Elephant Butte Historic District
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The Elephant Butte Historic District, a
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
in the Elephant Butte, New Mexico, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The district included 30
contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...
, 10
contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...
and 34 contributing sites on , as well as numerous non-contributing resources. It includes the
Elephant Butte Dam Elephant Butte Dam or Elephant Butte Dike, originally Engle Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The dam impounds Elephant Butte Reservoir, which is used mainly for agriculture but also provides ...
, which was completed in 1916, and resources associated with its construction such as buildings and roads, and including even garbage dumps from that era which were later themselves recognized as archeological sites for studying the construction era. It includes developments during the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
era, which created and expanded power generation and recreation opportunities associated with the dam. The district runs roughly along
New Mexico State Road 51 State Road 51 (NM 51) is a state highway in the US state of New Mexico. Its total length is approximately . NM 51's western terminus is at Business routes of Interstate 25#New Mexico, Interstate 25 Business (I-25 Bus.) in Truth or Conse ...
from the dam to Mescal Canyon and along
New Mexico State Road 52 New Mexico State Road 52 (NM 52) is an approximately 88.6 mi (142.6 km) long state highway in Socorro County in the state of New Mexico. It runs approximately north–south. Its northern terminus is near the Very Large Array at U.S. ...
from Ash Canyon to Long Ridge. The dam itself is important for its effect on agriculture and life in its area and down the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
valley in both the U.S. and Mexico. The construction of the dam allowed early season water runoff to be stored until needed for agricultural purposes, and addressed water rights claims by Mexico which had come into contention when water supply dropped due to diversions in the U.S. and due to the changing environment. Runoff peaked earlier each year due to deforestation in the upper reaches of the watershed, and was unusable for agriculture which needed water later in the growing seasons. The United States disputed the Mexican claims, but eventually proceeded nonetheless with the dam project and with guarantees of water for Mexico as well as for agricultural areas in southern New Mexico and west Texas. A site lower far downriver, at the El Paso narrows, was considered for a dam, but would have flooded a large area of the lower Mesilla Valley and would have interfered with railway and other transportation. Also a private dam project only 1,500 feet upstream from the final Elephant Butte dam site was in the works, but was eventually stymied by legal issues. The project raised funds from British investors in 1894, and had permission of the U.S. Department of the Interior. It was eventually blocked by the U.S. Secretary of State, Olney, on basis of a technicality that the Rio Grande was arguably a navigable river and permission from the War Department was also needed. Court cases delayed the project, and after an injunction against building the dam was lifted in 1897, the project failed to proceed, and the investors lost their rights to the dam site in 1903. Studies determined that water supply from a dam at Elephant Butte could meet demands of all irrigation projects in the U.S. and Mexico, and in 1906 the U.S. agreed to water rights for Mexico of 60,000 acre-feet per year, despite the U.S. not admitting Mexico's claims. The project was an important precedent. Before this, the U.S. government had mostly given up waterways' control to states; here, the U.S. government found legal mechanisms to take back control. These were applied elsewhere and forever changed balance of power between the federal government and states. With


References

{{National Register of Historic Places Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in Sierra County, New Mexico Buildings and structures completed in 1916 Pueblo Revival architecture in New Mexico