Hurricane Irrigation Canal, State Route 15 Vicinity, Hurricane, Washington County, UT
Significance: When an expanding population created a demand for more farmland, the residents of the narrow Virgin River valley turned to the Hurricane Bench, a broad expanse of fertile land requiring only water to transform it into productive farmland. Proposals to bring water to the benchland appeared as early as 1874, but it was not until 1893 that construction of an irrigation system began. Built completely by hand, the seven-and-one-half mile canal clings to the sheer walls of the canyon of the Virgin River before turning south to follow the Hurricane fault, and then encircles the flat lands of the Hurricane Bench. When completed, the canal brought water to 2,000 acres of dry bench and created the now-successful farming village of Hurricane, Utah.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-8
Survey number: HAER UT-17
Building/structure dates: 1893- 1904 Initial Construction