In the 1890s, Mormon settlers decided to open the arid east side of Hurricane to farming by diverting water from the Virgin River. The obstacle was a ridge of solid rock. With no mechanised equipment, they dug through it by hand — a project that took nine years and produced an 11-kilometre canal carved entirely with hand tools.
The Hurricane Canal still runs along the cliffside east of town, and sections are visible from the road. A historical marker explains the construction story: the labourers worked in shifts, blasting and chipping their way through basalt and sandstone while also building homes and farming to survive. The canal made the east bench farmable and is the reason the town exists where it does. It is not a dramatic sight, but the engineering stubbornness it represents is genuinely impressive.