Water Flows Downhill

Each winter snow would fall in the beautiful mountains to the west of our little farming town.  That snow was our lifeblood.  Each year, warmer spring spring temperatures would begin to melt the snow.  What began as a trickle ultimately became torrents of rushing water.  That water would follow the path of least resistance as it rushed down out of the mountains, down through the foothills, and through the sagebrush covered flats to the lower plains, its lowest point.  Over time the water eroded deep washes into the flats.  A road leading from town to the mountains intersected with several of those washes and as children we loved to ride in the car through those drops and rises as fast as Dad would drive.  Our stomachs  would get queasy as we’d drop into the wash and they would feel heavy as we sped up the other side.  It was great fun.  In order to use the water more effectively, my pioneer forebears began digging ditches to channel the water from the mouth of the canyons all the way to and through town so that anyone could have access to the water.  Where the unchanneled water ran destructively to its lowest point, channeled water still flowed to its lowest point but made the desert productive because it was divided and directed.  Compared to the beauty of the desert blossoming into vast green acres of life-giving produce, the contrast of stark sagebrush covered flats untouched by the water that rushed by could not have been more compelling. The spring runoff deeply gouged the earth following the path of least resistance.  That unchanneled water produced nothing but an eroded landscape and taught me the importance of directing the water to productive ends.  It was impossible not to notice the destructive power of water left to its own ends.  Not only did I recognize this from the erosion on the flats but from irrigating the fields.  If water broke through a ditch bank at an inopportune place it could flood a freshly sown field and ruin the crop.  Waste water at the bottom of the field had to be channeled away properly to prevent water damage to the property of others.  These experiences left an impression on me.  As I look back on my life, I must admit that I resented restraint and often fought against it.  Now, I can only imagine what my life would look like had not loving and wiser people helped channel and direct me to a more productive end.