Presented by Dr. Jose Rivera, Professor Emeritus of Community and Regional Planning University of New Mexico
The water mills of New Mexico played a major role in the agricultural economy of the Río Arriba for centuries following the introduction of wheat from the Old World to the Americas. Wheat, in its ground form as flour, was a staple during the Spanish colonial period. To process raw wheat, local grist mills (molinos) were essential infrastructure as were the acequias (irrigation ditches) that powered them. Situated near the banks of rivers, the internal components of each mill were driven by the gravity force of water from an acequia, itself diverted from the river. Researchers have documented the existence of several hundred molinos spread throughout northcentral New Mexico with references in the early 1600s at the first capital city, San Gabriel. While most fell into disuse by the late 1930s, a few continued in service until the 1940s and 1950s. The last molino operated into 1975 and another was relocated to the Rancho de las Golondrinas where it grinds wheat at a harvest festival to the present day.
José A. Rivera holds degrees in English Literature from New Mexico Highlands University and the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University. He spent his academic career at the University of New Mexico teaching courses in public administration, water resources, and community and regional planning. In the area of research, he has published articles on community acequias of the Río Grande with a focus on social organization, governance, and global connections. His books include Acequia Culture-Water, Land and Community in the Southwest (University of New Mexico Press 1998) with a translated edition in Spain by the University of Valencia, La Cultura de la Acequia in 2009. Also, La Sociedad-Guardians of Hispanic Culture Along the Rio Grande, (University of New Mexico Press 2010), The Zanjeras of Ilocos-Cooperative Irrigation Societies in the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University Press 2020) and a co-edited anthology with Enrique R. Lamadrid, Water for the People: The Acequia Heritage of New Mexico in a Global Context (University of New Mexico Press 2023).
