Construction of canals and irrigation systems and clearing rivers of
obstructions to navigation began to interest the State of Texas to such
an extent after 1870 that legislation was enacted to encourage these
activities.
The main reason for this interest was the speedy, direct transportation
which canals and rivers could provide. Railroads were only then
beginning to stretch their steel fingers across the state, and Texans
still needed other ways to get themselves and their goods from one place
to another.
On February 22, 1875, the Capital Canal Company was organized to dig a
canal from Marble Falls to Austin—a distance of about 40 miles—and the
company was to be granted 20 sections of land for each mile of canal.
General Land Office files indicate that the canal, if constructed, was
never paid for in land grants.
A general act designed to encourage construction of canals and
irrigation ditches was passed on August 21, 1876. The legislation
provided that contractors who dug canals or irrigation ditches at least
two miles in length could receive from two to eight sections of land,
depending upon the size of the passage.
Most of the land granted for these purposes went for irrigation ditches.
Earlier, on June 2, 1873, the Legislature allowed four sections of land
for each mile of the Trinity River that was cleared of snags and sand
bars.