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Balmorhea Project
State: Texas
Region: Upper Colorado Basin Region
Related Documents
Balmorhea Project History (45 KB)
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Mountain Snowpack Maps for Colorado, Rio Grande, and Arkansas Rivers
Reclamation's Upper Colorado Region Water Operations
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General
Bureau features have included the acquisition of Phantom Lake Spring, construction of Phantom Lake Canal and Inlet Feeder Canal, and the reconstruction of Madera Diversion Dam. The Balmorhea Project furnishes a supplemental irrigation water supply to 10,608 irrigable acres within the Reeves County Water Improvement District No.1 that extends 4 miles north and 11 miles south of Balmorhea, Texas. This area is on both sides of Toyah Creek, which flows northeasterly into the Pecos River. The district facilities were originally developed by private interests.
History
The project area is part of a broad expanse of plains intersected by widely separated mountain ranges and stream channels, most of which are dry for long periods every year. This region has been used almost entirely for production of cattle and sheep, but contains small irrigated areas that produce feeds for livestock. Irrigation in the Madera Valley dates back to 1870, when vegetables and feed crops were produced for troops and livestock at nearby Fort Davis. After 1880, irrigation expanded rapidly, but reached its peak in 1909 when the area to be irrigated exceeded the water supply. In 1909, the Toyah Valley Irrigation Company was organized by consolidating several small, active canal systems. The local irrigators reorganized in 1914-15 under the name of the Reeves County Irrigation District, which was changed to the Reeves County Water Improvement District No. 1 in 1917. Local interests constructed the Lower Parks Reservoir in 1917. The Reeves County Water Improvement District No. 1 constructed the Madera Diversion Dam across Madera Creek near Toyahvale to augment its water supply. The district's primary source of water is the San Solomon Spring and the smaller Griffen, Saragosa, and West Sandia Springs. The district also makes a small diversion at the Saragosa Diversion from Toyah Creek
Construction
Construction of additional facilities and the reconstruction of Madera Diversion Dam were started in August 1946 and completed in 1947. The first water from the additional facilities was delivered on June 12, 1947. Principal crops are cotton, alfalfa, pasture, oats, and barley. Phantom Lake Springs supports two federally listed endangered fish species, the Comanche Springs pupfish and the Pecos gambusia. In recent years, flows from Phantom Lake Spring have declined seriously as a result of extended drought conditions and groundwater withdrawals in the surrounding area. In 1993, Reclamation constructed a refugia next to the spring to provide additional habitat and protection for these and other species. This small wetlands has resulted in an increased use of the area by a wide variety of native wildlife. The Trans-Pecos region of western Texas is an often inhospitable place of creosote, cactus and hardscrabble earth. Tall mesas of the country eventually yield to sloping lands leading up to the Davis Mountains, a volcanic fortress of high desert mountains above 8,000 feet. Once, numerous natural springs and watering holes existed here, lying between mesquite, acacia, tarbush, and tobosa grass. The springs quenched the thirst of Native Americans, Spanish expeditions, and countless 20th century travellers. Since 1870, a series of springs, fed by tributary streams running to the Pecos River, have served as the basis for irrigation in the Madera Valley. The springs supplied the needs of 19th century soldiers, and more recently played an important role as part of Franklin Roosevelt's program to increase food production for World War II. Reclamation's Balmorhea Project was designed to improve the production and efficiency of the valley's old irrigation system. The Balmorhea Project provides supplemental irrigation to some 10,600 acres extending four miles above and eleven miles below the town of Balmorhea, Texas, along Toyah Creek. The lands lie almost exclusively within Reeves County.(1)Balmorhea is located in the Madera Valley of deep west Texas, 175 miles southeast of El Paso, 75 miles south of the Texas-New Mexico border. The Main Canal of the project snakes seven miles from west to east, connecting along the way the settlements of Toyahvale, Balmorhea, Brogada, and Saragosa. Two transportation arteries cross the project, U.S. Highway 290, and the Pecos Valley Southern Railroad. U.S. Highway 290 became U.S. Interstate 10 in the 1970's, prompting local irrigators to relocate a small portion of the canal system, where it intersected the highway. The Madera is a long, narrow valley of lower cretaceous limestones overlain with gravels. It serves as the principal intake area for a large underground reservoir which surfaces as artesian springs including San Solomon and Giffin, at Toyahvale, four miles southwest of Balmorhea, and Phantom Lake Spring, three miles west of Toyahvale. Underground seep springs supplement the water supply of San Solomon and other artesian flows - at Saragosa(2), West Sandia, and East Sandia Springs. Saragosa Spring lies along the Main Canal two miles northeast of Toyahvale. East and West Sandia Springs lie less than a mile east of Balmorhea.