Seventy miles east of El Paso, Texas, is a lonely turnoff to one of the most isolated towns in Texas. This town, Dell City, has about 350 people and it was founded in 1948, so it is a relatively new town.
In 1947, geologists were exploring this area in northern Hudspeth County looking for underground oil reserves to exploit. What they found instead led to the settling of the valley and the creation of a town. Instead of finding oil reserves, a vast, subterranean aquifer of water was discovered. Very shortly after news of this discovery got out, people began moving to the area to claim their plot of land so they could establish their own farm. It is one of the most recent "rushes" or "booms" in the United States, but this "rush" was not the result of mining or an oil boom. It was because a vast amount of water was discovered in a parched and barren desert. Almost as soon as it was founded, Dell City boomed. At its peak, Dell City had 13 bars, 5 stores, a drugstore, 2 banks and a John Deere tractor dealership. The population peaked at about 900 in the 1960 Census. The most commonly grown crops in this new farming area were onions, tomatoes and lettuce. Today, onions and tomatoes are still grown, but the lettuce crop has been replaced with alfalfa. A movie theater even opened in the fledgling town, the El Capitan Theater. The theater closed for good in the early 1970s and served as a residence for awhile before being abandoned entirely.
Today, the downtown business district lies mostly abandoned and derelict. The population of Dell City has dwindled to about 300, one-third of what it was in 1960. There is one small grocery store in town with gas pumps across South Main Street in which a person can only purchase gas with a credit card or debit card. These are the only gas pumps over a huge area. There are no convenience stores in town.
The school district now has only 67 students in grades K through 12 and the high school only had 19 students this past school year. The school's six-man football team, the Dell City Cougars, only played 5 games last fall before they were forced to cancel the rest of the season due to lack of players. Their prospects for fielding a team this coming fall look grim. The Dell City Independent School District is paid by the Alamogordo School District in New Mexico to educate the handful of students that live in New Mexico, which is just a few miles north of Dell City. The state border is only 4 miles away. Since there are no other schools within an hour's drive of Dell City, I am sure the local schools will stay open as long as there are people living in the area.
There are still alot of farms in the Dell City area, but these farms are the only reason for Dell City's existence.
Ironically, the very thing that created Dell City in the first place, vast underground water reserves, is also going to be the death knell for the town in the very near future. This is because rapidly growing El Paso, 70 miles to the west, is going to need the Dell Valley's water to sustain its rapidly expanding population. El Paso's principal water supply, the Rio Grande, is rarely more than a trickle these days and is often dry. It also has to serve the needs of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. El Paso's two water supply reservoirs in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake and Caballo Lake are both more than half a century old and were constructed when El Paso was much smaller than it is now.
So, the very thing that created Dell City in 1948 is also going to be the thing that kills the town in the very near future, leaving nothing but an abandoned townsite and abandoned farms left to be reclaimed by the Chihuahuan Desert.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Down River
From the south end of Yuma, it is an 18 mile drive to the end of U.S. Highway 95. The highway ends at the border with Mexico. The highways makes quite a few twists and turns through the flat, fertile farmland of the area. The soil was laid down over the eons by the once mighty Colorado River. Lettuce seems to be the most prevalent crop, although many other crops are grown in this area as well. While driving Highway 95, the Colorado River is never more than 2 or 3 miles away.
The first town south of Yuma is Somerton, which has about 14,000 people. Somerton is only 101 feet above sea level. Seven miles south of Somerton is Gadsden, which has about 1,200 people. It is an unincorporated community that was named for the Gadsden Purchase, which brought this area into the United States when it was purchased from Mexico in 1853. The president of Mexico at the time was still Jose Lopez de Santa Anna, who was president, actually dictator, during Texas's fight for independence in 1836. He sold the land that his northern neighbor coveted to earn money to pay off a huge war debt. This action proved so unpopular that it drove Santa Anna out of office in disgrace.
Five miles south of Gadsden is San Luis, the second biggest town in Yuma County with about 31,000 people. San Luis is located in the far southwest corner of Arizona. It is bordered by Mexico on 2 sides, the south and west. The border on the west side is the usually dry Colorado River and the southern border is a high, steel fence that spans the sering desert. Although San Luis is an extremely poor community, it does not look as poor as many I have seen because, since it has been growing at such an explosive rate, most of the housing stock is new or somewhat new, less than twenty years. Also, nearly every street in town is paved and has curbs and gutters. Not something I would expect to see in a town where the yearly per capita income is only $5,377. This figure qualifies San Luis as one of the poorest towns in the United States. San Luis is typical of many towns on the Mexican border in that Spanish is the most commonly heard language on the streets. The explosive growth of San Luis has spilled out onto the sand dunes east of town.
