There Is No Life Without Water: Irrigation in Utah's Uinta Basin

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Transformation of Historical Archaeology: Papers in Honor of Charles E Orser, Jr" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the arid climate of Utah’s Uinta Basin, irrigation is the lifeblood of farming and ranching. Among the first tasks Euro-American settlers in Utah completed would be to secure water for their homestead by digging irrigation ditches. As settlers ventured further away from existing communities, creation, maintenance, and expansion of irrigation networks became a costly proposition for individuals. In response, groups of farmers and ranchers, and later incorporated irrigation companies, built a sprawling network of canals across the Basin. SWCA Environmental Consultants, on behalf of the Utah Division of State History and the Bureau of Land Management, prepared a multiple property documentation form (MPDF) intended to provide a context with which to understand and assess historic irrigation resources in the Uinta Basin. This paper will present a brief history of irrigation in Utah’s Uinta Basin, a discussion of the MPDF, and an example of how it has been applied.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• The Transformation of Historical Archaeology: Papers in Honor of Charles E Orser, Jr

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 330