THEME / CONTEXT

Constructed in 1871, this canal is associated with the context of Community Planning and Development.  It falls under the theme of irrigation – canal / waterway.

The Kirkland-McKinney Ditch is significant for its association with the earliest agricultural efforts undertaken in the Tempe district, and as the oldest remaining original manmade waterway that was still in use in the Salt River Valley in the 1980s. The canal was built around 1870-71 as one of the first organized attempts to irrigate lands south of the Salt River. In late 1867, J. W. "Jack" Swilling and several other men living in Wickenberg formed a canal company to build a channel on the north bank of the Salt River. These men would be the first to irrigate in the valley during the historical period, and that project, along with a few others that followed the next year, helped precipitate the founding of the Phoenix townsite. The success of the Swilling project prompted other pioneers, including Charles T. Hayden, to claim rights to lands long the Salt River and begin constructing irrigation canals.

In December 1870, Hayden gave notice of the formation of the Hayden Milling and Farming Ditch Company, and recorded his claim to portions of Section 15, noting that as of 17 November, work had begun on the project. In that same month, Swilling and others formed the Hardy Canal Company to provide water for another farming venture south of the river, which would be invaluable to the success of Hayden’s flouring mill operation.

At the same time, a pair of homesteaders, William H. Kirkland and James B. McKinney, began construction of a waterway south to their lands on the east side of the Tempe Butte in Sections 15 and 22. Both men had also been a part of the original Swilling company. In January 1871, the Hardy Canal Company was reorganized as the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company, with Granville H. Oury, a territorial legislator and friend of Hayden’s from Tucson, as its president. In the spring of 1871, the three separate ventures combined their efforts to construct canals to all of their lands and to the mill site. Both Hayden and the Kirkland-McKinney party abandoned their plans for separate canal heads on the river. Instead the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company built a canal head about five miles upstream from the butte, and the Kirkland-McKinney Ditch was made a private right-of-way branch of the Tempe Canal. Water supply for the Hayden Flours Mill was to be provided by an extension of the Kirkland-McKinney ditch west around the butte. These early agricultural improvements, together with the construction of Hayden’s store on the west side of the butte in late 1871, constituted the beginning of the Tempe settlement.

DESIGN + CONSTRUCTION

The Kirkland-McKinney Ditch is a manmade channel constructed for conveying and distributing water. The earth structure varied in depth from 6 feet to 12 feet, and was approximately 20 feet wide. The length of the original canal was about 2070 feet and extended from the culvert mouth on the west side of McClintock Road westward along the south side of the Bankhead Highway [MRA, #229].

Structures appurtenant to the canal included the original concrete bridge for the Bankhead Highway crossing [near McClintock Road], two additional concrete slab bridges, two wood plank bridges approximately 8 feet in width, the ruins of the concrete and cobble bulkheads of a third wood plank bridge, and a concrete lock with two steel gates. The water in the open ditch was diverted into culverts below two road crossings, one at Una Avenue, and one at Gary Drive. Before the canal was replaced with underground conduits [c. 1990] the integrity of the canal’s location and setting, including the flora, fauna, and related structures, still conveyed its historic associations as the oldest manmade waterway in the Salt River Valley.

HISTORIC LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS

Approximately 30 to 40 mature cottonwood trees once lined the banks of the canal. Additional vegetation, sometimes growing in dense clusters, provided the setting for a small riparian community along the length of the ditch.  Today, one lone cottonwood tree exists at the furthest east section [SWC Old 8^th Street and Una Avenue].  This tree is considered a local landmark for the University Heights Neighborhood, as they feel a sense of pride of ownership and connection to local history through this, and other vernacular landscape elements.   

INTEGRITY

The Kirkland-McKinney Ditch retains a good degree of integrity.  “This canal represents a unique and rare example or early waterway construction.  It is important and highly significant and should be protected and preserved.”  [MRA, #232]

SIGNIFICANCE

The subject property meets the following criteria for designation, as found in section 14A-4 [a] of the Tempe City Code.

1.             It meets the criteria listing on the Arizona or National Register of Historic Places;

2a.          It is found to be of exceptional significance and expresses a distinctive character, resulting from:

§         A significant portion of it is at least 50 years old

§         It is reflective of the city’s cultural, social, political or event significant in local, state or national history.