Historical Marker
Red Bluff Dam
Orla, Reeves County · Texas
Erected 1972
The dam took three decades of trying. T. A. Ezell first pushed for one here in 1905; by 1914 ten projects were drawing water from the Pecos, and in 1916 valley water users petitioned the Interior Department for help. Texas and New Mexico agreed to construction in 1924, President Coolidge approved the plan in 1926, and seven water districts merged into the Red Bluff Water Control District in 1927. A Public Works Administration loan came in October 1934, and the $2 million dam was finished in September 1936, with two hydroelectric units.
What the plaque says
Red Bluff Dam (Three miles northeast) Constructed for irrigation and electrical power purposes during 1934-36, dam is located on Pecos River 8 miles south of Texas-New Mexico state line. It impounds an 11,700-acre lake occupying parts of Reeves and Loving counties, Tex., and Eddy County, N. M. Floods first filled the reservoir in June 1937. Capacity is 310,000 acre feet of water. Main embankment -- 9,230 feet long -- rises 105 feet above stream bed at highest point. Dam has top width of 25 feet. These waters irrigate about 140,000 acres, which extend for 100 miles along the Pecos River. (1972)
Where it stands
31.85808, -103.93269 · Directions
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