Zion National Park Irrigation System, Crawford/Gifford Canal, Springdale

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER UTAH,27-SPDA.V,2A-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Although no extant remains of irrigation mechanisms exist, the canal retains structural integrity. Its course is clearly visible for most of the approximate mile length and its point of diversion is discernible. Researcher: James Jurale October 7, Zion National Park Irrigation System, Crawford/Gifford Canal HAER No. UT-38-A (Page 2) The Crawford/Gifford Canal was designed and built by Mormon settlers in Zion, whose community of farms in the Oak Creek Canyon was sometimes referred to as Crawfordville. The canal and its systems of laterals provided water for livestock and irrigated fields of alfalfa and sorghum.

Water was originally diverted from the west bank of the Virgin River (approximately one mile north of the present-day Virgin River Bridge) by means of a pioneer-built wooden headgate. In the Oak Creek Canyon farms were purchased by the National Park Service, which took possession of the water delivery system. In Civilian Conservation Corps personnel of Camp widened the canal to 18 inches, for a distance of feet. A concrete cyclopean-type diversion dam was installed at the head of the canal on December 23, by the maintenance department of Zion National Park. Although the canal is no longer functional, its course is clearly visible. The point of diversion is marked by a large boulder just upstream from a rock slide on the west bank of the Virgin River.

The channel of the canal is outlined by oottonwood trees and brush for most of its approximately 1-1/2-mile course. The ditch runs south, following the Virgin River on its west bank, traverses the base of the Virgin Formation to the northwest of the Visitor's Center, then turns northwest for .5 mile up Oak Creek. B ib 1 i o graghjr Civilian Conservation Corps Narrative Reports for J. L. Crawford. Interviewed by James Jurale, July 27, On-site observations "Zion National Park Work Completion Report,