Towns in Arizona put their elevation on their city limit signs. I have a problem with the posted elevation for San Luis. The city limit sign says that the elevation is 130 feet above sea level. That would make San Luis 29 feet higher than Somerton even though it is downstream from Somerton, closer to the river's vanished delta. The official lowest point in Arizona is 70 feet above sea level at the point where the Colorado River meets the border with Mexico. Notice I did not say 'flows into Mexico.' The river does not flow into Mexico anymore because it has been completely siphoned off for human use above this point. Anyway, there is a small bluff a few feet high on the American side of the Colorado here, but it does not account for that 60 foot discrepancy. I would say the elevation of San Luis, at least in the downtown business district, is about 77 to 80 feet above sea level. Furthermore, that 70 foot figure was taken when the Colorado used to flow into Mexico. Was that figure taken at the normal water surface or at the river bottom? The official description says "At the point where the Colorado River flows into Mexico." Since it does not flow into Mexico anymore, does that mean the lowest point in Arizona is less than 70 feet above sea level now?
Just south of the big, ugly, imposing border wall lies the city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. It lies in the northwest corner of the state of Sonora, across the dry Colorado River from the state of Baja California. San Luis Rio Colorado has approximately 250,000 people and is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. I crossed the border here once, in 2000, and explored a good sized chunk of the central city on foot.
The first town south of Yuma is Somerton, which has about 14,000 people. Somerton is only 101 feet above sea level. Seven miles south of Somerton is Gadsden, which has about 1,200 people. It is an unincorporated community that was named for the Gadsden Purchase, which brought this area into the United States when it was purchased from Mexico in 1853. The president of Mexico at the time was still Jose Lopez de Santa Anna, who was president, actually dictator, during Texas's fight for independence in 1836. He sold the land that his northern neighbor coveted to earn money to pay off a huge war debt. This action proved so unpopular that it drove Santa Anna out of office in disgrace.
Five miles south of Gadsden is San Luis, the second biggest town in Yuma County with about 31,000 people. San Luis is located in the far southwest corner of Arizona. It is bordered by Mexico on 2 sides, the south and west. The border on the west side is the usually dry Colorado River and the southern border is a high, steel fence that spans the sering desert. Although San Luis is an extremely poor community, it does not look as poor as many I have seen because, since it has been growing at such an explosive rate, most of the housing stock is new or somewhat new, less than twenty years. Also, nearly every street in town is paved and has curbs and gutters. Not something I would expect to see in a town where the yearly per capita income is only $5,377. This figure qualifies San Luis as one of the poorest towns in the United States. San Luis is typical of many towns on the Mexican border in that Spanish is the most commonly heard language on the streets. The explosive growth of San Luis has spilled out onto the sand dunes east of town.
Towns in Arizona put their elevation on their city limit signs. I have a problem with the posted elevation for San Luis. The city limit sign says that the elevation is 130 feet above sea level. That would make San Luis 29 feet higher than Somerton even though it is downstream from Somerton, closer to the river's vanished delta. The official lowest point in Arizona is 70 feet above sea level at the point where the Colorado River meets the border with Mexico. Notice I did not say 'flows into Mexico.' The river does not flow into Mexico anymore because it has been completely siphoned off for human use above this point. Anyway, there is a small bluff a few feet high on the American side of the Colorado here, but it does not account for that 60 foot discrepancy. I would say the elevation of San Luis, at least in the downtown business district, is about 77 to 80 feet above sea level. Furthermore, that 70 foot figure was taken when the Colorado used to flow into Mexico. Was that figure taken at the normal water surface or at the river bottom? The official description says "At the point where the Colorado River flows into Mexico." Since it does not flow into Mexico anymore, does that mean the lowest point in Arizona is less than 70 feet above sea level now?
Just south of the big, ugly, imposing border wall lies the city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. It lies in the northwest corner of the state of Sonora, across the dry Colorado River from the state of Baja California. San Luis Rio Colorado has approximately 250,000 people and is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. I crossed the border here once, in 2000, and explored a good sized chunk of the central city on foot.
Yuma Attractions
Well, I am going to skim over the rest of Yuma's sites and attractions because I have gotten too bogged down writing about this one area.
