Lesson 4: Arizona Water Story Video
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LESSON 4: ARIZONA WATER STORY VIDEO Estimated Time for Lesson 1 hour State Standards Addressed Segment 1: Arizona History • Social Studies – S1C2PO1: Describe the legacy and cultures of prehistoric people in the Americas (development of agriculture). • Social Studies – S1C2PO2: Describe the cultures and contributions of the Hohokam people (e.g., location, agriculture, housing, arts and trade networks). • Social Studies – S1C5PO2: Describe the influence of American explorers and trappers on the development of the Southwest. • Social Studies – S1C5PO3: Describe events that led to Arizona becoming a possession of the United States: the Mexican-American War, the Mexican Cession (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) and the Gadsden Purchase. • Social Studies – S4C4PO1: Describe the factors that have contributed to the settlement, economic development and growth of major Arizona cities. • Social Studies – S4C4PO2: Describe how Mexico and Arizona are connected by the movement of people, goods and ideas. • Social Studies – S1C7PO1: Describe the economic development of Arizona: mining, ranching, farming and dams. • Social Studies – S4C4PO5: Describe the major economic activities and land-use patterns (e.g., harvesting of natural resources) of regions studied. Segments 2 and 3: SRP and Central Arizona Project (CAP) • Social Studies – S4C2PO1: Describe how the Southwest has distinct physical and cultural characteristics. • Social Studies – S4C2PO3: Locate the landform regions of Arizona (plateau, mountain and desert). • Social Studies – S4C2PO4: Compare the landform regions of Arizona according to their physical features, plants and animals. • Social Studies – S4C2PO5: Describe how regions and places (e.g., the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River) have distinct characteristics. • Science – S3C1: Describe how natural events and human activities impact environments. • Science – S4C3: Describe uses, types and conservation of natural resources. • Social Studies – S4C5PO1: Describe human dependence on the physical environment and natural resources to satisfy basic needs. • Social Studies – S4C5PO2: Describe the impact of extreme natural events (e.g., floods and droughts) on human and physical environments. • Social Studies – S4C5PO3: Describe the impact of human modifications (e.g., dams, irrigation and agriculture) on the physical environment and ecosystems. Objectives Content Objectives • Students will be able to describe the contributions of past people (Hohokam, American explorers, Mexican-Americans) on the land, settlement and development of the land we now call Arizona. • Students will be able to describe the process in which water is delivered to the Desert Region of Arizona. Language Objective Students will use complete sentences to describe how water plays a part in the history of Arizona. 36 37 Materials • Arizona Water Story Video • Segment handouts (1 per student) It is recommended that you blow up the handouts to 11-by- 17 inches. This will allow more room for students to write, and handouts can also be made into a large brochure of facts about Arizona. Allow students to illustrate the other faces of the brochure. Procedures Pass out the video guide to students. Read through the questions with the class before watching the Arizona video. You may want to pause the video periodically Facts to allow students time to discuss and record their answers to the questions. At the end of each segment, review the questions with the students to reinforce their learning. To allow ample time for discussion, it is recommended that the segments be viewed on separate days. Segment 1: Arizona History (run time: approx. 10 minutes) Segment 2: SRP (run time: approx. 11 minutes) Segment 3: Central Arizona Project (run time: approx. 7 minutes) Evaluation Student video guide worksheets and class discussion about answers (answers can be found in the Appendix). Lesson Closure As a conclusion to the lesson, have the students discuss the following items in pairs: • Explain why and how we are able to have water in the Desert Region of Arizona. • Explain where we get our water from in (your town). 