Show NEW MEXICO EXICO flu I 1 INDIANS PIONEER PIKER clovis N AI the white man was not the first to make use of 0 the waters of the rio hlo grande river tor for irrigation purposes ses john 0 prichard superintendent ot of the gran ruins in central new mexico in ili a recent talk in clovis said irrigation in the vicinity of elephant ele IIi Ant butte reservoir lr was begun by the indians indiana long bet tore fare the white man wandered up the he rio itlo grande through pas del norte el BI paso to settle what Is now new mexico the indians constructed vast irrigation ditches over the area and had a system well established by the iho time coronado and his men made their first appearance organized development ot of the irrigation system however was arst begun by the white man in 1893 by the rio grande dam international irrigation company organized in england by nathan boyd a and nd capitalized at fire million dollars actual construction was begun in february 1895 1995 legal entanglements entangle ments brought an end to that work in ill 1896 arid and little was done until the federal government stopped stepped tit in and built the present elephant butto butte lam dam A water treaty was made with mexico alexica in 1906 and work on the dam was waa under way by march 1911 the project was completed in 1916 tho the dam which crates the largest artificial body ot of water in the united states is feet high the reservoir which covers acres has a capacity ot of aero acre feet territory served by it t includes acres in new mexica crea in texas and acres in mexico it gets its name nama ot of elephant dutte butte from an old vol volcano camo crater which forms an island in the middle of tile the lake the crater resembles an all elephant head |