About one mile west of the old Yuma Prison, on the south bank of the Colorado, is Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. It is well worth a visit. It looks like an army fort and in some respects it was, but its function was as a supply distribution center for the area. Most of the buildings on the site are reconstructions. The old carriage barn has lots of old photographs depicting Yuma in its earlier years. Some of these old photos show the Yuma County Courthouse with a silver dome on it. It does not have a dome anymore. The buildings on the north side of the compound are situated just a few feet from the old bank of the Colorado River. Below the high bank now, in the former river bottom, are hiking and biking trails and a nicely landscaped park area. Yuma Quartermaster Depot was located right at the Yuma Crossing, that shallow ford in the Colorado that was used extensively by travelers of the day.
Across the river from Yuma, in California, is the old Fort Yuma, once a U.S. Army Cavalry post. Today, Fort Yuma lies on Indian land. This is the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, also known as the Quechan Indian Reservation. The tribe's name is pronounced QUAT-SAN. The tribal government complex occupies part of the old fort and most of the buildings are still in use, but some are abandoned and dilapidated.
Nearby is an old mission that is still active. It is one of the oldest buildings in this area. The mission bell chimes at noon every day and can be plainly heard across the river in downtown Yuma.
Back across the river in Yuma, another fascinating place to visit is the Sanguinetti House Museum. Once a private residence, it is now a historical museum that tells a compelling story of this strategically important area. All of these areas are well worth a visit.
The original automobile bridge across the Colorado is the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge. It re-opened to traffic in 2002 after being closed since 1988. It was the original routing of U.S. Highway 80 across the Colorado. It is extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two cars, but that is typical of bridges built during that era. When it was re-opened, it was decided to make it a one-way bridge, with alternating traffic flowing across the bridge guided by traffic lights. The extra space on each side, what little there is of it, now serves as pedestrian walkways. This bridge runs right alongside the railroad bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic from 1988 until 2002. It was built in 1914 and 1915 and opened to traffic in 1915. It was the first automobile bridge across the Colorado and its served as a vital transportation link for about 60 years.
Across the river from Yuma, on the California side, is the little town of Winterhaven. Winterhaven has about 500 people and is two miles north of Yuma. This community is an enclave of land that is surrounded by the Quechan Indian Reservation, but is not part of the reservation. Winterhaven lies just to the north of Interstate 80. From Winterhaven, there is a very clear view of the Yuma County Courthouse, a whitewashed building missing its dome that stands out in Yuma's downtown business district. The rest of downtown Yuma can be seen very clearly from Winterhaven as well.
The two most iconic images of Yuma are the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge and the guard tower at the Yuma Prison. These two structures are part of Yuma's legacy.
About one mile west of the old Yuma Prison, on the south bank of the Colorado, is Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. It is well worth a visit. It looks like an army fort and in some respects it was, but its function was as a supply distribution center for the area. Most of the buildings on the site are reconstructions. The old carriage barn has lots of old photographs depicting Yuma in its earlier years. Some of these old photos show the Yuma County Courthouse with a silver dome on it. It does not have a dome anymore. The buildings on the north side of the compound are situated just a few feet from the old bank of the Colorado River. Below the high bank now, in the former river bottom, are hiking and biking trails and a nicely landscaped park area. Yuma Quartermaster Depot was located right at the Yuma Crossing, that shallow ford in the Colorado that was used extensively by travelers of the day.
Across the river from Yuma, in California, is the old Fort Yuma, once a U.S. Army Cavalry post. Today, Fort Yuma lies on Indian land. This is the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, also known as the Quechan Indian Reservation. The tribe's name is pronounced QUAT-SAN. The tribal government complex occupies part of the old fort and most of the buildings are still in use, but some are abandoned and dilapidated.
Nearby is an old mission that is still active. It is one of the oldest buildings in this area. The mission bell chimes at noon every day and can be plainly heard across the river in downtown Yuma.
Back across the river in Yuma, another fascinating place to visit is the Sanguinetti House Museum. Once a private residence, it is now a historical museum that tells a compelling story of this strategically important area. All of these areas are well worth a visit.
The original automobile bridge across the Colorado is the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge. It re-opened to traffic in 2002 after being closed since 1988. It was the original routing of U.S. Highway 80 across the Colorado. It is extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two cars, but that is typical of bridges built during that era. When it was re-opened, it was decided to make it a one-way bridge, with alternating traffic flowing across the bridge guided by traffic lights. The extra space on each side, what little there is of it, now serves as pedestrian walkways. This bridge runs right alongside the railroad bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic from 1988 until 2002. It was built in 1914 and 1915 and opened to traffic in 1915. It was the first automobile bridge across the Colorado and its served as a vital transportation link for about 60 years.
