Lombardy Irrigation Ditch

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it to you straight in my own way. Back in 1868, out in Real County, a group of men took up picks and shovels, and I do mean picks and shovels, no fancy machinery, just muscle and grit, and they started digging. The Lombardy Irrigation Company was the outfit behind it, with N.

M. C. Patterson, W.

F. Smith, and T. Watkins leading the charge as its officers.

Two miles. They dug two miles of ditch through that Texas Hill Country ground, one swing at a time. Now, you might think two miles doesn't sound like much until you're the one holding the shovel.

When they were done, that ditch was channeling water out to over 800 acres of land. But here's where it gets interesting: they weren't just thinking about crops. That ditch was also furnishing the power to run a cotton gin and a whole cluster of mills: shingle, grist, and flour.

One ditch doing the work of many. Word got around, as it does in Texas, and folks started settlin' in the area. The little community that grew up there didn't have a fancy name for itself.

People just called it what it was: "The Ditch." Honest. Practical. Very Texas.

That name held until 1875, when a post office came along and somebody decided the place deserved something a little more dignified. They named it Rio Frio, Cold River. Now that's a name with some poetry to it.

And here's the part that ought to stop you for a moment. By the time that marker was put down in 1968, a full century after those men broke ground, the ditch was still irrigating the lands of families descended from two of those original company officers. A hundred years.

Same ditch. Same families. Some things, when they're built right, just keep on going.

What the marker says

Dug in 1868, in pick-and-shovel operation, by Lombardy Irrigation Company, whose officers were N. M. C. Patterson, W. F. Smith, and T. Watkins. Besides channeling water to irrigate over 800 acres, the 2-mile ditch furnished power for a cotton gin and shingle, grist, and flour mills. The settlement which grew up in the area was known as "The Ditch" until a post office was established in 1875. It was then named "Rio Frio" ("Cold River"). For a century the ditch has irrigated lands of families of two original company officers. (1968)