New Mexico Outdoor 

Roughing It In Luxury-Abiquiu, New Mexico 505.901.7321

Excerpt The Ditch
Excerpt From The Genizaro & the Artist By Napoleon Garcia and Analinda Dunn

The Ditch

 

The artist lady came out of her adobe house into the yard where the young Genízaro boy was digging the fresh spring earth for her garden.

  “Paul, why does it take so many men and so many days just to clear a narrow ditch for the water?”

All property owners had been requested to send one man to help with the annual clearing of the irrigation ditch, or acequia, that brought the precious water from the mountain spring into the village.  The artist lady had released one of her workers right at the time when she needed to get her garden ready for spring planting.  Paul attempted to explain the required ritual of clearing the winter damage from the ditch.  The lady listened without comment, turned and reentered the house only to return wearing her wide brim hat, and sturdy walking shoes.

“Show me this ditch, Paul.”

The young man put down his tools and began walking with the lady up the dusty road, past the scattered adobe homes, past the old cemetery, up into the canyons, following the narrow two foot ditch that carried the source of life to this thirsty, high desert village in northern New Mexico.

The irrigation ditch was one of the legacies handed down to the villagers from their ancestors who had settled there centuries ago.  The Abiquiu Land Grant of 1754 was one of the only Spanish Land Grants made to Genízaros, people of mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry.  The village was surrounded by natural springs with one main source high in the surrounding mountains.

Each year after the winter rains the men of the village would walk the ditch, making any required repairs caused by the snow and rains.  The Majordomo, the appointed man in charge, a position that would rotate among the villagers from year to year, used a measuring stick marking off each section to be worked and then assigning that section to a worker.  The men worked their section, then helped others finish their assignments before the Majordomo would again use his stick and mark off the next assigned areas.  This was a process that had been used for centuries and the villagers had no need to improve or change how things had worked before.

Soon Paul and the lady came to the area of the ditch that had been cleared.  It was evident that much soil and rocks had been recently removed from the channel.  They walked further up the arroyo until they came to the working men.  The lady stood watching for a while without comment until she seemed satisfied that this was indeed a necessary endeavor and turned to leave the men at their ancient tasks.

On their return back to her house she would stop every so often and gaze out over the valley.

“I never tire of this view, Paul.”  “Shapes and colors can change each time you look at the same thing.”

Paul was used to these breaks to absorb the breathtaking beauty of the blue hills and mesas.  The lady often asked him to walk with her as she hiked the hills and canyons surrounding the village of Abiquiu.  When they returned to her house the lady said no more about the ditch-digging efforts and Paul returned to his tasks in the garden.

 

*

I was 14 when Miss Georgia O’Keeffe bought the old colonial adobe in my village of Abiquiu.  It took about four years for her to renovate the crumbling structure.  She moved permanently to the village in 1949, after settling the affairs in New York of her late husband, Alfred Stieglitz.  She had been coming to New Mexico since 1929.  She began staying at Ghost Ranch, a dude ranch popular for easterners at that time, which is about 15 miles northwest of Abiquiu.  In 1940 she bought one of the summer homes at the ranch.  She would live at both residences until her death in 1986. 

 

She wanted the house in the village of Abiquiu because she desired to have a garden.  During the war years it was necessary for people to be more self-sufficient in providing their food especially in this remote section of northern New Mexico.  She also had a craving for fresh fruits and vegetables that could not be satisfied by infrequent trips over the rutted road into Española, 22 miles away.  The house in Abiquiu came with the very desirable water rights.  I think she also desired to live among the native people of the village who were quite unlike the “dudes” that came to vacation at Ghost Ranch. She had expressed her dislike more than once for these “dudes” who came west to be temporary cowboys.

