Red Bluff Dam
Orla, Reeves County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(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)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built on the Pecos River between 1934 and 1936, just south of the Texas–New Mexico line, Red Bluff Dam was raised for irrigation and hydroelectric power during the depths of the Great Depression. Floodwaters first filled its reservoir in June 1937, creating an 11,700-acre lake that spans parts of two Texas counties and one in New Mexico. Its waters irrigate roughly 140,000 acres stretching a hundred miles down the Pecos.
Why it matters
The dam reflects the era of large federal-scale water projects that made irrigated farming possible across the arid American West.
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Themes & tags
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