“Submerges … Coming out Again and Then Flowing”: What Historical Documents Tell Us About the Character of the Santa Cruz River

Abstract

The Santa Cruz River, like all the major rivers in southeastern Arizona and the region, had a permanent year-round flow that was restricted to limited segments of the river. This is where the Sobaipuri O’odham established their villages because the reliable surface flow allowed them to farm with irrigation canals. Early historical period observations indicate that the Santa Cruz and other regional rivers were characterized by patchworks of pasturelands, agricultural fields and canals, shady groves of mature trees, marshes, and expanses of dry sand, in contrast to the many previously suggested reconstructions. The underlying fundamentals of the river valley have been determined by surface water availability and although periodically transformed by floods, downcutting, drought, and human factors the riparian corridor has regenerated.

El Río Santa Cruz, como todos los ríos principales en Arizona del sudeste y la región, tenía un flujo permanente durante todo el año que estaba restringido a segmentos limitados del río. Aquí es donde los Sobaipuri o’odham establecieron sus aldeas porque el flujo superficial confiable les permitió cultivar con canales de riego. Las observaciones del período histórico temprano indican que el Santa Cruz y otros ríos regionales se caracterizaron por mosaicos de pastizales, campos agrícolas y canales, bosques sombreados de árboles maduros, pantanos y extensiones de arena seca, en contraste con los muchos reconstrucciones previamente sugeridas. Los fundamentos subyacentes del valle del río han sido determinados por la disponibilidad de agua superficial y aunque periódicamente transformados por inundaciones, downcutting, sequías y seres factores humano, el corredor ribereño se ha regenerado.

KEYWORDS:

• Santa Cruz River
• San Pedro River
• Sobaipuri O’odham
• permanent flow
• water table

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Phil Halpenny and Gary Nabhan for their comments on this paper and for enlightening and collegial discussions about this topic. Thank you also to James Steely who commissioned a draft if this paper for Tumacacori National Historical Park requiring me to congeal my concepts in short form.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).