Copyright © Denise Shultz
Queen Creek in Arnette Canyon, Arizona
In Casa Grande Ruins, Arizona: A Centennial History of the First Prehistoric Reserve 1892 - 1992, A. Berle Clemensen wrote:
"All adjustments in Hohokam society
were tied to the preservation of their
irrigation based society… Between 1200
and 1350, periodic years of high volume
river flow caused a deepening of the Gila
River channel. These times were
interspersed with periods of low water…
Canal intakes had to be moved further
upstream and it became a struggle to
continue farming… Following 1355 times
got worse as more catastrophic flooding
appears to have taken place… sometime
between 1355 and 1450 the Hohokam
abandoned their large, central settlements."