History and Dam Construction
Elephant Butte Dam, constructed between 1911 and 1916, with the reservoir fill started in 1915, was a major engineering feat in its day. The enormous concrete dam is the major feature of the Elephant Butte National Register Historic District. New Mexico State Parks operates a visitor center that contains information on the construction of the dam. At the time of its construction, the dam was the largest irrigation dam ever built with the exception of the Aswan Dam in Egypt.
A large construction community sprang up, which included worker camps, railways, water tanks, cableway systems, and the former administration building of the Bureau of Reclamation. The "camps" housed American and Mexican workers throughout the construction of the dam. Many of the former camps ended up under the reservoir itself, while others disappeared altogether.
The former administration building of the Bureau of Reclamation still stands as a bed and breakfast facility, and, along with other structures of the time, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. When the lake falls over 10 meters (30 feet) below maximum capacity, a set of mysterious concrete ruins rises from the waters. Located near the south-east shore, this 3000 square-foot concrete structure is widely believed to be the remnants of the old field hospital that served the frequently injured dam construction crew. Plans are underway to make the ruins a scuba destination in years of high water-level.
Read more about this topic: Elephant Butte Reservoir
Famous quotes containing the words history and, history, dam and/or construction:
“Modern Western thought will pass into history and be incorporated in it, will have its influence and its place, just as our body will pass into the composition of grass, of sheep, of cutlets, and of men. We do not like that kind of immortality, but what is to be done about it?”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“The devil take one party and his dam the other!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“No construction stiff working overtime takes more stress and straining than we did just to stay high.”
—Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter and director, and Dan Yost. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon)