Q: What are the canals for, and how do they work?

A: Bibbity, bobbity boo. Next question, please.

Oh, all right, we’ll tell you: Farms and gravity.

Really.

The miles and miles of canals maintained by the Salt River Project were put there to bring water to thirsty acres of alfalfa, cotton, citrus and dates. Although there are a few pumping stations along the way, nearly all the system operates on the principle that water flows downhill.

That’s what worked for the Hohokam, who dug the first canals about 1,300 years ago to water their corn, beans and squash.

The ancient ones had quite a little civilization going—check out the Pueblo Grande Museum in east Phoenix — before they vanished about 500 years ago, probably chased off by a long drought. By the time the Europeans arrived, the desert had reclaimed the Hohokams’ 135 miles of canals.

In 1867, Jack Swilling, a former Confederate soldier living in Wickenburg, realized what those lines in the sand meant. He formed the Swilling Irrigation Canal Co. and dredged out one of the canals. A
meager harvest resulted and—voila!—agriculture was reborn in the Valley, and Phoenix had a reason for being.

The subsequent flood of farmers expanded and improved the canal system, but they lacked what the Hohokam had lacked: a way to tame the Salt, which actually had water in it in those days. The problem
was, it either had too much water or not enough.