Fascinating article about the origins of Phoenix - why it became a city and how it got its name. (agriculture)

[Bluefox]

Found this article really interesting and thought I’d share.

In 1867, the city's founding father, Jack Swilling – a prospector who had fought on both sides of the Civil War – stood above the Salt River Valley and saw the remnants of irrigation channels squiggling across the landscape like stretchmarks. He realised that, centuries before, some society had farmed this desert. Soon after, Swilling began scouring out the debris-clogged ditches to bring agriculture back to the region.

Three years later, Swilling and other Anglo pioneers met to consider names for their settlement. The top contenders were Pumpkinville and Stonewall. Luckily, eccentric English adventurer "Lord" Darrell Duppa proposed a name inspired by the resurrection of the canals. "A great race once dwelt here, and another great race will dwell here in the future," he mused. "I prophesy that a new city will spring, phoenix-like, from the ruins and ashes of the old."

That great society was the Hohokam. Between 100 and 1450 CE, they constructed 1,000 miles of canals – the largest system of waterways in the Americas north of Peru. This sophisticated irrigation system harnessed river water and a meagre seven inches of annual rainfall and funnelled it to more than 100,000 acres of farmland. And they dug it all by hand with stones and sticks.

"The engineering is phenomenal," said Kathy Henderson, principal investigator at Desert Archaeology, an Arizona-based cultural resources management and research company. "We don't see a sequence where they start small. The canals are being built to scale as early as 500 or 600 [CE]. They must have been very attuned to how to transport water a long distance."

Who knew Phoenix was so close to being named “Pumpkinville?”

The name Phoenix finally makes sense now - I’m sure a lot of you locals are familiar with the origin but it was definitely news to me. I learned a lot of interesting stuff from this article. It’s also interesting to imagine what the valley would have looked like during the period in which it was inhabited by the Hohokam.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2...-north-america

[Ponderosa]

I knew about Swilling, the Hohokam, and the origin of the name. I hadn't heard of Pumpkinville before. Phoenix resideints call themselves Phoenicians which has nothing to do with the Phoenix bird mythology and thus makes no sense. Given this bit of history, it might be more appropriate to call ourselves "pumpkinheads". Can I get an "amen"?

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I knew about Swilling, the Hohokam, and the origin of the name. I hadn't heard of Pumpkinville before. Phoenix resideints call themselves Phoenicians which has nothing to do with the Phoenix bird mythology and thus makes no sense. Given this bit of history, it might be more appropriate to call ourselves "pumpkinheads". Can I get an "amen"?

I bet smashing pumpkins can get behind that nickname for their show in Phoenix this November.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by locolife

I bet smashing pumpkins can get behind that nickname for their show in Phoenix this November.

Haha… Im definitely a pumpkinhead. I’ll be seeing them in Seattle also in November.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Haha… Im definitely a pumpkinhead. I’ll be seeing them in Seattle also in November.

Nice! I'll only be at the PHX show but definitely excited for the combo with Janes Addiction.