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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 organized the first modern irrigating canal company more than a century ago. Water was then, and is today, the essential element around which everything in the Valley is built. Yet, many important decisions about water remain to be made today and will need to be made in the future. Knowing something about how we got where we are today may contribute to making the right decisions tomorrow. Earl Zarbin's interest in the water history of the Salt River Valley and his research into the subject led to the articles in this booklet. They were first published in The Arizona Republic, where he worked for 30 years before early retirement at the end of 1988.

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) directed the Arizona State Museum to conduct a cultural resources survey of the Salt-Gila (Fannin-McFarland) Aqueduct as part of its environmental assessment of the impacts of the proposed Central Arizona Project. Twenty-two archaeological sites and two major areas of cultural activity were identified during the survey. Of these sites, 19 were recommended for further investigation and 5 were suggested for clearance (not eligible for the NRHP). The majority of the sites in the project area are prehistoric and are associated with the Hohokam archaeological culture. Only two historical-period sites were identified. The prehistoric sites were categorized according to site function as (1) long-term multiple activity sites, (2) short-term limited activity sites, (3) temporary activity sites, and (4) lithic activity sites. Long term multiple use sites are the largest in size and range from Colonial to Classic period (A.D. 500-1400) in age. The majority of the other sites also date to the Hohokam occupation, however, there were used for shorter periods of time.