John "Jack" Swilling
1 Apr 1830 - 12 Aug 1878
bornSouth Carolina, USA
diedYuma, Arizona, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyA former miner and a wagon driver for John Y. T. Smith, Swilling was the trailblazer who led the way by building the first "American" canal in the Salt River Valley. In late 1867 he came to the Valley with a group of men from Wickenburg, and formed a canal company to build a canal on the north bank of the Salt River. He was a foreman on the McKinney-Kirkland Ditch, Tempe's first canal, in 1870. On December 17, 1870, he was reported to be "over on the other side of the river with a party of men laying out the Hayden Ditch." Along with B. W. Hardy and others, he formed the Hardy Irrigating Canal Company on December 6, 1870 to expand the Kirkland-McKinney Ditch and provide water for another farming venture south of the river. Eight weeks later, on January 28, 1871, the company was reorganized as the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company. In 1871, as a partner in the company, he bought two shares of stock for $200 with an option to buy eight more shares at the same price, and later acquired 23 shares of stock. He left the Tempe Irrigating Canal Co. after a year and later joined John Olvaney and Co. in filing a claim in Pima to10,000 inches of water for farming, mining, and milling in the Pueblo Viejo Valley near Solomonville.
Died in Yuma Territorial Prison.
BIO-Swilling
TH-231
HPS-232
Lamb, Historical Overview of Tempe
Solliday, Journey to Rio Salado, pp. 50, 59, 61, 64, 69
Rosales, "Lost Land in Salt River Valley"
Person TypeIndividual
