Zanja Madre

The Zanja Madre (English: "Mother Ditch") is the original aqueduct that brought water to the Pueblo de Los Angeles from the Río Porciuncula (Los Angeles River). The original open, earthen ditch was completed by community laborers within a month of founding the pueblo. This water system was used for both domestic uses and irrigation to fields west of town. This availability of water was essential to the survival and growth of the community founded here. 3-to-3.5-foot diameter brick conduits (0.91 to 1.07 m) were built to improve the system after 1884. Eventually the system did not supply enough water to keep pace with population growth and irrigation demand. The system was abandoned by 1904 though portions were still used for storm water purposes.

The recent construction and grading along the Metro Gold Line and several projects in Chinatown have created a major archaeological interest in its latest "rediscovery" and possible preservation.

The Pueblo de Los Angeles, formally named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles sobre el Rio Porciuncula", was an official settlement of Spain. They had three types of settlements in Alta California: presidio (military), mission (religious) and pueblo (civil). The pueblos would provide the commercial and agricultural needs of the military as an alternative to the missions. Governor Felipe de Neve took the assignment of creating this settlement very seriously and had elaborate plans drawn up outlining the details of its infrastructure. The plan included a governmental directive for the provision of water to be delivered to the settlement, stating, "there should be examined all the lands which may receive the benefit of irrigation, marking the place most proper to divert the water, so that it may be allotted to the largest portion of lands." It was also directed that the pueblo be placed on moderately elevated ground so that all the agricultural lands benefiting from the irrigation could be overlooked. This would mean that the supply head would have to be at yet higher ground.

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