An acequia or séquia is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Acequias are found in parts of Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest. Scholars describe acequias as "technological systems that are designed, maintained, and operated to meet a variety of productive goals, social services, and health needs, with the practice of irrigated agriculture being of paramount importance." Acequias are filled by snow melt and rain to water orchards, gardens, and other agricultural fields. Other than watering crops, acequias have deep cultural significance for many Indigenous and Native communities in New Mexico and Colorado.
The Espada Acequia, or Piedras Creek Aqueduct, was built by Franciscan friars in 1731 in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was built to supply irrigation water to the lands near Mission San Francisco de la Espada, today part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. The acequia is still in use today and is an National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and a National Historic Landmark.
Dixon is an unincorporated community located in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States, on New Mexico State Road 75, just east of New Mexico State Road 68, in the north-central part of the state, and is approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Taos. The elevation of Dixon is 6,028 feet (1,837 m) above sea level. It is on the banks of the Embudo Creek, a tributary of the Rio Grande. Embudo Creek flows into the Rio Grande two miles (3.2 km) downstream from Dixon. The town is home to the largest population of organic farmers in the state, as well as several wineries.
The Zanja Madre is the original aqueduct that brought water to the Pueblo de Los Angeles from the Río Porciúncula. The original open, earthen ditch, or zanja 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. The main zanja ultimately fed eight branch zanjas. This availability of water was essential to the survival and growth of the community founded here. Brick conduits 3 to 3.5 feet in diameter 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. It was maintained by the Zanjero of Los Angeles.
The Santa Fe River is river in Santa Fe and Sandoval counties in New Mexico, United States, that is a tributary of the Rio Grande.
El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a historic rancho and now a living history museum, is strategically located on what was once the Camino Real, the Royal Road that extended from Mexico City to Santa Fe. The ranch provided goods for trade and was a place where the caravans that plied the road would stop on their journey coming from or going to Santa Fe. It was a paraje, an official rest stop for travelers, and was even mentioned by the great colonial military leader and governor, Don Juan Bautista de Anza, when he stopped here with his expeditionary force in 1780.
Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) is a school district based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe Public Schools serves the city of Santa Fe, the communities of Tesuque and Eldorado, and the historic neighborhood of Agua Fria, and other communities with a total area of 1,016 square miles (2,630 km2). The school district has a total of 31 schools: three high schools, three combined high/middle schools, three middle schools, and 21 elementary schools.
The City of San Antonio is one of the oldest Spanish settlements in Texas and was, for decades, its largest city. Before Spanish colonization, the site was occupied for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples. The historic Payaya Indians were likely those who encountered the first Europeans.
Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares or simply Fray Antonio de Olivares was a Spanish Franciscan who officiated at the first Catholic Mass celebrated in Texas, and he was known for contributing to the founding of San Antonio and to the prior exploration of the area. He founded, among other missions, the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, and the Acequia Madre de Valero.
Canyon Road is an art district in Santa Fe, New Mexico with over a hundred art galleries and studios exhibiting a wide range of art, including Native American art and antiquities, historical and contemporary Latino art, regional art, international folk art, and contemporary art.
Rio Culebra is a river or creek in Costilla County, Colorado. The Rio Culebra rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and is 48 km (30 mi) long. It empties into the Rio Grande west of the town of San Luis. The region around San Luis features extensive agriculture made possible by irrigation water from the river. Sometimes called the "Culebra Basin" this area is known for the extensive irrigation canals called acequias built by its Hispanic settlers in the 19th century and still in use in the 21st century
Acequia Madre de Valero is an 18th-century agricultural irrigation canal built by the Spanish and located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. When Martín de Alarcón founded San Antonio for Spain by establishing San Antonio de Valero Mission in 1718, Franciscan priest Antonio de Olivares and the Payaya and Pastia peoples, dug Acequia Madre de Valero by hand. It was vital to the missions to be able to divert and control water from the San Antonio River, in order to grow crops and to supply water to the people in the area. This particular acequia was the beginning of a much wider irrigation system. Acequia Madre de Valero ran from the area currently known as Brackenridge Park southward to what is now Hemisfair and South Alamo Street. Part of it that is not viewable by the public runs beneath the Menger Hotel. The acequia was restored in 1968 and that same year was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
A zanja is an archaic irrigation system used in the southwestern United States and that still occurs in various place names as a relic of that time. An acequia is a more highly engineered zanja, able to carry water for longer distances. In some places, sections of a zanja/acequia would be elevated as in an aqueduct. Preserved sections of the Mission Santa Barbara water system demonstrate all three variations.
Martineztown-Santa Barbara is a neighborhood in central Albuquerque, New Mexico, immediately northeast of Downtown. Originating as a small farming village in the 1850s, it is one of the city's oldest neighborhoods and retains a distinct character, with winding streets, irregular lots, and adobe vernacular buildings reminiscent of other old Hispanic communities in northern New Mexico.
The Gustave Baumann House, at 409 Camino de Las Animas in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was built in 1923. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 as the Jane and Gustave Baumann House and Studio. The listing included two contributing buildings, a contributing structure, and a contributing object.
The Camino del Monte Sol Historic District, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a 52.1 acres (21.1 ha) historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The listing included 106 contributing buildings.
The Acequia Madre, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, is a historic acequia which was built at the time of Las Vegas' settlement in 1835–36. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
El Zaguan, at 545 Canyon Rd. in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a historic complex started in 1854. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The listing included two contributing buildings, three contributing structures, two contributing objects, and a contributing site on 1.8 acres (0.73 ha).
Acequia Madre is Spanish for "mother ditch", a main acequia or irrigation canal.
Acequia Madre House is a house built at 614 Acequia Madre in Santa Fe, in the U.S. state of New Mexico, in 1926 in the Territorial Revival style.
