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Sunset Heights Pumping Station. Image provided by
George D. Torok
Early El Paso Water Works
El Paso, Texas
Research Packet and Narrative by:
Carlos Montes
Dr. George D. Torok
Honors Project
Spring 2002
National Endowment for the Humanities Historical Markers Project
Narrative History: Early El Paso Water Systems
In
the arid climate of the Chihuahua Desert, the storage, distribution,
and use of water has been a problem for centuries. Some
Native-American groups in the Southwest developed water systems but
there do not appear to have been any organized ones in the El Paso
area. Most likely, it was the Spanish who brought the acequia,
or irrigation ditch, system to the region and used it as a source of
water for both agricultural and domestic use. The first formal
irrigation system appeared with the establishment of the Guadalupe
Mission in the 1650s. By the 18th century, the greater Paso
del Norte Valley had an extensive system of canals and drains that
served the haciendas, missions, and villas of the area. Well into the
19th century, the acequia system provided water for the
Paso del Norte area. With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848,
Anglo-Americans entered the valley and settled the north side of the
Rio Grande. They continued to use irrigation canals, expanding and
diverting them to new ranches and farms. By the time the International
Boundary Commission surveyed the Pass in 1852, they found a vast
network of main and lateral canals serving the area as far south as
San Elizario.
With
the arrival of the railroad in 1881, American El Paso underwent a
tremendous period of growth. Thousands of settlers arrived and many
new businesses and residences were built over the next few years. The
city struggled to provide basic services to its new residents. The
acequia system had become obsolete and new technologies from the east
were brought in to provide
new
water services. In 1882, Sylvester Watts received a city franchise and
established the first area water works. He built a pumping station
about 600 feet north of Main Street and began lifting water from the
river and storing it in a reservoir located in today’s Sunset Heights
area.
In 1892 Watts expanded his water services by digging a well near Third
Street. Watts’ El Paso Water Works served the city until 1902, but
never provided consistent, quality water.
Watts’ contract was transferred to the International Water Company in
1903 but continued problems prompted the city to take the system over
in 1910. A water commission was created and major renovations were
made to the entire system. New pumps and machinery were installed in
1913, and the original Watts’ reservoir was enlarged and reconstructed
in 1916. By the 1910s, the city had a greatly expanded water system
including several pumping stations, reservoirs and wells to serve a
population almost 78,000 people. The Sunset Heights Pumping Station,
ca. 1913, and the nearby reservoir lie on a site that has played an
important role in the development of early water works in El Paso.
.
Neal W. Ackerly, “Historic and Modern Irrigation Systems,” in John
A. Petersen and David O. Brown, eds., El Valle Bajo: The Culture
History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of El Paso (El Paso, TX
1991), 65, 66;
.
Marion C. Nicoll, “Brief History of the El Paso Water System from
1881 to 1921,” unpublished Masters’ thesis (El Paso, TX 1952), 13;
Christopher Wallace, Water Out of the Desert (El Paso, TX
1969), 21.
.
Knud Salveson, “A History of the El Paso Water Works, 1881-1910"
(unpublished paper, 1969), n.p.
.
Nicoll, “Brief History of the El Paso Water System,” 14.44, 67;
Wallace, Water Out of the Desert, 22.
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