November 12, 2023 – As I kept exploring and researching the Salt River, new places to visit continued to reveal themselves, sometimes in surprising ways. One of these sites, the Tres Rio Wetlands, popped up on my computer one day, and I made a trip to visit it along with a few other places on my mind. Little did I know, though, an even bigger surprise awaited.
Tres Rios Wetlands is an environmental restoration project near the confluence of three rivers in the Salt River Valley: the Gila, Salt, and Agua Fria. Tres Rio takes reclaimed water from a nearby wastewater treatment and pumps it over 700 acres of wetlands adjacent to the Salt River before it is discharged back into the river. The treated water flows downstream seven miles to the Base and Meridian Wildlife Area where it joins the Gila. The result is a lush and scenic section of the river restored to a condition similar to what it was during the early 1800s.
The area is popular with hikers, anglers, and bird watchers. In fact, birds were the most plentiful wildlife around, and I observed egrets, herons, cormorants, coots, roadrunners, and even a few turkey vultures. There wasn’t a lot of salt cedar, and mesquite and creosote were abundant. I was glad to see a section of river where invasive salt cedar was replaced by native vegetation. I spent several hours hiking the trails around the settling ponds and photographing the site before moving on.
After leaving Tres Rios, I headed to downtown Phoenix to look at the Union Station railroad stop. Built in 1923, Union Station played a big role in the early development of the Salt River Valley as trains brought tourists, immigrants, and money, all of which continued to foster the valley’s growth. As Phoenix’s suburbs grew and sprawled in every direction, however, railroad tracks gave way to roads, and today Union Station stands abandoned, fenced off, and tagged. As my uncles and cousins were railroad men, it was with some nostalgia that I studied the station and imagined the arriving trains and crowds of people.
Breaking away from thinking about long gone family and bygone trains, I headed to Mesa to visit Mesa Grande Cultural Park, a city park enclosing a Hohokam platform mound and a few buildings. The park was like S’edav Va’aki Museum (formerly Pueblo Grande Museum) in Phoenix but smaller. I quickly walked around the site and photographed the disintegrating structures. I was hoping for more, but there wasn’t much to see. I decided to drive a few short blocks to the Arizona Museum of Natural History and see its Paleoindian display.
Upon arriving at the museum, however, I learned the Paleoindian exhibit was closed. Disappointed, I walked into the museum’s bookstore and started flipping through a few interesting titles. Inside one of the books I found a reference to the “Park of the Canals,” another Mesa city park. But this one supposedly contained the remains of Hohokam canals. Surprise! I was so excited I ran out of the museum and drove straight to the park. I didn’t even write down the name of the book, which I regret now.
Upon arriving at the Park of the Canals, I was shocked: the canals were fantastic. The canals were in great condition because at one point they were cleared, maintained, and used by early Mormon settlers. Standing at the bottom of the largest canal, I estimated it to be 30 feet wide and 8 feet deep. Finally, after almost a year of searching, I saw for myself the ancient Hohokam canals that had inspired my project in the first place. I could not believe my good fortune to see these structures with my own eyes, and I took my time wandering the park and photographing it.
I wasn’t the only one enjoying it. A couple of families were there, too, having a late afternoon picnic. At one point a couple of youngsters raced past me on bicycles. It turns out they had repurposed the old canals as gnarly half-pipes. POG! I suppose children have played in these canals for millennia, and I wondered what games Hohokam children played in them 500 years ago.