Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 173, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1917 — Indians Utilized Irrigation. [ARTICLE]

Indians Utilized Irrigation.

The Indian discovered for himself the science of Irrigation. Many of the tribes, such as the Crows and the Apaches, early made use of the river bottoms for the cultivation of their staple crop—corn. When the condition of dryness came they would construct a rough temporary dam of log, with which they could divert the course of part of the stream into their lands. There were primitive ditches which distributed the water.