The 1928 Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 98
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98 THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
tales and DeWitt Counties and there is
some power development. There are no
very reliable statistics of water power de-
velopment in Texas, but it is safe to say
that much over half of it is in the basin of
the Guadalupe. There is some irrigation
along this stream.
THE SAN ANTONIO BASIN.
The San Antonio River is formed in
Brackenridge Park in San Antonio in a
series of large springs and flows south-
easterly a distance of 178 miles to its
junction with the Guadalupe River a
short distance from San Antonio Bay, into
which the latter empties. The San An-
tonio has a drainage basin of 4,535 square
miles. Though the head of San Antonio
River is in San Antonio, one of Its tribu-
taries, the Medina, rises a considerable
distance above San Antonio in Kerr and
Bandera Counties. Cibolo Creek is the
other principal tributary.
Medina Reservoir.
There is much irrigation along the
banks of the San Antonio River with
some small power projects. On the Me-
dina River, a large dam was constructed
some years ago on the line between Me-
dina and Bandera Counties and there is
a large irrigated acreage in Medina and
Bexar Counties from this water supply.
THE NUECES BASIN.
This river rises a short distance from
Rock Springs in Edwards County and
flows in a southeasterly and easterly
course to the Corpus Christi Bay, cover-
ing a distance of about 315 miles. The
drainage area is 16,805 square miles. The
principal tributary' is the Frio River,
which rises in Real County and approxi-
mately parallels the Nueces to their con-
fluence in Live Oak County. The average
rainfall over the basin is about twenty-
five inches annually, but the headwaters
are fed by the springs of the Edwards
Plateau. There are a number of dams
along this stream and its tributaries
erected primarily for irrigation purposes
and there is a project for which bonds
have been voted in La Salle County which
will be one of the largest Irrigation en-
terprises in Texas.
THE RIO GRANDE BASIN.
The Rio Grande is the most notable
river that flows through or touches the
borders of Texas For a distance of 900
miles it forms the international boundary
line between the United States and Mex-
ico. Its drainage area in Texas is 28,984
square miles, exclusive of the watersheds
of the Pecos, which is 16,916 square miles
in Texas, and the basin of the Devil's
River, which is 3,000 square miles, mak-
ing the total Texas area drained by this
river and its two principal tributaries
48,900 square miles. However, the drain-
age area of the Rio Grande is very nar-
row in its lower course, and the wide ex-
panse of its upper basin, in Texas and
in Mexico, New Mexico and Colorado, lies
in an arid country with an average rain-
fall of not more than eighteen inches an-
nually. The flow of the Rio Grande near
Brownsville is about 4,300,000 acre-feet,
which is less than the flow of the lower
Brazos, but the Rio Grande loses an ap-
preciable portion of its water for irriga-
tion purposes.Lower Rio Grande Valley.
The largest irrigation enterprises in
Texas lie in the Rio Grande Valley. The
most notable area is that of Hidalgo and
Cameron Counties and commonly referred
to as the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Here
about 300,000 acres of land are under irri-
gation, producing cotton, citrus fruits and
a great variety of vegetables for winter
and early spring markets. Water for this
purpose comes from the normal channel
flow of the river and is lifted to the ir-
rigation ditches by pumps. Another large
irrigation enterprise lies in the valley
near and below El Paso. This water
comes from the Elephant Butte reservoir
in New Mexico. Still another irrigated
area is that above Laredo and there are
smaller irrigation enterprises in Starr,
Maverick, Val Verde and BrewsteI
Counties.
No great construction has ever been
undertaken on the Rio Grande in Texas
There has been a movement for a great
reservoir to conserve the flood waters
There are some ideal locations for reser-
voir construction in the Big Bend terri-
tory (Brewster and Presidio Counties)
where the river flows through a succes-
sion of canyons, the walls of one of which
are 1,800 feet high; however, any great
undertaking of the kind is complicated
by the fact that part of the water belongs
to Mexico.
Lower Rio Grande Reclamation.
One of the most notable reclamation
projects in the State has been completed
in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties by the
construction of a great system of parallel
levees leading from the main stream of
the Rio Grande near Mission to the basin
of the Arroyo Colorado, a small stream
which empties into the Gulf thirty or
forty miles above the mouth of the Rio
Grande. These levees carry the over-
flow of the Rio Grande through the level
alluvial plain without damage to prop-
erty. (See index for "Tax Remission ")
THE PECOS BASIN.
The Pecos River rises in Mora County
New Mexico, and flows for a distance of
260 miles through Western Texas The
upper 170 miles of the channel in Texas
is through a narrow alluvial valley, while
the lower ninety miles is through a box
canyon The drainage area in Texas is
16,916 square miles. The flow in the
lower course is something more' than
400,000 acre-feet annually. The average
rainfall is about seventeen inches annu-
ally.
There is a good deal of irrigation from
the flow of the Pecos in Ward, Reeves
and Pecos Counties, and the eventual
completion of the Red Bluff dam project
just across the border in New Mexico will
greatly increase the water supply for
these enterprises There is also some ir-
rigation from the spring-fed Comanche,
Toyah and Limpia Creeks in Reeves,
Pecos and Jeff Davis Counties, these
streams being the principal tributaries of
the Pecos in Texas.
THE DEVIL'S RIVER BASIN.
The Devil's River rises in Sutton Coun-
ty and flows in a southerly direction
about 100 miles to its junction with the
Rio Grande The drainage area is 3,000
square miles in a semi-arid region of
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The 1928 Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide, book, 1928~; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123786/m1/101/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.