In December 1888, Thomas P. Cottam and Thomas Judd made a preliminary survey to determine the probable cost of a canal, and early in 1889 Isaac C. MacFarlane made a working survey that led to construction as soon as it was completed. In June 1889, the La Verkin Fruit and Nursery Company was incorporated to establish nurseries, orchards, and vineyards and to promote fruit raising, stock raising, and general farming, all of which would benefit from the canal. Building the canal was difficult: it leaves the Virgin River on the north side about two and one-half miles above the La Verkin hot springs, follows precipitous canyon walls for about a mile and a half, then enters a tunnel through the mountains for about nine hundred feet before opening onto the La Verkin bench. Because most of the canal was built in rock, the builders believed it was completely secure, but in the first years patches of gypsum in the ditch rock constantly melted away in both the canyon and the tunnel. Lack of water when it was most needed threatened to make the project a complete loss. Leaks were plugged with rocks and then pulled with dirt, and cotton lint from the Washington Factory, straw, and bagasse were used without much success. Finally, the worst places were flumed with lumber, making the water supply more certain. For western pioneers, water was vital, and the La Verkin canal became an extremely difficult but successful solution to that problem.