Mesa (Spanish for “tabletop”) is in the center of the Salt River Valley on a plateau. The area has long been inhabited by Native Americans, including the Ancestral Desert People, or “the Departed Ones.” The resourceful tribe realized the need for water for irrigation and dug some 125 miles of canals around 700 B.C. Some of these irrigation ditches are still in use and can be seen at the Park of the Canals and Mesa Grande Ruins. Learn More...