Antonio de Espejo
In February 1583, Espejo arrived at the territory of the Piros, the most southerly of the Pueblo villagers. From there the Spanish continued up the Rio Grande. Espejo described the Pueblo villages as "clean and tidy". The houses were multi-storied and made of adode bricks. "They make very fine tortillas," Espejo commented, and the Pueblos also served the Spanish turkeys, beans, corns, and pumpkins. The people "did not seem to be bellicose". The southernmost Pueblos had only clubs for weapons plus a few "poor Turkish bows and poorer arrows". Further north, the Indians were better armed and more aggressive. Some of the Pueblo towns were large, Espejo described Zia as having 1,000 houses and 4,000 men and boys. In their farming, the Pueblos used irrigation "with canals and dams, built as if by Spaniards". The only Spanish influence that Espejo noted among the Pueblos was their desire for iron. They would steal any iron article they could find.
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.