The water for Sahuaro Ranch came by gravity flow from the Arizona Canal, located about two miles to the north. It was carried from the canal by a ditch on 59th Avenue known as Lateral 18 and then flowed onto the ranch through smaller ditches such as the one seen here.

Originally these ditches were dirt, and it was not until the 1950s that they were lined with concrete. Gates, and later valves, were used to control the flow of water from one field or orchard to the next. Some of these controls can be seen around the ranch in concrete boxes. The ranch's orchards and lawns were irrigated by flooding, with berms (raised dirt barriers) keeping the water in place. The fields were irrigated by directing the water into the furrows - a more efficient method than flooding. In later years the water was lifted from the ditches into the furrows using rubber siphon hoses, some of which can be seen on the ranch grounds.

ON THE RANCH TODAY
Sahuaro Ranch is still irrigated with water from the Arizona Canal, but Lateral 18 is now an underground pipe rather than an open ditch. Many of the irrigation ditches on the ranch have also been replaced by buried pipes.