They described the area inhabited by native Americans as having "spreading meadows, where there is sufficient irrigable land for two good settlements.
They not only were small but also contained little irrigable land or water rights.
The city was strategically situated of major ports northwest and northeast, it was surrounded by irrigable and fertile land.
And that is only one quarter of potentially irrigable land.
Each parcel got three types of land: "pasture", "irrigable"; and "bay".
It sold irrigable land and advised settlers in the best farming and irrigation methods.
Within the irrigation area, the higher water table combined with high evaporation rates has caused salinization, which has already ruined half of the irrigable land.
Thompson also devised a survey instrument used during geographical operations to provide measurements that could be used in determining the irrigable land.
The size of the catchment area was calculated, the water flow was measured and estimates made of the potential irrigable land.
The area under irrigation grew from under 500,000 hectares in the mid-1960s to 1.5 million hectares in 2009, almost half of the potentially irrigable land.