The mother ditch, or acequia madre, is the main water line that is dug by hand and feeds many of the smaller acequias that cover the fertile land of Northern New Mexico. The acequias, water ditches, were used to irrigate the fields of crops for many farmers in the early days of settlement in New Mexico. A unique technology, the acequia, especially the mother ditch, had to be taken care of by everyone in the community that benefited from its generosity. A governing body was established to watch over the utilization and maintenance of the ditch. The mayordomo was the top elected official to preside over the governing council, and he was also required to perform numerous responsibilities representative of the people of the community. The acequia was truly one of the last vestiges of a life where people depended on each other for survival. The life of the community revolved around the acequia. Cooperation was essential to ensure everyone’s sustenance. Today, many of! the acequias the early settlers of New Mexico depended on have dried-up. Yet, when one stands in the footings of these sand pits, you can feel the presence of the power of water that was so significant to the development of human progress in this part of the continent.
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Text: English, Spanish
About the Author
Oliver LaFarge, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Laughing Boy, originally published The Mother Ditch in 1954 as a children’s book. It is more vital and informative to us today than it was then. A genteel, intellectual New Englander, LaFarge had discovered another world on the Navajo Reservation and, later, among the Hispanic villagers of Northern New Mexico. He spent much of his career as a writer sending messages back to the East proclaiming what he had found.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
People who travel across New Mexico by train, or go by car along the main roads, look out at the country and wonder how anyone can live there. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Mexico, Pablo Herrera New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
People who travel across New Mexico by train, or go by car along the main roads, look out at the country and wonder how anyone can live there. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Mexico, Pablo Herrera New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 3
books:
4
books
cite this book:
- A History of Islamic Spain (Islamic Surveys) by W. Montgomery Watt in Back Matter
- Commerce of the Prairies: Life on the Great Plains in the 1830's and 1840's by Josiah Gregg in Back Matter
- Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge in Front Matter
- Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest by Charles F. Wilkinson in Back Matter
- Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest by Charles Wilkinson in Back Matter
- A Bark In The Park: The 45 Best Places to Hike with Your Dog in the El Paso/Las Cruces Region by Jessica Powers in Back Matter
- Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West by Charles F. Wilkinson in Back Matter
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