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For centuries, the Rio Grande has been molded and shaped by the humans living along its banks. Informal irrigation systems have existed along the life-sustaining river from the Spanish Colonial period. As early as the 1840s, area farmers began more modern improvements on these systems. By 1889 El Paso developers needed a means to efficiently provide water to farmers in the El Paso Valley. The El Paso Irrigation Company began construction on the Franklin Canal the following year. A dispute between the U. S. and Mexico over water rights led to the international treaty of 1906, in which it was agreed that the U. S. would deliver 60,000 acre feet of water to Mexico via the Franklin Canal. Completed in 1912, the canal began at the international dam and extended five miles, paralleling the Rio Grande on its north bank and continuing through downtown El Paso. It was intended to deliver water thirty miles into the El Paso Valley. Demands on the canal increased as the area's population grew. Upgrades began in 1914 and continued into the 1930s. The American Dam was created in 1938 to hinder the efforts of Mexican citizens to siphon water from the Rio Grande. Modifications have been made to Franklin Canal throughout the 20th century. It is an important element in the history of water control along the U.S.-Mexico border. Essential to irrigation on both sides of the Rio Grande, the canal continues to affect development in both countries. (1998) |
