Elephant Butte Dam

Building it took a town. About 1,000 men worked at the site, and the camps held 3,000 to 5,000 people; supervisors and engineers lived in an upper camp, now under the reservoir, and Mexican workers in separate quarters. A Santa Fe spur from Engle hauled in workers, lumber and boulders, and the dam, first called Engle Dam, rose of cyclopean concrete with plum stones up to eight tons set in the wet mix, to 301 feet. Storage began in 1915. A power plant added in 1940 made it New Mexico's first hydroelectric dam.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Elephant Butte Dam Pueblo Indians irrigated and farmed the Rio Grande Valley for several hundred years before the Spaniards arrived and continued the tradition. Built between 1910-1916, Elephant Butte Dam when completed was the world's largest irrigation reservoir. It was the first large-scale effort to harness and control the Rio Grande, and its construction was critical to the historic debate over interstate and international aspects of water use.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Truth or Consequences — 3.4 mi
• Elephant Butte Lake State Park — 3.7 mi
• "Magnificent Magnolia" (1893-1974) — 3.8 mi
• Carrie Tingley — 4.7 mi