Upper Labor Acequia

Upper Labor Acequia. . Early Residents Irrigated Their Crops with water channeled from the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek through hand-dug acequias. The complex network of irrigation ditches begun in 1719 provided water to the area's five missions and surrounding settlements. As the population grew more farmland was needed, and the last acequia was commissioned in 1776 to irrigate the "upper farm" -formally named Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows). The Upper Labor Acequia, completed in 1778, provided water to narrow tracts of farmland west of the river. Tracing the Upper Labor's route today, the irrigation channel began just below Hildebrand Avenue, ran through property now occupied by the San Antonio Zoo, and continued past this site along North St. Mary's Street before turning west near Tobin Hill and eventually emptying into San Pedro Creek. Though a portion of the acequia was modified to carry flood waters in 1875, the Upper Labor continued to serve its original purpose until it was closed in the 1890s., Captions , Lower Left: When the San Antonio Zoo opened in 1914, its site included a portion of the Upper Labor Acequia. The channel was stone lined in the late 1930s by the Works Projects Administration (WPA) and became part of the zoo's waterfowl exhibit. , Photo: Maria Watson Pfeiffer, San Antonio. , Lower Middle: The Upper Labor Acequia followed a winding course to the south and west of Brackenridge Park. Lateral ditches (desagues) such as this one in the River Road neighborhood branched from the main channel to carry water to surrounding fields. , Photo: Fred N. Pfeiffer, San Antonio. , Lower Right: The Upper Labor Acequia generally followed the route of today's North St. Mary's Street in Brackenridge Park. This area was divided into narrow tracts of irrigated farmland that extended from the ditch to the river as illustrated on this 1875 map. , Courtesy: San Antonio Municipal Archives, Office of the City Clerk.