36 37 Arizona Water Story Video Script Introduction Arizona is a land of natural wonders, from the Grand Canyon carved by the mighty Colorado River, to the delicate and dry colors of the Painted Desert, to the dense green forests of the White Mountains. But we tend to forget that much of the Arizona we know today, with its growing cities and productive farms, was once a dry and desolate wilderness. What changed the landscape? The availability of water. Water has shaped Arizona’s history as well as its landscape. Segment 1: Arizona History Hohokam and Canals Archaeologists have spent much time studying the Hohokam, a prehistoric culture who lived in southern Arizona before the Spanish and other settlers came. For about a thousand years, these peaceful farmers made their homes in central and southern Arizona river basins, places where the desert had a water supply. They lived in the Salt River Valley, the Gila River region (including what is now Pinal County) and the Santa Cruz River basin near what is now Tucson. The Hohokam built irrigation ditches using sticks, stone tools and their hands in order to bring water to their fields so they could grow corn, squash, beans and other crops. In the Phoenix area alone, their water delivery system contained nearly 500 miles of canals and over time may have served as many as 100,000 people. The Hohokam lived in Arizona for 1,000 years but left about A.D. 1450. No one knows for sure why they left, but the cycle of drought and flood that still exists in Arizona may have been a major reason. The Hohokam set the groundwork for today’s major canal system in the Phoenix area, which follows many of the same paths. Tucson and Spanish History The Santa Cruz Valley, where modern Tucson is now located, was the first place in Arizona settled by Spanish missionaries and soldiers. The settlers farmed and tended their sheep and cattle, often having to fight off attacks from the Apache Indians. A war between the new government of Mexico and the U.S. over the border between the two countries ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A miscalculation set the boundary on the Gila River 80 miles north of Tucson. It wasn’t until 1853 when James Gadsden purchased additional land south of the river that Tucson became part of the U.S. In early Tucson, residents first drew their water from small streams, but these streams, even the Santa Cruz River that flowed north out of the Santa Rita Mountains, tended to go dry in the hot summer months. Sanitary conditions were not good. Pioneer Phocion R. Way wrote upon his arrival in Tucson in 1858, “There is a small creek which runs through town. The water is alkaline and warm. The hogs wallow in the creek, the people water their donkeys and cattle, and wash themselves and their clothes and drink water out of the same creek.” Tucson farmers and citizens also pumped water from under the surface of the ground, but soon this valuable resource was depleted. Groundwater pumping also dried up the Santa Cruz River, which now flows only after big storms. 38 39 Swilling and the Pioneers The adobe ruins of the Hohokam baked in the Arizona sun for 400 years. Then in the early 1860s, Arizona experienced an influx of new settlers, many searching for gold and other precious minerals. Prospector, explorer and former Confederate officer Jack Swilling gathered a group of associates in Wickenburg and formed a canal company in 1867 to irrigate the lands in the Salt River Valley. Perhaps Swilling noticed the ruined Hohokam canals and thought they could work again. In December 1867, he formed the Swilling Irrigation and Canal Company at the gold camp at Wickenburg. He and his partners planned to take water from the Salt River via a canal so he could grow crops to sell to miners at Wickenburg and the U.S. Calvary stationed at Fort McDowell. The waterway became known as the Swilling Ditch, later the Town Ditch, or the Salt River Valley Canal. By March 1868, Swilling and his partners had harvested their first crops on land near the present-day Arizona State Hospital. During that same month, a government survey party came to the Valley and noted that a small community calling itself “Phoenix” had appeared on the scene. Soon groups of farmers up and down the river were digging canals and building crude rock and brush diversion dams (or headings) to force a flow of water into the canals. These little dams required constant maintenance, and the most successful projects were those of the private canal companies and associations, which charged members a fee for construction and maintenance. The farmers even reused some ancient Indian canals, cleaning them out and deepening them. Drought and Flood Farmers in Arizona in the late 1800s had the same problem the ancient Indians had. In a year with heavy rain and mountain snow, rivers were full of water, the farmers had an abundance of water for their crops and sometimes the heavy rains would even flood the area. And yet the next year might see little rain and thus very little water for farmers and their crops. Trying to be a farmer under such circumstances, or even trying to provide a city with water for drinking, bathing and cleaning, was very difficult. Between 1890 and 1900, the population of Maricopa County grew by nearly 10,000, further heightening the need for a reliable source of water. The obvious solution was to build a water storage dam to capture seasonal runoff. But how would such a large project be paid for? In the 1880s, a private company built a small dam to divert water into a canal to bring water from the Salt River down to the homes and farms near Phoenix.