San Acacia, New Mexico
| San Acacia, New Mexico | |
|---|---|
| unincorporated community | |
 San Acacia
|
|
| Coordinates: 34°15′18″N 106°53′51″W / 34.25507°N 106.897371°WCoordinates: 34°15′18″N 106°53′51″W / 34.25507°N 106.897371°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Mexico |
| County | Socorro County |
| Time zone | Mountain (MST) (UTC-7) |
| • Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
San Acacia is a small unincorporated community in Socorro County, New Mexico, United States. It was once a prosperous railway town, but is now largely deserted. There is a nearby diversion dam on the Rio Grande, important in irrigation.
The village lies on the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque Basin. The village is 22 miles (35 km) south of Bernardo and 14 miles (23 km) north of Socorro. It is off Interstate 25 at exit 163. It is near the southern boundary of the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. San Acacia gives its name to the stretch of the Rio Grande that extends south to the Elephant Butte Reservoir. The nearby San Acacia Diversion Dam is used to transfer water from the river into irrigation channels. When the river is low, the Isleta Diversion Dam, further to the north, and the San Acacia dam can divert all water from the Rio Grande along a 177 kilometres (110 mi) stretch of the river.
The settlement of San Acacio was named by the Spanish after Saint Acacius, leader of the ten thousand martyrs of Mount Ararat, an early Christian saint who was crowned with thorns from the acacia tree. The hill to the east of the San Acacio cemetery was the location where, in 1855, John W. Garretson fixed the Initial Point for the Principal Meridian and the Base Line. This is the reference point for all topographic maps of the state of New Mexico.
San Acacio became important in 1878 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was built through Socorro County on its route along the Rio Grande to El Paso, Texas. It was incorrectly given the official name of San Acacia after the railway came through.
...
Wikipedia