[01] Dale A. Stirling, Stirling Consulting, Coupeville, Washington USA.

The Hohokam Indians are credited with creating the first irrigation systems in the United States around 300 A.D. With the influx of European immigration and settlement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, irrigation and drainage technology became more advanced. However, it wasn’t until the early twentieth century and World War II that the Bureau of Reclamation developed irrigation and drainage into a modern engineering science. As a result, state and local irrigation and drainage districts and commission and hundreds of irrigation and drainage companies were created. Over time, the records of these agencies and companies were often destroyed or lost to time. Fortunately, many records were donated to, or collected by, archives and preserved for future use. This article describes key sources of irrigation and drainage records generated by federal, state and local agencies and private companies that are accessible to water resource professionals. Also described are secondary sources of historical irrigation and drainage information that may be useful in solving contemporary problems and issues.

Irrigation, Agriculture, Historical Documents, Water Resources

[01] Arguimbau, E. (2008). Guide to Montana Irrigation Commission Records, 1919-1929. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society Research Center. [02] Campbell, S.M. and Ogburn, P.M. (1989). Hawaiian Sugar Planter’s Association Plantation Archives: Register of the Hawaiian Irrigation Company, Honokaa, Hawaii 1905-1960. Manoa: University of Hawaii Library. [03] ColumbiaSoft. (2013) “Case study—El Dorado Irrigation District.” {http://www.documentlocator.com/cssdownloads/pdocs/cs-eldorado.pdf} [04] Lobell, D.B. and Bonfils, C. 2008. “The effect or irrigation on regional temperatures: a spatial and temporal analysis of trends in California, 1934-2002.” Journal of Climate 21: 2063-2071. [05] Mead, E. (1902). Report of Irrigation Investigations for 1900. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, Bulletin No. 104. [06] National Agricultural Statistics Service. (2014). 2010 Census of Agriculture, Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey (2013), Volume 3, Special Studies, Part 1. Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Agriculture. [07] National Archives and Records Service. (1965). Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Volume 1, Compiled by Edward E. Hill (Preliminary Inventory Number 163). Washington, D.C.: General Services Administration. [08] Pracht, C. and Banks, J. (2002). “The Little River drainage district collection.” Collection Building 21(1): 10-12. [09] Priscoli, J.D. (1998). “Water and civilization: using history to reframe water policy debates and to build a new ecological realism.” Water Policy 1: 623-636. [10] Rettig, P.J. (2012). “Tracing the source of irrigation: an examination of Colorado Ditch Company collections in archival repositories. Journal of Western Archives 3(1): 1-19. [11] Tanji, K.K. and Keyes, C.G. (2002). “Water quality aspects of irrigation and drainage: past history and future challenges for civil engineers.” Journal of Irrigation Drainage Engineering 128(6): 332-340. [12] Walter B. Satterthwaite Associates, Inc. (2003). Letter dated October 24 to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission re: En-Joie Golf Club’s Consumptive Water Use Application Review, Village of Endicott, Broome County, New York, WBSAI Project No. 03-825-00. [13] Wilson, H.M. (1896). Pumping Water for Irrigation. U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply and Irrigation Papers No. 1. [14] McDonald, R.I. and Girvetz, E.H. (2013). “Two challenges for U.S. irrigation due to climate change: increasing irrigated area in wet states and increasing irrigation rates in dry states.” PLoS ONE 8(6): e65589.