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Water ~ Barter ~ Shelter ~ Food ~ Dig Box ~ City Life ~ Mission & Rancho Life

Mission Dam about 1874

The Importance of Water

Finding enough water to drink has always been a problem in San Diego. There is just not enough rain in our desert-like climate to give our rivers much water. Kumeyaay and later Spanish explorers and settlers had to gather water in special clay pots called ollas and in buckets made of leather, and carried the water to where it was used by people or animals. Places where there was more water were the first places that people lived. Sometimes the rivers dried up, and the people had to move away.

For the Kumeyaay, moving was easy. They just left their old home and built a new home from bark and grass when they found food or water. Spanish priests and soldiers who lived on Presidio Hill had a long way to carry their water from the river. It was dry and windy at the top of Presidio Hill, which made it very hard to grow food for the people. The priests soon got tired of working so hard to grow food on Presidio Hill, and moved the mission six miles up the river to be closer to water.

Things to see and do:

  1. Why do you think it was easier to get water to the gardens and animals at the new location for the mission?
  2. Lift the bucket filled with rocks. This is how much one gallon of water weighs. Does it feel heavy to you? Would you like to carry this bucket up a big hill many times every day?
  3. The exhibit has cards describing important activities:
    • wash clothes
    • give to animals
    • build houses
    • take a bath
    • grow crops
    • drink it
    • wash the floor
    • make clothes
    • wash dishes
    • start cooking fire
    • make candles
  4. Choose those that require water.
  5. If you only had a little bit of water, which two or three things would you choose to do?
  6. What would it be like to live in a place where some of these things were not done? Would it smell bad? Would things be dirtier? Would plants or animals die?
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