The Carlsbad Irrigation District, also known as Carlsbad Reclamation Project or Irrigation system of the Pecos Irrigation and Improvement Company, is a major early water reclamation project located near

Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: *Carlsbad, California, United States *Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States *Carlsbad, Texas, United States *Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa ...

in southeastern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

. Begun in the 1880s, it is now managed by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

, and provides irrigation water to a large area around Carlsbad, diverted from the

Pecos River The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico ...

and the Black River. The late 19th and early 20th-century elements of the project were designated a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

in 1964. and

History and description

The city of Carlsbad is located in the northern reaches of the

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lowe ...

. In order to work this area agriculturally settlers arriving in the late 19th century turned to irrigation to provide water for their crops. By the late 1880s, this resulted in a patchwork of private canals irrigating small patches of land. Charles B. Eddy and Pat Garrett, two local ranchers and businessmen, hatched the idea of a larger and more organized corporate-run irrigation system to serve the entire lower Pecos River valley. The project got underway in 1889, when construction began on the

Avalon Dam Avalon Dam is a small dam on the Pecos River about north of Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States. The dam is a storage and regulating reservoir, and diverts water into the main canal of the Carlsbad Project, an irrigation scheme. Location The Pe ...

, which now serves as a diversion and regulation point for the system. In 1893 the Avalon Dam had to be rebuilt after its destruction in a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...

, and the McMillan Dam was built further upriver as a major storage facility. The Avalon Dam was once again destroyed by flooding in 1903, sending the system into effective bankruptcy. It was then taken over by the

, which completed reconstruction of the Avalon Dam in 1907, and has overseen the project since. The Carlsbad Irrigation District was founded in 1932 and assumed operations of the project in 1949.https://www.usbr.gov/projects/pdf.php?id=93 The system has since then been augmented by the

Brantley Dam Brantley Dam is a flood-control and irrigation water-storage dam on the Pecos River in Eddy County, New Mexico, about north of Carlsbad, New Mexico, and upstream from Avalon Dam. Background In the 1960s, the McMillan Reservoir was silting up, r ...

, which now serves as its primary storage, and a dam on the Black River near Malaga that provides additional capacity in that area. In addition to the two major dams, the district manages the major canals that distribute water to users, and the various gatehouses that control water flow. Its offices are located in the First Bank of Eddy building in downtown Carlsbad.

References

External links

Carlsbad Irrigation District WebSiteCarlsbad Project
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* * * * * * * * * * {{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in New Mexico Geography of Eddy County, New Mexico Water supply infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places 1887 works Irrigation Districts of the United States Local government in New Mexico Historic American Engineering Record in New Mexico Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in Eddy County, New Mexico

History and description

See also

References

External links