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.
Zanja Madre
The Zanja Madre (English: "Mother Ditch") is the original aqueduct that brought water to the Pueblo de Los Angeles from the Río Porciuncula (Los Angeles River). The original open, earthen ditch was completed by community laborers within a month of founding the pueblo.
This water system was used for both domestic uses and irrigation to fields west of town. This availability of water was essential to the survival and growth of the community founded here. were built to improve the system after 1884. Eventually the system did not supply enough water to keep pace with population growth and irrigation demand. The system was abandoned by 1904 though portions were still used for storm water purposes.