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| Elephant Butte Dam | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Nearest city: | Elephant Butte, New Mexico |
| Built/Founded: | 1910 |
| Architect: | Louis C. Hill |
| Architectural style(s): | Other |
| Added to NRHP: | April 9, 1979 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 790015561 |
| Governing body: | BUREAU OF RECLAMATION |
Elephant Butte Dike or Elephant Butte Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The river was dammed here, impounding the Elephant Butte Reservoir for recreation and agriculture, lessening the downstream flow from a Rio Bravo to a stream a foot deep.
The dam is part of the Rio Grande Project, a project to provide power and irrigation to south-central New Mexico and west Texas. The United States Congress authorized construction of the dam on February 25, 1905. It was completed in 1916 but allowed to begin filling in 1915.2
Elephant Butte Dam is 301 feet (91.7 m) high, 1,674 feet (510.2 m) long including the spillway and is made from 618,785 cubic yards (473,095 m³) of concrete.2 The width at the top of the dam is 18 feet (5.5 m) at the top and 228 feet (69.5 m) at the base.3
The dam can hold 2,065,010 acre-feet (2,547,152,330 m³) of water2 from a drainage of 28,900 square miles (74,850 km²).3 It provides irrigation to 178,000 acres (720 km²) of land. The dam also contains a 27,945-kilowatt hydroelectric powerplant. The current turbine was installed in 1940 and generates 38,449,061 kWh per year (as of 2005).2 It is at an elevation of 4390 ft (1338 m).4
The name "Elephant Butte" refers to a volcanic core similar to Devils Tower in Wyoming. It is now an island in the lake. The butte was said to have the shape of an elephant.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ a b c d "Elephant Butte Powerplant". Rio Grande Project. Bureau of Reclamation (December 28, 2005). Retrieved on October 11, 2006.
- ^ a b "Elephant Butte Dam". Dataweb. Bureau of Reclamation (August 22, 2006). Retrieved on October 11, 2006.
- ^ "Elephant Butte Dike". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.
External links
- Elephant Butte Dike is at coordinates Coordinates:
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