Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

IRRIGATION WORK IN THE UNITED STATES. 83 California, written late in the fifteenth century. At that early period, when the nation was yet in embryo, the Mission The Mission on pacjflc slope began teaching the Indians the gentle ways of peace. With the aid of the converts, the Fathers built dams and simple ditches. Stone structures and even pipe lines of burnt tile were constructed. Later on the Conquistadores of Coronado swept up the valley of the Rio Grande from Mexico in search of the “ Seven Cities of Cibola.” Here they found pastoral settlements of Pueblo Indians, leading the waters of the Rio Grande to fields which had been in cultivation long before the traditions of the oldest members of the tribe. Spanish settlements followed the conquerors, and irrigation canals, excavated so long ago that the date is forgotten, are still being used to-day in much, the same primitive manner as in the beginning. In many places the very methods of agriculture have not changed appreciably among these descendants of old Mexican pioneers of the United States, re- sembling closely those practised by the farmers of Spain ever since the fifteenth century. The methods of raising wheat among the Mexican irrigators in this valley are not unlike those which prevailed a thousand years before the Christian era. Pharaoh’s people, if they could be called back, would require no teaching to take a position on one of these farms. After the fields are prepared, the sower goes forth equipped with his seed wheat, which he scatters broadcast. The field is then harrowed and divided by plough, furrows into square beds, with edges raised high to hold the water. During the period of growth the squares are flooded from . the ditches until the ground is thoroughly saturated. Eady in June the grain is harvested with the primitive sickle, and carried to the threshing-floor—usually one of beaten mud. A herd of goats or sheep, and often ponies, is brought in and driven round and round until the grain is trampled out. This will call to mind the Biblical description of “ treading out the corn.” The short straw is now raked away, leaving the wheat and chaff. The winnowing is performed as it was in the days of Abraham, the grain being tossed high in the air so that the wind may carry away the chaff. The first attempt at irrigation in the United States by English-speaking people occurred in 1700. In that year a few bags of rice, received in exchange for other foodstuff from a passing ship at Charleston, South Carolina, were planted as an experiment. The crop flourished, and its cultivation was extended. For fully a century and a half this industry was confined to narrow strips along the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia. Although rice is now grown in nearly all of the Southern States, the practice of irriga- tion in its culture is confined principally to the coast counties of the Caro- linas and Georgia, the Missis- R1Ce growing* sippi delta, and the coastal prairies of Texas and Louisiana. On the Atlantic coast the areas irrigated are level alluvial lands, which were covered originally at high tide with water to a depth of two to three feet. To re- claim these lands dikes of alluvial soil were constructed parallel to the river, 25 feet thick at the base and 10 feet in height. As soon as the land dried, the fields were divided into sections by check banks ; and the sections, varying in size from 5 to 30 acres each, were subdivided by ditches into beds. Each sec- tion is provided with a wooden trunk or box, with a door at each end, extending through the dike. When the fields are ready for irrigation the outer door is opened, and the rising tide forces the water through the trunk into the ditches, and thence to the fields. When the tide begins to fall the inner gate is closed and the water is securely stored. Drain- ing the field is performed by opening the doors at low tide. Under favourable conditions this