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 Conservancy District
The Pueblo people of the Rio Grande valley had developed primitive irrigation systems in the Rio Grande valley by the 10th century AD.
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 used Indian labor to extend the system of irrigation ditches.
In 1848 Mexico ceded the territory to the United States. Railways arrived in 1880, bringing new settlers.
The Federal government encouraged irrigation, which probably peaked in the early 1890s.