March 11, 2011
In the early 1900's, the Valley was an oasis of green with lush trees sprouting tall along wide canal banks that crisscrossed Phoenix and its suburbs.
Cottonwoods, among the more common of the area's trees, dug in, drinking water that seeped from the dirt-lined canals.
By the 1950s, as families flocked to the Valley in post-World War II bliss to create a modern community, the oasis withered.