 

Her interest in our methods of maintaining the irrigation ditch is but one example of her interest in our way of doing things.  Here she was, a lady of the city, who probably thought nothing of turning on the tap to have water run freely in her home.  She wanted to understand why this annual effort was so important to our village’s way of life. I think after she saw how we cleared the ditch without using machinery, using only the determination of the villagers to maintain a life-giving legacy of their ancestors, she was impressed and satisfied without wanting to change how we did things.  Most people would want to suggest our getting earth moving equipment in or perhaps hiring a professional company who could install more permanent culverts that could withstand the winter’s onslaught.  But Miss O’Keeffe accepted our way life style.  I think this is why she wanted to live in our village.  We accepted her and she accepted us as we were without wanting to bring in all the newer technologies that were changing, some think improving, the way of life in the cities.  The ditch continues to be maintained by the villagers.

 

Some villages have elected to line their ditches or acequias, with cement.  They thought it was too much trouble to clean it out each year.  Additionally, the cement would keep the water from seeping into the ground on its way to irrigate their gardens.  First, the small plants would die that used to line the waterway.  There would be no more fresh watercress to spice and freshen their food.  Then, the thirsty cottonwoods, that depended on the seeping waters, would die away.  When the plants left the birds and animals would soon follow.  Soon the area would be a dead zone.  Not only was nature destroyed, but the village culture would be greatly changed.  Some villages would make an annual celebration of the ditch cleaning.  Sometimes the priest would bless the water before irrigation.  It was too much of a problem to clean the acequias, too much of a problem to maintain their culture.  It’s as if they just turned their backs to tradition and walked away, in different directions, further apart from their community and each other.  I’m very proud that Abiquiu did not follow this route.  We still maintain and share the maintenance and use of our waterway.

 

I must include an early recollection about the irrigation ditch.  Along the route the water had to travel over an arroyo.  The ancestors had built a trestle for a trough over the arroyo so that the water could continue on its path. Replacing the wooden trestle and trough was the only periodic improvement required over the years.  In later years the wooden trough was replaced with a permanent metal culvert.

 

As a young boy I remember my friends and I would play in the wooden trough.  One kid would sit in the trough, diverting the water over the side so that others could play in the makeshift waterfall below.  When the flow of water was slowed or stopped by our body-dam the men from the village would start to walk the path of the ditch to find the cause of the reduced flow.  When the men found the cause of the stoppage, they would see a bunch of naked kids down below, running to find their clothes for a quick get away.  Perhaps there was more than one reason to replace the open trough with a culvert.

 

Before we had water lines into our homes, the village would use water from the surrounding creek or springs for drinking.  Getting water in buckets from the creek or springs near the village was always a good job for the children.  A ditch was dug to divert water from the main ditch to a pond up above the village in the old ancient Hopi site of Moque.  But this pond was only for use in the summer because in the winter it would freeze. It was my job to carry buckets of water from the pond to the house for our use.  There was a huge log across the pond from which I would dip my bucket into the pond to fill with the clear water from the center of the pond.  More than once I would slip and fall head first into the pond.

 

The springs, creek and a few wells were winter sources of water.  I was raised in Moque.  When I was young and the pond was dry or frozen I would have to go down to the creek for water.  This was a big job for a little guy.  Often I would have to return and refill buckets that had been spilt as I climbed the wintry-slick hill.

 

We were one of the first communities in this region to have water brought into our houses for drinking and sanitation.  Miss O’Keeffe was instrumental in getting this done.  When we applied to the government for help we were told to put up half the money in order to get it done.  Miss O’Keeffe stepped in and provided the funds that the village was required to pay.  This water comes from the same source as our irrigation water, but is tapped at the source and carried by pipes into our homes.

 

The water management and maintenance is administered by a committee of Abiquiu residents.  Sometimes if the lines are damaged by storms or they are constructing new lines to new homes the water may be shut off for a long period of time.  The wise Abiquiu resident will have many bottles of water stored just in case of this type of emergency need.  If you looked in my kitchen right now you would see a variety of water-filled bottles lining the counter near my sink.  My children know where to come for water if this need arises.



New Mexico Outdoor Navigational Links
      • Biking
      • Canoeing-Kayaking-Rafting
      • Calendar of Events
        • Art Scene  -With 2010's Featured Artists all Updated or New Pages!!
        • Fly Fishing
        • Location

          Policies/Payment Options

        • Skiing-Boarding-X Skiing
        • Trail Riding
        • Native Culture 
            • Copyright . New Mexico Outdoor Adventures. All rights reserved.