Avalon Dam
| Avalon Dam | |
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Spillway #2
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 Location of Avalon Dam in New Mexico
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Eddy County, New Mexico |
| Coordinates | 32°29′27″N 104°15′08″W / 32.490796°N 104.252119°WCoordinates: 32°29′27″N 104°15′08″W / 32.490796°N 104.252119°W |
| Purpose | Irrigation and flood control |
| Opening date | 1888 |
| Owner(s) | United States Bureau of Reclamation |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Height | 60 feet (18 m) |
| Reservoir | |
| Total capacity | 202,000 cubic yards (154,000 m3) |
Avalon Dam is a small dam on the Pecos River about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States. The dam is a storage and regulating reservoir, and diverts water into the main canal of the Carlsbad Project, an irrigation scheme.
The Pecos River, a major tributary of the Rio Grande, originates in the mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico, then flows through the relatively flat southeastern New Mexico plains. Temperatures in the summer may be as high as 111 °F (44 °C). On average there is only 12.5 inches (320 mm) of precipitation annually, but storms may bring torrential rainfall, creating flash floods. In the late 1880s, settlers were looking for new land to farm in the west, but irrigation was essential in the Pecos Valley.
The dam was originally built as an earthfill structure in 1888 by private interests. That dam was washed out in 1893. It was quickly rebuilt, but was washed out again in 1904 by the Pecos River flood of that year. In 1907 the United States Bureau of Reclamation rebuilt the dam. The height of the dam was raised in 1912, and again in 1936.
A group of local ranchers that included Charles B. Eddy and Pat Garrett saw a commercial opportunity in irrigating the valley and selling or leasing their land to settlers. They created an irrigation company and obtained funding from outside financiers including James John Hagerman, who had made a fortune from the Mollie Gibson silver mine in Colorado. The new company started to construct the Avalon Dam and major irrigation works. Hagerman and his associates became the dominant owners, reorganized the company, started a railroad and promoted a new town at first called Eddy, later changed to Carlsbad.
The dam was built to the north of the town, completed in 1889. It was one of the first irrigation dams in the United States to be constructed of loose rock with an upstream face of earth. It had an innovative sluice gate that directed river water into the system’s Main Canal. There was a wooden flume so long and wide that four mule teams could walk across it, side by side. Four years after the dam was completed, in 1893 a flood breached its crest, damaging the new canals and the massive flume.
The company did not waste time, but hired 500 men and 165 horse teams to quickly rebuild the dam with an almost identical cross-section to the original dam. The flume and canals also were repaired in time for the 1894 growing season, although the farmers had difficulty finding crops suited to the soil and climate. In 1902-1903, the Pecos Irrigation Company spent another $50,000 reinforcing the flume with concrete and four pairs of arches. Mark Hufstetler and Lon Johnson write that the massive, yet graceful, flume, "was a source of pride for the company and the Carlsbad community." Measuring 497 feet long by 47 feet high, it was said to be the largest irrigation flume in the United States. Soon after the flume had been completed, in October 1904 there was another flash flood in the Pecos, causing great damage to the dam, the canals, the highway and railroad bridges.
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