Across the river from Yuma, on the California side, is the little town of Winterhaven. Winterhaven has about 500 people and is two miles north of Yuma. This community is an enclave of land that is surrounded by the Quechan Indian Reservation, but is not part of the reservation. Winterhaven lies just to the north of Interstate 80. From Winterhaven, there is a very clear view of the Yuma County Courthouse, a whitewashed building missing its dome that stands out in Yuma's downtown business district. The rest of downtown Yuma can be seen very clearly from Winterhaven as well.
The two most iconic images of Yuma are the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge and the guard tower at the Yuma Prison. These two structures are part of Yuma's legacy.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Death Of A River, Part 3
The much diminished Colorado River flows past Yuma on an east-west course. The general direction here is north and south. West of Yuma, the river resumes its southerly course to the sea. After about two miles, the northernmost border of Mexico touches the river. This is the border between California and the Mexican state of Baja California. As the river continues its southward course from this point, it forms the border between Arizona of the United States and Baja California of Mexico. The Colorado is an international river for about twenty miles before entering Mexico for its final run to the sea.
One mile below the border between Mexico and California, lies the Morelos Dam, which was constructed by the government of Mexico to allocate their share of the Colorado River's much sought after water. Half of the dam is on American soil, but Mexico is responsible for all maintenance. This is where the Colorado River meets its final, ignominious death.
Morelos Dam is also a diversion dam and it diverts what is left of the Colorado's meager flow into Mexico to water farms in the Mexican portion of the Yuma Valley and also the distant Mexicali Valley, which contains nearly one million people, about 700,000 of them in Mexicali, the capital city of Baja California. Below Morelos Dam, the Colorado River, one of the longest rivers in the world, is dry. There is usually a small pool of water at the downstream base of Morelos Dam, but those are the final droplets in the river that once watered a narrow, but lush, riparian strip along its course that was a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. The river continues below the dam as a dried up riverbed all the way to its now dead delta on the Sea of Cortez.
There is still a busy and prosperous farming area on both sides of the river. The soil is rich and fertile due to the Colorado laying down tons of sediment over the eons, carving and recarving new channels in the process. A glance at aerial maps of the area will reveal faint traces of old river channels that the Colorado has abandoned over the centuries.
A study that was done about ten years ago shows that if only 1% of the Colorado's flow is allowed to each the sea, it would at least partially restore the "milk and honey" wilderness, as described by Aldo Leopold shortly before the first dam across the Colorado, the Laguna, was built and altered the course of the lower river forever. He canoed through this area in the early 1900s, just a short time before construction on the Laguna Dam commenced in 1903.
One mile below the border between Mexico and California, lies the Morelos Dam, which was constructed by the government of Mexico to allocate their share of the Colorado River's much sought after water. Half of the dam is on American soil, but Mexico is responsible for all maintenance. This is where the Colorado River meets its final, ignominious death.
Morelos Dam is also a diversion dam and it diverts what is left of the Colorado's meager flow into Mexico to water farms in the Mexican portion of the Yuma Valley and also the distant Mexicali Valley, which contains nearly one million people, about 700,000 of them in Mexicali, the capital city of Baja California. Below Morelos Dam, the Colorado River, one of the longest rivers in the world, is dry. There is usually a small pool of water at the downstream base of Morelos Dam, but those are the final droplets in the river that once watered a narrow, but lush, riparian strip along its course that was a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. The river continues below the dam as a dried up riverbed all the way to its now dead delta on the Sea of Cortez.
There is still a busy and prosperous farming area on both sides of the river. The soil is rich and fertile due to the Colorado laying down tons of sediment over the eons, carving and recarving new channels in the process. A glance at aerial maps of the area will reveal faint traces of old river channels that the Colorado has abandoned over the centuries.
A study that was done about ten years ago shows that if only 1% of the Colorado's flow is allowed to each the sea, it would at least partially restore the "milk and honey" wilderness, as described by Aldo Leopold shortly before the first dam across the Colorado, the Laguna, was built and altered the course of the lower river forever. He canoed through this area in the early 1900s, just a short time before construction on the Laguna Dam commenced in 1903.
