Briggs Reservoir was a relic of an early agricultural experiment, the first underground irrigation system in the Central Valley. Davisville pioneer George Gregg Briggs built the structure to irrigate several hundred acres of orchards and vineyards. By 1880 the system included ten miles of twelve-inch main line concrete pipe and 200 miles of distributing pipe, fed by water pumped with gasoline engines from the concrete reservoirs. The pipes silted up and the system was abandoned by 1900, but the reservoir remained in use for agriculture and was a popular swimming hole for decades.