(3) San Solomon Spring has long been a popular oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert. From 1935 to 1938, the spring was the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. The Corps dredged the site and built a rock and mortar retainer to collect the spring flow in a natural swimming pool, 25 feet deep. The spring is now part of Balmorhea State Park, created at the end of construction in 1938. The park is very popular with scuba divers and vacationers, who want to escape the desert heat. Some 131,000 people visited the park in 1992. The CCC also built canal works from the park as part of the old irrigation system before Reclamation's arrival. Project lands straddle Toyah Creek, which winds northeasterly through the project. The Toyah is formed by the junction of the Madera, Big Aguja, and Little Aguja Creeks six miles west of Balmorhea. These small tributary headwaters form at an 8400 foot elevation in the Davis Mountains before joining the Toyah. The normally dry creek flows northeast 24 miles before forming the highly saline Toyah Lake, a few miles south of the Pecos River. Originally designed and built by private interests beginning in the late 19th century, the project was reconstructed by Reclamation, starting in 1946. Important Reclamation features of the project include Phantom Lake Canal; the Inlet Feeder Canal; and the Madera Diversion Dam, built by private interests and repaired by Reclamation.(4) The earliest suggestion of Native American presence in the Trans-Pecos came from Cabeza de Vaca, in 1535. He mentioned a tattooed people coming to his aid with gifts of skin blankets near the confluence of the Conchos and Rio Grande Rivers. These sedentary Jumanos may have farmed in the Trans-Pecos between 1200 and 1400 A.D. A nomadic group of the Jumanos ranged north from the adobe and thatch structures of their more `Pueblo` cousins near the Rio Grande. De Vaca called these Indians `the cow nation` because of their use of buffalo products obtained from herds north and east of the Davis and Chisos Mountains.(5) In November, 1582, Antonio Espejo journeyed along the Rio Grande and into the area east of Fort Davis and Balmorhea. Espejo noted that some of the native fields were irrigated using diversion ditches, while other farmers relied solely on the weather.(6)One hundred years later, in December of 1683, Juan Dominguez de Mendoza led a detachment of soldiers east from El Paso. This party encountered several Jumano rancherias as they travelled down the Rio Grande, then north into the Trans-Pecos from present day Presidio, Texas.(7) The Mescalero Apaches filtered into the Trans-Pecos in the 17th and 18th centuries, living in rancherias from spring until harvest, and hunting buffalo in fall and winter. As the Comanche forced the Apache tribes from the bison rich High Plains to the north, the Apache increasingly took refuge in the canyons and dry washes of the Trans-Pecos.(8) In the 19th century, the Trans-Pecos, including the springs of the present Balmorhea Project, was a major crossroads for trade, military expeditions, and mail delivery. In 1838, in an effort to encourage trade, American merchant D.H. Connelly and some wealthy Mexicans sponsored an expedition of 100 men to find an acceptable route across the Texas frontier to the Red River. By 1848, teamsters shipped goods from San Antonio to El Paso by way of San Solomon Spring at Balmorhea, and Comanche Springs, 30 miles to the east of project lands.(9) In 1849, Captain Randolph B. Marcy and a Comanche guide established an `Emigrant Trail`. Thousands followed this trail west from Arkansas, southwest across Texas and the Trans-Pecos frontier, and on to California. In 1857, James Leach, working for the Interior Department, lay out a wagon road following much of Marcy's route. Sponsored by Southern congressmen, the improved route was intended to provide a pro-slavery thoroughfare to the west.(10) On August 1, 1859, the Post Office Department ordered the Butterfield Overland Mail service to follow a more southerly route than the one across the Guadalupe Mountains. The new route included the forts Stockton, Davis, and Quitman, from east to west. The forts formed part of a whole line of forts stretching across the Texas frontier to protect settlements and travellers against Indian depredation.(11)In 1865, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving established the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail through the country. By 1874, some 110,000 head of cattle had passed through the Trans-Pecos on their way to Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana ranches.(12) The Madera Valley was first settled and irrigated about 1870, following the settlement of Fort Davis, south of Balmorhea, in 1853. Irrigation activities increased in order to provide feed for cattle herds in the 1880's. Irrigation expanded until 1909, when the demand outstripped the available water supply. In that year, Toyah Valley Irrigation Company organized to consolidate several small irrigation systems operating in the area. The Reeves County Irrigation District organized itself in 1914 and 1915, and purchased Toyah Valley Irrigation. Some 10,640 acres fell under the new district's authority but only 7,520 acres actually came under irrigation.