Skip to main content

NM

Embudo, New Mexico Stream Gauging Station
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water Supply & ControlEra: 1880-1889DateCreated: 1888EmbudoState: NMZip: 87531Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/embudo,-new-mexico-stream-guaging-station/Creator: Powell, John Wesley

A tiny village on the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico became the training center for the first American hydrographers and provided the first stream-gauging operations of the U.S. Geological Survey. To plan any water system, it is necessary to know the amount of water flowing in the stream or river at all times - including low, normal, and flood conditions. 

YearAdded:
1973
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/Chris English (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Near Velarde, NM: U.S. Geological Survey Rio Grande Embudo Gaging Station, 2011Era_date_from: 1888
El Camino Real - The Royal Road
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Roads & RailsEra: 1000-1599DateCreated: 1519Mexico City to Santa FeState: NMZip: 87501Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asce.org/project/el-camino-real---the-royal-road/Creator: Spain, Kingdom of

El Camino Real (literally, "the royal road") is the oldest and longest historical trail in the Western Hemisphere. The transportation link has, through the centuries, been called various names, including El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (literally, "the road to the interior" because the U.S. frontier was seen as the country interior to Mexico), the King's Highway and the Royal Highway. It became a transportation lifeline that helped integrate Spanish and European culture in the Southwestern U.S. 

YearAdded:
1986
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/National Park ServiceImage Caption: El Camino Real (literally, "the royal road") is the oldest and longest historical trail in the Western Hemisphere. Era_date_from: 1519
Elephant Butte Dam
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: DamsEra: 1910-1919DateCreated: 1916Rio Grande RiverTruth or ConsequencesState: NMZip: 87901Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Elephant-Butte-Dam/Creator: Hill, Louis

One of the first major efforts to increase farming and encourage habitation in the arid regions of the western United States, the Rio Grande Project was designed to provide reliable irrigation as well as resolve a dispute over water supply with the Republic of Mexico.  The project's centerpiece is Elephant Butte Dam, a concrete gravity structure 301 feet high and 1,674 feet wide. Elephant Butte Reservoir - with a surface area of 36,600 acres and a capacity of more than 2.2 million acre-feet - was the largest reservoir in the world at the time of its completion.

YearAdded:
1976
Image Credit: Public Domain (United States Bureau of Reclamation)Image Caption: Elephant Butte Dam, 2016 (day before centenial celebration)Era_date_from: 1916
Subscribe to NM

Innovations

Elephant Butte Dam

One of the first major efforts to increase farming and encourage habitation in the arid regions of the western United States, the Rio Grande Project was designed to provide reliable irrigation as well as resolve a dispute over water supply with the Republic of Mexico.  The project's centerpiece…

Read More
El Camino Real - The Royal Road

El Camino Real (literally, "the royal road") is the oldest and longest historical trail in the Western Hemisphere. The transportation link has, through the centuries, been called various names, including El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (literally, "the road to the interior" because the U.…

Read More
Embudo, New Mexico Stream Gauging Station

A tiny village on the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico became the training center for the first American hydrographers and provided the first stream-gauging operations of the U.S. Geological Survey. To plan any water system, it is necessary to know the amount of water flowing in the…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.