Ivins was born out of the fulfilled dream of several men to bring water to the Santa Clara bench. An eight-mile canal had to be built from the Santa Clara creek near the Shem smelter to the bench. This was a major undertaking because the route took them over steep mountain sides and through deep ravines that needed to be siphoned or flumed. Work began in 1911 and the canal was completed in 1914. The Ivins Reservoir was built to store the water in 1918. Civil engineers Leo A. Snow and Clarence S. Jarvis first conceived the idea in 1909.