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DITCHES A Cultural Resource. Brief History.
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Brief History Coinciding with the Railroad Act wasthe Homestead Act of 1862, which gave 160 acres to any person who could substantiate that they were head of the household and at least 21 years of age. They were required to live on the land for at least five years and during that time make improvements: build a house, and farm the land. The lands west of the Rocky Mountains, being semi-arid desert, will not support a 160-acre homestead. Thus, the acreage was increased to 640 acres, which is one full section of land or one square mile after it was determined that anything less could not support enough grazing land to make ranching profitable (Linklater 219-235: 2002; Merk 256-263:1978; Riskin 13:2005; Sonnichsen 91-101:1968).
Irrigation in the project area dates back to the 1880s and developed out of necessity; semiarid regions do not provide adequate year-round water. Thus, settlement of the area depended upon it. The first order of business for settlers was digging ditches to take mountain snowmelt from streams to fields on the dry sunny lowlands. The earliest “pioneer ditches” watered bottomlands next to streams through small, hand-dug channels; the larger were dug with plow and scraper. Professional engineers and armies of paid laborers built great canals up to 100 miles long. In most cases it was the co-operative companies, which “were as bountiful as the crops that could be grown with water” that built them (Cassity 107:2011).
Flat Creek, Jackson Hole, WY circa 1900
By the 1880s, comprehensive water development projects were built and frequently incorporated earlier ditches and canals into their distribution systems. (Holleran and Chalana 2006). In fact, it is Elwood Mead, Wyoming Territorial Engineer, who is credited with creating Wyoming’s water policy, bringing order out of chaotic water rights. (Larson, 302-303: 1978). His premise was such that water belonged to the public and should be dispensed by the state; preventing the water from being monopolized.
Civilian Conservation Corps circa 1933
WY SHPO Requirement • Small channels called field laterals and spreaders which distribute water within a farm or ranch. Consideration should be given to the ranch property itself and whether or not the lateral could be part of a district or landscape. Named canals and ditches on USGS topographic maps must be evaluated and recorded. In general, a canal or lateral which has an appropriation of 7 cubic feet per second(cfs) or less and is not the first appropriated canal in an area would not be recorded. For example, a canal constructed to carry 4 cfs of water to irrigate an ineligible ranch’s hay meadow and is not the first canal in the area, would fit into this category. Document the relative date of appropriation from water source (i.e. first appropriator). These records can be found on the SEO’s website at https://seoweb.wyo.gov/e-Permit/ or in the “tabulation of Adjudicated Surface Water Rights of the State of Wyoming: Water Division Numbers One-Four.” Online accounts can be obtained for anyone wanting to research a water right from the SEO. * Only properly named ditches are to be recorded under the current SHPO requirement.
Primary Canals Adams Ditch circa 1875- 1901; Unevaluated
