Water, Water: Jalisco hacienda aqueducts

One of the most common needs for transporting water in colonial Mexico was to supply the burgeoning haciendas—cattle and grain haciendas in the early days and more industrial uses in later colonial times: sugar and agave plantations, and for haciendas de beneficio in mining areas.

The aqueduct was an essential component of these often complex water systems. In this post we focus on just three of numerous abandoned aqueducts in Jalisco, in most cases originally built to serve the tequila haciendas of the region.

Hacienda aqueduct beside Laguna La Vega 
(formerly Laguna Teuchtitlan, west of Guadalajara;
like Lake Chapala, invaded by water hyacinth)

Hacienda de Teuchtitlan, aqueduct arcade

ex-Hacienda La Toluquilla
(near Concepción de Buenos Aires, south of Lake Chapala)

ex-Hacienda La Toluquilla, the 17th century stone aqueduct

Hacienda San Juan de Los Arcos
(near Tala just southwest of Guadalajara)

Hacienda San Juan de Los Arcos, noted for its lofty arcades

text © 2013 Richard Perry. Photographs courtesy of Jim Cook
*check out Jim Cook's blog for more on the haciendas of Jalisco*

More pictures of the old aqueducts of Jalisco 

For more information on the colonial arts and architecture of Jalisco, 

consult our guidebook, Blue Lakes & Silver Cities