(13) The District changed its name to the Reeves County Water Improvement District Number One in 1917. The District built the Madera Diversion Dam across Madera Creek, and the Madera Diversion Canal east to San Solomon Springs. The District was now able to capture Madera Creek flood flows, and divert the waters to San Solomon, where the Main Canal began. About the same time, local interests constructed the Lower Parks Dam and Renz Dike, both earthfill structures. The resulting Lower Parks Reservoir collected water from an area of some 16 square miles.(14)When Reclamation began studying the Balmorhea area in 1939, the reservoir's storage capacity was 5,200 acre-feet, down from 6,155 acre-feet in 1917, because of siltation from Toyah Creek flood flows. By 1948, following Reclamation improvements to other parts of the irrigation system, the capacity of Lower Parks was further reduced to 4,800 acre-feet.(15) Investigations for increasing the irrigation capacity and efficiency of the district began in 1939, following Congressional requests for local assistance. A report discussing three alternatives for rehabilitating the district irrigation system was completed but not issued in 1941, due to United States involvement in World war II.(16) The first alternative called for development of an adequate water supply to irrigate 10,000 acres. Reclamation planned to acquire rights to privately owned Phantom Lake Spring, enlarge Lower Parks Reservoir to a capacity of 20,000 acre-feet, and enlarge, relocate, and line the existing canal network. The second alternative was less ambitious, calling for the irrigation of 8,700 acres by acquiring the rights to Phantom Lake Spring, and enlarging the reservoir to a 14,000 acre-foot capacity. The third alternative would provide water to 7,500 acres by enlarging Lower Parks Reservoir to 14,000 acre-feet, and lining 10.5 miles of canal. The irrigators of the District rejected all three of the plans as too costly under an arranged 40-year repayment schedule with Reclamation. Consequently, Reclamation made further studies, resulting in a redrafted report in November, 1943. Like its predecessors, the plan called for enlarging Lower Parks Reservoir, this time to 18,000 acre-feet, and acquiring the rights to Phantom Lake Spring's water supply. The report also recommended lining some 21 miles of canal and extending the lateral system.(17) In 1943, food supplies became critical to the war effort, and the Balmorhea Project, among others, was revived to provide increased production. On April 15, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt approved a curtailed version of the proposed project, one which could be built in a short time without using critical materials. The project was authorized as part of the War Food Administration program under provisions of the amended Water Conservation and Utilization Act of 1939.(18) Reconstruction of the Balmorhea Project began in August 1946, and was completed in 1947. Water delivery and operation of Reclamation's new features began June 12, 1947.(19) Reclamation's first order of business was to obtain additional water for the canal system. In 1945, Reclamation purchased water rights at Phantom Lake Spring for $60,000 from the Kingston family, who owned extensive acreage in the western part of the project. The major provision in the agreement between Reclamation and the landowners called for the delivery to the Kingston lands of about seven second-feet of the spring's flow during the irrigation season, and an additional amount throughout the year, for domestic and other purposes, presumably stock watering. Altogether, some 3,337 acre-feet per year reverted to the former owners of the spring.(20) Original plans for construction of the Balmorhea Project called for labor supplied by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). WPA crews employed for 21 months would spend four of those months building a work camp for an estimated 350 men. The cost estimate of the original project before its reduction by Congress, was $942,000. This amount included $32,000 for the work camp.(21)Other more ambitious proposals for the project would have cost $4,000,000. Because project construction did not start until 1946, plans to use WPA labor were scrapped. Instead, H.B. Zachry Construction used its employees to renovate the project. Construction began in August of 1946 and was completed by June of 1947. Total cost of the project amounted to $440,000. The Water District contracted to pay back $255,600 over 40 years, with the balance of $184,400 being non-reimbursable.(22) The proposed labor required for the project included a number of skilled workers, to be paid comensurate with their position. The project's construction engineer was scheduled to receive $4,600 a year, followed in order of salary by various assistant engineers, surveyors, and draftsmen. Dragline operators were to receive $1.25 an hour, followed by tractor operators at $.70, drivers at $.65, carpenters from $.70 to $1.25, welders at $1.25, blacksmiths and powdermen at $1.00 an hour.