Modesto Snapshots: Irrigation Canal

Canals and waterways were built when dams, such as La Grange Dam, were established as part of the Irrigation Act in the late 1890s. Pictured above is a canal gate, part of an early canal, bringing water to the parched land of the Central Valley. The advent of irrigation changed the type of crops that could be grown in the Modesto area, and orchards and vineyards began to flourish where only wheat grew before.