The Death Of A River, Part 2
A few miles upstream from Yuma are two dams that lie athwart the Colorado River. There are many, many dams along this overused, abused and overallocated river, but these two dams are significant because the Colorado ceases to be a big river at this point. Heck it ceases to be a river at all because below these two dams, the Colorado is more of an irrigation canal than it is a river. The first dam is Imperial Dam. This dam impounds Martinez Lake. This lake is an oasis in the bone dry desert of Arizona and California. There is a settlement called Martinez Lake on the Arizona shore of the man made reservoir.
Five miles further downstream is Laguna Dam. There is no reservoir behind Laguna Dam. It was built as a diversion dam, not an impoundment dam, between 1903 and 1905, and was the first dam on the Colorado River. When maps or atlases show both of these dams, they usually show a reservoir stretching all the way from Laguna Dam to Imperial Dam, but this is not the case. Laguna Dam is no longer needed because of the presence of Imperial Dam nearby. Imperial Dam serves as both an impoundment dam and a diversion dam. At Imperial Dam, 80% of the river's flow gets siphoned off through the All American Canal to water California's famous farming region, the Imperial Valley. On the east side of Imperial Dam, another 16% of the river's flow gets siphoned off to the east to water Arizona's Mohawk Valley, east of Yuma. This is the area I mentioned previously that is a rich agricultural area that is bisected by Interstate 8 and contains the towns of Wellton and Tacna, among others. This leaves only 4% of the river's water to flow downstream to Yuma to water a a region with 200,000 people on the United States side and an even greater number on the Mexican side! Why does the Mohawk Valley, with approximately 5,000 people, get so much more water than the much more populated Yuma Valley? Why does the Imperial Valley get such a disproportionate share? Under normal circumstances the Imperial Valley would not support agriculture at all with a paltry 2 inches of rain per year.
When the Colorado emanates from Laguna Dam, the natural river channel is dry, just a wide, sandy bed. Instead, the river comes out in two narrow, man made channels on each side of the natural channel. After about a mile, these narrow channels merge and flow as a united stream to Yuma and beyond. A paltry amount of water in a wide river channel. At this point, the middle of the river is not necessarily the border between Arizona and California. The border lies in the middle of the natural channel and the narrow channel we see today meanders from side to side in the ancient riverbed. There is an exception to the river being the state border. It involves a loop of the old river channel that lies on the California side. Here the river cut itself a new channel in the past and the two states divided the land in half, putting a brief stretch of the Colorado entirely in Arizona.
Five miles further downstream is Laguna Dam. There is no reservoir behind Laguna Dam. It was built as a diversion dam, not an impoundment dam, between 1903 and 1905, and was the first dam on the Colorado River. When maps or atlases show both of these dams, they usually show a reservoir stretching all the way from Laguna Dam to Imperial Dam, but this is not the case. Laguna Dam is no longer needed because of the presence of Imperial Dam nearby. Imperial Dam serves as both an impoundment dam and a diversion dam. At Imperial Dam, 80% of the river's flow gets siphoned off through the All American Canal to water California's famous farming region, the Imperial Valley. On the east side of Imperial Dam, another 16% of the river's flow gets siphoned off to the east to water Arizona's Mohawk Valley, east of Yuma. This is the area I mentioned previously that is a rich agricultural area that is bisected by Interstate 8 and contains the towns of Wellton and Tacna, among others. This leaves only 4% of the river's water to flow downstream to Yuma to water a a region with 200,000 people on the United States side and an even greater number on the Mexican side! Why does the Mohawk Valley, with approximately 5,000 people, get so much more water than the much more populated Yuma Valley? Why does the Imperial Valley get such a disproportionate share? Under normal circumstances the Imperial Valley would not support agriculture at all with a paltry 2 inches of rain per year.
When the Colorado emanates from Laguna Dam, the natural river channel is dry, just a wide, sandy bed. Instead, the river comes out in two narrow, man made channels on each side of the natural channel. After about a mile, these narrow channels merge and flow as a united stream to Yuma and beyond. A paltry amount of water in a wide river channel. At this point, the middle of the river is not necessarily the border between Arizona and California. The border lies in the middle of the natural channel and the narrow channel we see today meanders from side to side in the ancient riverbed. There is an exception to the river being the state border. It involves a loop of the old river channel that lies on the California side. Here the river cut itself a new channel in the past and the two states divided the land in half, putting a brief stretch of the Colorado entirely in Arizona.
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