Not exactly walking and not exactly Arizona again

If you ever had any reason to wonder why Apple is making so much money, here is the answer:

Not exactly walking and not exactly Arizona

This is the most amazing (and dizzying) tour of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you have a big monitor, you really feel like you are right there. There are a whole bunch of other panoramas on this site, some of which are absolutely incredible. I especially like the one of Double Arch in Arches National Park.

For even more amazing images, try the software PTgui Gallery. You have probably never seen such impressive photos. This is amazing. Then you can see how it is all done on the Zoomify page.

Digging the ditch

The ancient inhabitants of the low deserts in Arizona were well acquainted with canal technology. In the Salt River Valley the canal system is said to use at least 1000 miles of canals and irrigate over 100,000 acres of land. See The AncientHohokam Canal System in the Valley of the Sun. The early Mormon pioneers had no knowledge of this vast canal system when the began the laborious process of digging canals from the water backed up by brush dams to irrigate small fields in and around St. Joseph, (now Joseph City) Arizona. But the ancient inhabitants of the Salt River Valley and the Mormon pioneers had a lot in common; both used rudimentary manual tools to dig their ditches and canals.

Considering the tools and methods used anciently to dig canals, there is no doubt that anyone, modern or ancient, would have the same challenges and have to use similar tools. Although modern tools are electronic and high sophisticated, the dirt still has to be moved. Today our tools move more dirt with less manual effort, but at the time the pioneers came to northern Arizona, they had essentially the same tools possessed by the early inhabitants. The pioneers did have one advantage, animal power, through horses and oxen. But there was no real substitute for a pick and shovel.

Despite these relatively primitive methods of moving dirt, the pioneers managed to dig ditches and build substantial dams within a few months of their arrival along the Little Colorado River. Unfortunately, the River did not cooperate in the effort. Before the first year's crop could be grown to harvest, the summer rains had washed out both dams and ditches, leaving the fields to dry out and burn up in the summer sun.

The first dam built by the residents of Allen's Camp and Obed cost the settlers $5000. It took 960 man days of work and an additional 500 more man days of work on the ditch. That was the dam that washed out with the first flood in 1876. In 1877 another dam was built upstream from the first, only to be washed away in the summer rains. Again in 1879 yet another dam was built.

And so it continued until finally, cement and engineering won out with a dam that let the water run over the top when the floods came.

For some idea of the attitude of the people after so much hardship, here is a contemporary account:



Living on the river was not easy but it was worth it.

The above story is in:
Abruzzi, William S. Dam That River!: Ecology and Mormon Settlement in the Little Colorado River Basin. Lanham, Md: University Press of America, 1993.

As long as my time spent walking in Arizona, I think this picture about says it all.