The Swilling Legacy

Each year thousands of people come to the Salt River Valley, some to visit and some to live. They see a thriving, growing community. But like many who have spent most, or all, of their lives there, they don't know much about the Valley's origins or how it developed. The men and women who built the Valley were like today's people. They were trying to improve their own condition. In doing that, they contributed to the well-being of one another. Jack Swilling was one of them. Swilling organized the first modern irrigating canal company more than a century ago. Water was then, and is today, the essential element around which everything in the Valley is built. Yet, many important decisions about water remain to be made today and will need to be made in the future. Knowing something about how we got where we are today may contribute to making the right decisions tomorrow. Earl Zarbin's interest in the water history of the Salt River Valley and his research into the subject led to the articles in this booklet. They were first published in The Arizona Republic, where he worked for 30 years before early retirement at the end of 1988.