By 1874 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had begun to settle in the Paria Valley east of Bryce Canyon. Arid conditions gave rise to a plan to divert water 10 miles (16 km) from the East Fork of the Sevier River to the cliffs of Bryce Canyon and down into the valley. Approximately 40 men, digging with hand tools, began work in 1889. On May 23, 1892 their work was completed, and water from the plateau flowed down through Water Canyon. The canal would become known as the Tropic Ditch, taking its name from the new town whose future this precious water secured.