile area, affecting both Scottsdale and neighboring Tempe. It became one the largest EPA sites in terms of volume of groundwater treated, estimated at 61.3 billion gallons. Multinational corporations that were partly responsible--Motorola, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline, and other firms--paid for the approximately $100 million in cleanup costs.

Today, the Indian Bend Wash Superfund site is divided into north and south sections, referred to as NIBW and SIBW respectively. The two sites have different sources of contamination and are on separate cleanup schedules. Over 145 billions of gallons of water have been treated, and the EPA continues to oversee the cleanup and monitoring of the Indian Bend Wash Superfund site.

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WaterWorks at Arizona Falls plays with the serious subjects of water and power to bring new life to the historic falls along the Arizona Canal. SRP and the Phoenix Arts Commission commissioned the project from the internationally-renowned team of public artists Mags Harries and Lajos Héder.

In collaboration with landscape architect Steve Martino, Harries and Héder sought to bring "into focus the role of water in the history of Phoenix and in the future of green-energy" and to explore "water as both a utilitarian commodity and as a beautiful transformative substance."

Built to accompany a new hydro-power plant, WaterWorks still uses the water that comes from the high country 60 miles east of Arizona Falls through five dams and storage reservoirs. WaterWorks revels in and reveals the pre-industrial and industrial past to remind us how water and electrical power have been harnessed to fuel the rise of desert metropolitan cities.

Harries and Héder's 1992 Wall Cycle to Ocotillo along State Route 51 was one of the first large public art projects of the Phoenix Arts Commission. Their 2003 WaterWorks provides both a personal and communal place to ponder the gravity-fed journey of water, the power of water, and the power of this particular place.

edited 12/23/2019:wt

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"Mother and daughter, father and son, may all be found splashing about in the cooling water of the Salt River canal, commonly known as the 'Town Ditch,' almost any evening now. There are regular canal 'beaches' where Phoenicians congregate in great numbers daily, while along its length throughout the city can be found little boys and girls, big boys and girls, youths, matured and even quite elderly people finding the keenest enjoyment in the swift-running waters." In the summer of 1921, the Arizona Republican raved about the Valley's newfound form of entertainment.

Arizona can't tout oceanfront property, but that didn't stop Valley residents from enjoying the beach. All along the canals, families came to take a dip and enjoy a picnic year-round. "Swimming parties," where revelers built bonfires to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, were popular among young society. Automobiles converted to dressing rooms-- a phenomenon that prompted the Arizona Republican to remark, "The sight of bathing parties nonchalantly disrobing along the roadside has become so common as to attract little or no attention."

Arizona's climate allowed the fun to continue year-round. Sometimes 300 to 400 recreationists lined the canal "beaches," but the canal wasn't always fun and games. The canals flowed fast and deep, claiming casualties who underestimated the current. Public health was also an issue as some used the canal as a bathtub. In 1910 the Osborn district was struck by a typhoid epidemic that doctors blamed on bathing in the canal.

The increase in automobiles on the road also led to an increase in the number of people who drove their automobiles into the canals.

“Advertisement for Arizona Weather”, an aptly titled Arizona Republican article from 1911, described how some boys swam across the canal for juicy sandias, Spanish for watermelon. Passing Phoenicians smiled and continued, but "their friends from the frozen states. . . thought that the fact of seeing lads eating watermelons while swimming in the latter part of the November, to be exact it was the 19th, was an event worthy of commemoration."

Recreation on the canal continued in later decades. In the 1930s and beyond, teenagers often congregated on its banks and the truly brave would "freeboard" the canal, carefully balancing on a homemade board while being pulled along by an old Model T.

edited 1/24/2020:wt

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