The Ditch - Later Contributions

Irrigation improvements, like the settlement of the Santa Cruz valley, did not stop when Juan de Oñate was recalled in 1607 and Pedro de Peralta moved the colony to Santa Fé in 1610. However, it’s difficult to recover the history.

Official sources that survive in México are probably distorted by the legal expectations that governors and alcaldes ensure adequate water resources for land grants. If the 1681 Law of the Indies decreed they provide a “good and plentiful water supply for drinking and irrigation,” then that was what would be in the record.

The reality may have been different. San Gabriel was not self sufficient by 1601 when a Franciscan, Juan de Escalona, wrote the viceroy all the corn the natives “had saved for years has been consumed, and not a kernel is left over for them. The whole land has been reduced to such need that the Indians drop dead from starvation wherever they live; and they eat dirt and charcoal ground up with some seeds and a little corn in order to sustain life. Any Spaniard who gets his fill of tortillas here feels he has obtained a grant of nobility.”

He also notes, without more support from the viceroy, “it will be impossible to live here or remain in ths land, for it is very sterile and cold.” He doesn’t know the years from 1598 to 1601 were “exceedingly dry years” with unusually severe winters. Good rains didn’t appear until 1609.

When you look at the backgrounds of the settlers and soldiers who came with Oñate in 1598 you wonder who among them would have had any idea how to establish a farm, let alone an irrigation system. The roster lists used by Angélico Chávez to compile his Origins of New Mexico Families didn’t give occupation, beyond military status, but they did often list place of birth.

Of those born in Europe, twelve came from Anadalucía, but only one from an agricultural area. Six were from the Basque and Galician north, four from the Estramadura which was cattle country, and four from the area of Madrid and Toledo which also favored cattle. In addition, five came from the Canary Islands where there are no rivers for irrigation.

The others whose origins could be identified were from Mexico City or Zacatecas. José Rivera and Thomas Glick think the last may have been the most important because “they brought with them their rich and diverse experiences with irrigation development in Mesoamerica and the Islamic-Iberian Mediterranean world.”

Oñate’s father, Cristóbal Pérez de Oñate arrived in México City in 1524 from the Basque region of Álava. In 1525 he was given the encomienda of Culhuacan by Cortés and in 1528 the tribute from Tacámbara. After the conquest of New Galicia he was given more land in the area where he founded Zacatecas in 1547 after silver was found.

The mine town imported its food, corn for the Indians and mules, wheat for the Spanish and mestizos. The nearest sources were river valleys on high plateaus where irrigation was possible. Later observers noted that crops in New Galicia were sown in the fall for spring harvest with irrigation, while crops sown in the spring required no irrigation.

The younger Oñate could have learned a great deal about the acquisition and distribution of food from his father, but very little about its production.

After he left, the food supply for the mining towns became more reliable, but also more distant. Records for 1635, the first year for which they are available, indicate Bajío had become the major supplier of wheat, which required irrigation to grow. Landholdings in that area had been consolidated to justify the cost of labor for irrigation. Large suppliers included the Carmelite farms in Salavatierra and Augustinian ones in Celaya and Michoacán.

Almost all religious members were from Europe where concepts for water management had been evolving. After some technological advances in 1570, the Netherlands began massive wetland reclamation projects with improved dikes and canals. Skilled Dutchmen were sought by the Prussians, Swedes, Danes, and French. Anyone interested in advanced farming in those years would have been studying their work.

The most likely diffusion route for new irrigation ideas into the Santa Cruz valley was probably the one group Chávez didn’t mention because they founded no recognized families: the Franciscan friars who were closely associated with the Carmelites in México. It only took the implementation of a few new ideas, like long distance transport and distribution grids, to form the acequia system people remember.

Notes:
Bakewell, Peter John. Silver Mining and Society in Colonial Mexico: Zacatecas, 1546-1700, 1971.

Chávez, Angélico. Origins of New Mexico Families, revised 1992 edition; the ones who came after 1598 were primarily military, those who came with Oñate in 1600 and escorts with the supply trains.

Escalona, Juan de. Report to the Viceroy Regarding Spanish Rule in New Mexico, 1 October 1601, included in George P Hammond and Agapito Rey, Don Juan de Oñate, Colonizer of New Mexico, 1595-1628, 1953.

Himmerich y Valencia, Robert. The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521-1555, 1991, on Oñate senior.

Rivera, José A. and Thomas F. Glick. “1600 - The Iberian Origins of New Mexico’s Community Acequias,” Economic History Congress, 2002; quote Law of the Indies.

Scurlock, Dan. From the Rio to the Sierra: An Environmental History of the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1998, on tree ring and climate history, including quotations.