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.
Middle Rio Grande Project
Rehabilitation of the irrigation system throughout the project has resulted in a more stable water supply to about of irrigated land, including water for the six southern Indian pueblos of Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Sandia, and Isleta, all of which are served by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.
This supports cultivation of alfalfa, barley, wheat, oats, corn, fruits and vegetables. The river maintenance program, coupled with the Corps of Engineers' flood control dams and system of levees, has greatly reduced the threat of uncontrolled flooding in the Middle Rio Grande Valley.