Swilling Ditch (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Full-Text John S. Cable. David E. Doyel.

This report details the findings of a research project focusing upon the Swilling Ditch, conducted by Pueblo Grande Museum staff for the City of Phoenix, Aviation Department. Swilling's Ditch was originally constructed in 1868 and represents the first historic period canal of the early Phoenix settlement. A small segment of this canal had escaped destruction for many years and recently had become incorporated into the northeast portion of Sky Harbor International Airport. Air traffic planning...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Christine Lewis.

In 1892 Judge Joseph H. Kibbey, one of Arizona's illustrious pioneers, described the Salt River Valley before the settlers came as a desert, uninhabited except by jack rabbits, coyotes, and rattlesnakes. Its main vegetation was sagebrush and cactus. It was a level, fertile valley about fifteen miles wide, through which the Salt River flowed west for forty miles to its junction with the Gila. The Salt River was a fluctuating stream. Sometimes it was a raging torrent which flooded the level land...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Earl Zarbin.

Each year thousands of people come to the Salt River Valley, some to visit and some to live. They see a thriving, growing community. But like many who have spent most, or all, of their lives there, they don't know much about the Valley's origins or how it developed. The men and women who built the Valley were like today's people. They were trying to improve their own condition. In doing that, they contributed to the well-being of one another. Jack Swilling was one of them. Swilling...