(23) Zachry Construction began building two concrete lined canals. One would convey water from the newly acquired spring at the far western edge of the project, and the other would deliver water from the Main Canal east of San Solomon Spring, to Lower Parks Reservoir. The building of the two canals and restructuring of Madera Diversion Dam entailed hauling aggregate from as far away as the Brogada Hills, just outside the community of Brogada. The concrete and riprap on the project required the use of crushed, washed rock.(24)After the rock was crushed and washed, truck drivers carried the aggregate west from Brogada, presumably down Highway 290 which paralleled the Main Canal through project lands. Reclamation soil and water analyses taken back in 1939 revealed high quantities of sulfate in project lands. Project and Denver officials at the time presumed that the samples were not indicative of salt content throughout the project. In 1945, subsequent observation of concrete damage to District structures led to the collection of further soil and water samples. Samples collected indicated high salinity, far exceeding the 150 parts per million of sulfate dangerous to ordinary concrete. Consequently, contractors used modified, or sulfate-resistant cement at Balmorhea. Improvements at Madera Dam included placing rubble mortar masonry near the right abutment, and installing new headwork gates. Reclamation also removed old concrete paving and replaced it, as well as the stilling pool below the headworks. Reclamation graded the channel above and below the dam, and built two dikes. Even with these improvements, the dam, a concrete weir structure 13 feet high and 950 feet long, retained its original design virtually intact.(25) At Madera Dam, waters from Phantom Lake and Madera Creek joined forces in the Madera Diversion Canal as it travelled east below Toyahvale to San Solomon Spring. The District's Main Canal started its northeasterly trek at this point, with the collected waters of Phantom Lake, Madera Creek, and San Solomon Spring. The canal skirted the northern edge of Balmorhea, continuing due east through project lands. Reclamation, hoping to collect any excess spring flow and runoff during winter months, built the Inlet Feeder Canal. This structure ran 2.8 miles from the Main Canal just east of San Solomon Spring, to the Lower Parks Reservoir, about a mile southeast of Balmorhea. A previously constructed Outlet Canal released collected waters from the reservoir's easternmost edge. The Outlet Canal extended northeast to rejoin the Main Canal near Brogada and East Sandia Spring.(26) In effect, Reclamation's additions to the project created a southern loop, starting at the project's west end, proceeding to the Madera Dam, continuing to Lower Parks Reservoir, and finally rejoining the Main Canal. With construction of the Inlet Feeder Canal, water could be stored in Lower Parks Reservoir during the winter and released during summer months to supplement irrigation supplies.
Plan
The Government purchased the water rights to all flow from Phantom Lake Spring in excess of 3,262 acre feet per year. The previous owners of the water rights retained the right of diverting up to 7 cubic feet per second, limited to the 3,262 acre feet per year, for private use. Water from the spring is conveyed by Phantom Lake Canal to the district`s Main Canal near San Solomon Spring. Some spring water is delivered directly to the distribution system and some is delivered through the Inlet Feeder Canal to Lower Parks Reservoir. The distribution system was constructed by private interests during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Phantom Lake Canal extends 4.2 miles from Phantom Lake Spring to the District Main Canal in the vicinity of San Solomon Spring. The canal is concrete lined and has a capacity of 25 cubic feet per second The Inlet Feeder Canal extends 2.8 miles from the main canal of the Reeves County Water Improvement District No.1 to the Lower Parks Reservoir. This canal is concrete lined, and has a capacity of 100 cubic feet per second. Repairs were made by the Bureau of Reclamation on this dam, which was built originally by local irrigators. The repairs included placing rubble mortar masonry near the right abutment, installing new gates on the headworks, replacing concrete paving and the stilling pool below the gates, channel grading above and below the dam, and constructing two dikes. The concrete weir dam is 13 feet high and has a crest length of 950 feet. The project is operated by the Reeves County Water Improvement District No.1.
Contact
Contact
Title: Area Office ManagerOrganization: Albuquerque Area Office
Address: 555 Broadway NE, Suite 100
City: Albuquerque, NM 87102-2352
Phone: 505-462-3542
Contact
Organization: Reeves County Water Improvement District #1Address: PO Box 185
City: Balmorhea, TX 79718
Phone: 915-375-2238
Owner
Title: Public Affairs OfficerOrganization: Upper Colorado Regional Office
Address: 125 South State Street, Rm 7102
City: Salt Lake City, UT 84138-1102
Fax: 801-524-5499
Phone: 801-524-3774
