WEBVTT - Thirsty 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.440 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.160 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:36.960 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Water. 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.320 It's one of the most essential resources around. Most of 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.760 our bodies and most of the planets are made up 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.360 of it. Nowadays, we take water for granted, very literally. 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.919 You turn on the tap and water flows indefinitely. It 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.640 never crosses your mind that there is a finite amount. 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.640 The sky is blue, the earth is round, and water 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.760 comes out of a faucet. Our ancient ancestors used to 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.319 spend every day of their life ensuring that they had 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.679 access to clean water. They developed ingenious methods for supplying it, 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.840 methods that have shaped our modern world more than we realize. 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.800 Four thousand years ago, for example, an ancient people began 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.720 to make their way north from the Maya civilization in Mexico. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.399 Their entire worldview was different. They had no concept of 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.800 how big the earth is or their place in it, 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.800 no scientific method to give them answers to where the 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.399 weather comes from or what it might be like one 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.440 day after the next. And the Sonoran Desert where they 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.200 were headed, is not an ideal place to live. There 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.080 is so little moisture there that everything has evolved to 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.440 protect what little water it can get. The cacti will 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.600 prick you, and the rattlesnakes will poison you. There's an 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.920 insect there known as the tarantula hawk that's basically a 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:49.240 massive wasp with orange wings. It sting is the most 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.960 painful of any insect on the planet. It will leave 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.600 you in such excruciating pain that you won't be able 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.120 to form a coherent thought for five whole minutes, which 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.760 of course will feel like five out. So naturally, our 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.320 desert people stuck to the Salt and Ghia rivers, and 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.480 they thrived. They traded with other ancient people in Mexico 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.120 and southern California and formed an empire. But as their 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.080 population grew into the tens of thousands, they could no 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.800 longer confine themselves to the river banks. They had to 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.160 venture further into the desert. Now, given the dangers we've discussed, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.280 one would think that they might have just tried some 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.680 population control. We all know that humans aren't great at that, though, 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.880 so instead they began to dig. They dug canals fifteen 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.240 feet deep and forty five feet wide, lengthening the rivers 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.440 further into the desert. When the water flow was too weak, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.680 they narrowed the canals, creating a pressure. When it was 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.320 too strong, they widened the canals. And they did this 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.800 for over one thousand miles, making adjustments for every hill 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:52.200 and valley. Soon their civilization numbered as much as eighty thousand, 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:57.480 and then just like that, they disappeared. Hundreds of years later, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.760 a new civilization arrived in the desert, American settlers looking 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.040 for gold. One of those settlers, a man named Jack Swilling, 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.519 stumbled across a massive underground ditch while he was working 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.360 his gold claim. He realized that it went on for miles, 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.320 eventually connecting to a river. So with the help of 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.760 sixteen other miners, he dug out the canals and reconnected 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.000 them to the Salt River. Soon he had water flowing 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.800 again in the desert, allowing for thousands of miners to 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:28.240 drink from the canals and grow crops. Darryl Dupa, an 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:30.600 English lord who had come to settle in the area 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.760 was moved by the site of this new civilization born 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.920 out of ancient canals. He took it all in and said, 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.800 a city will rise Phoenix, like new and beautiful from 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:46.080 the ashes of the past. And so Phoenix, Arizona was born. Today, 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.240 Phoenix continues to get its water from improved versions of 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.320 the same canals dug by the ancient Sonorans. They are 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.000 now called the Johokum, a word from the more modern 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:59.040 Pima Native Americans that means those who have vanished, and 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.560 Arizonans do well to remember that name and its meaning, 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.560 because as much as the Johokum civilization flourished, it ended 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.480 just as quickly, and the prevailing theory is that they 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.000 moved on after they finally ran out of their most 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:17.039 valuable resource, water. The canals are susceptible to drought, and 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.440 Arizona has experienced one for fifteen years. Though modern advances 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.719 allow for greater water pumping and storage, the system is 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.480 experiencing more strains than ever, and in our modern world, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.719 various corporate interests compete for the water on top of 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.120 what has already needed to sustain the local lives. Today, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.320 Phoenix is the fifth largest city in America. But if 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.839 its occupants don't learn from history, their city, risen from 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.560 the ashes of the past, will be reclaimed by the 0:04:44.560 --> 0:05:03.160 desert where the rattlesnakes and the tarantula hawks are waiting. Officially, 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.280 then national drink of England is tea. But if you've 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.560 spent any time in the United Kingdom, then you know 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.960 that another beverage reigns supreme in the hearts of many Brits, 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.679 a drink that causes millions to race to the nearest 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.200 watering hole every day at quitting time. I'm talking, of course, 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.400 about beer. Yes, the British loved their pints and have 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.039 for centuries. In the sixteen hundreds, beer was almost more 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:30.680 popular than water, which was easily contaminated, especially in urban areas. 