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Location: Arizona        Length: 27 min

In the sometimes harsh environment of Arizona’s Tonto Basin, the prehistoric Salado built irrigation canals and made the desert bloom. Hundreds of years ago, pueblos lined the Salt River and its tributaries. The Salado trade network extended for many hundreds of miles and included live macaws from Central America. Finely woven cotton textiles and beautifully crafted polychrome pottery marked their culture. The Salado seldom built in the cliffs, so there is no place quite like the cliff dwellings at Tonto National Monument.

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Produced and Directed by Gray Warriner of Camera One

Copyright 1999 by Camera One

Tonto National Monument: official National Park Service Website

Tonto Basin, Arizona (Wikipedia)

Erosion and Floodwater Farming Among the Salado (Brett Hill, Arizona State University)