Lake Scott State Park
Lake Scott State Park is the site of a ruined Taos Pueblo. The Taos arrived in western Kansas in 1664. After having escaped the Spanish colonial rule in New Mexico. They formed an alliance with a group of Plains Apache. The Taos Indians built the protective pueblos and an irrigation system from a nearby spring to water their crops. The settlement, known as El Cuartelejo, was occupied for 20 years before the builders returned to their home territory. The pueblo was reoccupied in 1696 by a group of Picuri Indians. The Picuris were compelled to retreat to their homelands in colonial New Mexico ten years later.
Albuquerque Basin
The Pueblo people of the Rio Grande valley had developed primitive irrigation systems by the 10th century AD, and by the 13th century most of the major pueblos had been established. The Pueblo system of irrigation ditches is one of the oldest of the irrigation systems in North America. These systems used a main "acequia" (shared irrigation ditch) into which water was diverted from the river, with secondary ditches leading off the main channel named for specific families. Maintenance of the main "acequia" would be a community responsibility. The Spanish arrived in New Mexico in 1598, and steadily expanded their presence, founding Albuquerque in 1706. The Spanish used Indian labor to extend the system of irrigation ditches. Again, once a community grew large enough they would form a community association to look after maintenance. The Spanish were familiar with Moorish irrigation techniques, and may have adapted them to the canals that had been built by the Pueblos.