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.560 The brewing process killed a lot of the bacteria that 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.799 made water dangerous at the time. As a result, beer 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.839 was seen as not just more nutritious, but also healthier, 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.440 and according to a lot of people, it just plain 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.839 tasted better too. It wasn't uncommon for working men to 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.000 have a beer with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Many would 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.880 average eight to ten beers a day. This drinking habit 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.000 became a major problem in sixteen oh seven, when one 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.320 hundred and four English settlers crossed the Atlantic to establish 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.800 the colony of Jamestown. Upon their arrival, one of the 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.120 colonists first acts was to establish a town brewery. But 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.560 simply erecting a building didn't do them much good because 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.200 none of them actually knew how to brew. You see, 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.240 virtually all of the initial colonists were men, and in 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.680 the seventeenth century, brewing was a task that had been 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.480 traditionally done by women, often in their own home kitchens, 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.600 and it wasn't the only skill the colonists lacked. Most 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.520 of them couldn't sew, cook, bake bread, or make cheese, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.120 all of which were essential skills for basic living. So 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.280 as the months passed, their food stores waned and their 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.919 clothes became more threadbare and ragged. Without female companions, many 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.520 of the colonists became lonely, even depressed, and yet one 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.359 of their most consistent complaints was the frustratingly poor supplies 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.120 of beer. Within a few years, men were abandoning the 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.120 colonies in droves. England was on the verge of giving 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.400 up on the whole venture altogether, but Sir Edwin Sandy's 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.719 of the Virginia Company convinced them to give it one 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.640 more shot. They would send another ship of colonists to Jamestown. 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.559 Only this one would not carry men, but young women, 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.600 all eligible brides who hopefully would marry the existing colonists 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.920 and save Jamestown front collapse. Now, as you might expect, 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.440 the company had a hard time finding women willing to 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.760 give up their lives in England and make the trip. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.040 To convince them, the company offered to pay the women's dowries, 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.480 allowing poorer women to move up the social ladder. But 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.440 they couldn't just send anyone. The company sought out young 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.160 women who had the skills that the male colonists lacked, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.679 and one of the most important skills they were looking 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.320 for was the ability to brew beer. The first ship 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.520 of roughly one hundred women arrived in sixteen twenty, with 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.920 more to follow soon. The next year, the colonists planted 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.239 their first crop of hops, a crucial ingredient in beer 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:51.680 and ale. After fourteen years, the Jamestown colonists were finally 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.760 on their way to a functional brewing industry. But the 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.880 road before them wasn't easy. They lacked many of the 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.160 ingredients typically used in English beverages, and warm summers made 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.080 brewing alcohol difficult in general to get by, the female 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.560 brewers had to be incredibly creative. Instead of barley, they 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.400 used whatever vegetables they could get their hands on, things 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.960 like corn, pumpkin, molasses, ivy, and even common weeds. They 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:23.080 experimented constantly, creating complex recipes involving ginger root, sage, rye, 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.560 and more. The resulting drinks had little in common with 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.360 English beer, but they did the trick. The brewing industry blossomed, 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:34.599 and by seventeen seventy the American colonies were awash with alcohol, 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.520 with the most popular drinks being cider, rum and beer. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.959 Now that changed in seventeen seventy five with the start 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.840 of the American Revolution. Beer was still associated with England 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.800 and drinking it was suddenly viewed as unpatriotic. In its place, 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.160 whiskey rose to become the most popular form of alcohol. 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:57.000 Everything comes full circle, though, and today beer is back 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.720 on top as America's favorite alcoholic beverage. Cracking a cold 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.319 one on July fourth is once again a patriotic pastime, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.640 so long as your beer of choice is brewed in 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:14.559 the good old us of a. I hope you've enjoyed 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.320 today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.120 free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:26.240 by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.600 by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.120 I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.640 a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.560 learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.800 And until next time, stay curious.