Shadow of the Reconquest - The Ditches

Española is laced with overlapping, and sometimes crossing ditches when one diverts water from the Chama or Santa Cruz river in an area already served by another.

For instance, on the north side of town, the Hernández ditch leaves the Chama a few miles before Abiquiú and more or less follows route 84 to serve El Duende and Hernández. East of Hernández, the Salazar ditch leaves the Chama to follow the Denver and Rio Grande rail bed into town. The two cross just before the Chama meets the Río Grande when the Hernández returns to the river.

Soon after, the Vigil ditch leaves the Río Grande. It follows the old rail bed when the Salazar ditch moves inland. Just above the Valdez bridge, they cross when the Salazar returns to the Río Grande. The Vigil continues south to cross 84/285 as it turns north coming west over the Griego Bridge.

From there it goes east to empty into the Río Grande just above the bridge.

The ditches, like the land grants, weren’t planned; they evolved with necessity under Spanish and Mexican regimes. In the first decades after the United States controlled New Mexico, large grants like those given to Francisco Montes Vigil and his descendants were subject to intense litigation. Since fears of water scarcity led to the Santa Cruz dam in the 1920's, local ditches have been attracting the attention of speculators, developers and their lawyers.

Activity heightened after the San Juan-Chama Project became functional with the opening of the Abiquiú dam. Water rights for 20 acequias were reviewed in 1996 to ensure there were no unauthorized diversions of Río Grande water whose allocation was now governed by interstate agreements.

As part of the process, priority dates were established for ditches in 2005, with 1714 used as the default date for Spanish settlement of the area after the Reconquest. Historically, first activation dates were used to allocate water when the flow from the Chama river was less than normal, with older ditches given preference.

In 2009, users of the Chamita, Los Salazares and Hernández ditches were suing for an earlier date than 1714. Vickie Gabin argued “the Hernandez Ditch and the Salazar Ditch are part of one continuous irrigation system which irrigates the floodplain that lies south the of Rio Chama and west of the Rio Grande.”

Therefore, she hoped, if she could establish one piece had been in continuous use before the Pueblo Revolt, then the entire system would qualify for that date. Her basis was António Salazar’s contention that Alonso Martín Barba had claim to the land, which by implication must have been irrigated if it was claimed.

Unfortunately, if one looked carefully, one would notice Martín was living in Santa Fé in 1632 and his daughter María’s husband was at Zuñi around 1662. Further, Angélico Chávez said no Salazars reported to Guadalupe del Norte in 1680. It would be hard to argue continuous use.

It should also be remembered, though won’t be, the governors who made the grants were more concerned with their superiors’ expectations that they settle a frontier buffer with the French and that they reward important local mestizoes, than they were the accuracy of the claims. If they could guarantee Antonío Salazar’s loyalty and demonstrate the benefits of supporting the Spanish to others like him, they didn’t care who, if anyone, had the land before the revolt.

Even before the ditch dates were revisited, the Peña Blanca Partnership claimed the state law that allowed the Hernández ditch to refuse to give it water for an Española subdivision was unconstitutional. Richard Cook is a partner in the development group.

Española accepted its allocation level from the San Juan-Chama project in 1978. After that, the failure of some wells and the contamination of others by a dry cleaners, has reduced its supply of ground water.

In 2002, the city was floating a proposal that would have converted Los Vigiles Diversion Dam into the intake for a new drinking water plant which could then have processed the city’s allocation of Río Chama water.

In the same years, the city of Santa Fé was shopping for any available water rights to my local ditch. They hoped they could somehow convert them into increased access to Chama and Río Grande waters downstream.

The ditches sometimes seem like expensive, anachronistic subsidies for hay farmers, but when you see cities and developers start sniffing, you know they are more than artefacts of the local cultural heritage.

Notes:
Chávez, Angélico. Origins of New Mexico Families, revised 1992 edition.

City of Española and Bureau of Reclamation. “Information Sheet” for the Drinking Water Project, Environmental Assessment, NEPA Scoping Meeting, held 25 July 2002.

Gabin, Vickie L. “Special Master’s Report on Priorities for Three Acequias,” filed in support of the defendants in State of New Mexico v. Roman Aragon, et alia, 16 December 2009.

Matlock, Staci. “Acequia Lawsuits: Granting of New Appeal Confounds Both Sides,” The New Mexican, 2 October 2007.

Wells, Stermon M. Watermaster’s Report for Rio Chama Mainstream, 2009.

Photographs:
1. Vigil ditch near the public library next to the Chama Highway (84/285), 20 August 2011.

2. Vigil ditch preparing to go under the Chama Highway, 10 February 2012.

3. Gate controlling entry of the Vigil ditch into the Río Grande above the Griego Bridge, 10 February 2012.

4. Ditch paralleling Vigil ditch near former Block-Salazar funeral home, moving toward the Río Grande, 3 May 2009.

5. Vigil ditch enclosed in metal fence in front of Frank Bond house, 20 January 2012.

6. Vigil ditch in front of Frank Bond house, 20 January 2012.

7. Vigil ditch before it crosses under the Chama Highway, 3 May 2009.