Carlsbad Irrigation District, Avalon Dam, On Pecos River, 4 miles North of Carlsbad, Carlsbad, Eddy County, NM
Summary
Significance: Avalon Dam serves as a diversion structure feeding the Carlsbad Irrigation District's canal network; the reservoir supplements the storage capacity of McMillan Dam, the system's main storage reservoir. The U.S. Reclamation Service constructed the dam at this location; privately financed dams constructed in 1890 and 1893 were breached by floodwaters in 1893 and 1904. Avalon Dam is a long, low, rockfill dam with a facing of impervious earth. The dam has a combination concrete and steel sheet piling core wall. Water is fed from the reservoir into the irrigation district's main canal through a six-bay concrete headgate structure. Three spillways protect the dam from overtopping. Two of these structures are overfall weirs; the third features a pair of innovative 1911 cylinder gates. The Civilian Conservation Corps added the last improvements to the site in the 1930's, including a suspension bridge, warehouse, and extensive landscaping features.
Survey number: HAER NM-4-B
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 66000476
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