History along the Way: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers

Chapter 10. Lift High the Water

148 Lift High the Water On a clear spring day in April 2010, three men sat around a table in the middle of a museum in Hidalgo, Texas, reminiscing with a writer about their respective roles in preserving the historic building where they met. All were modest, and one even begged off early rather than talk too much about himself. “These other fellows know as much as I do,” he said as he left the table. While they all talked and shared stories, museum patrons passed nearby, viewing detailed exhibits and touring the elaborate industrial complex , while tourists outside photographed birds and wildflowers or walked and biked on nearby trails. Few, if any, of the visitors to the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse that day realized that the historic site they enjoyed remained in existence because of the unselfish work of the three men and others like them. Given the vagaries of historic preservation and municipal planning, the story could easily have had a different ending. This is a story of why some communities like Hidalgo embrace their history in whatever form it takes and then interpret it, celebrate it, and make it accessible, rather than allowing it to disappear. Viewing such a historic site today, it is difficult to believe there was everany serious consideration to the contrary, but its history is one marked by both progress and setbacks and ultimately tempered by a series of decisions to persevere despite the odds. The story of the pump station along a cutoff of the Rio Grande goes back a century, but it also in effect represents part of a much broader agricultural and social history that is considerably older. For countless generations, settlers along the lower Rio Grande— an area known simply as the Valley—have worked to exploit the available water resources for their own existence, to sustain their 10 lift high the WAter 149 families, to expand agricultural lands, and to develop viable commerce . The result is one of the most productive areas in the nation, recognized worldwide for the quality and abundance of its crops and livestock. It is also an area that thrives on tourism, both cultural and ecological, and that ultimately brings the story back to what is presently happening in Hidalgo. This is a stratified story with many layers. Colonial settlement of the area along the lower Rio Grande began in the late 1740s with the establishment of several communities , on both sides of the river, by Spanish native José de Escandón in what was then known as Nuevo Santander.The celebrated military leader enjoyed widespread political support for his vision to colonize a vast area of northern Mexico that reached fromTampico north to present-day Corpus Christi, Texas. In all, he established more than twenty villas, many of which remain in existence more than two and a half centuries later. One of those grew up near Mission San Joaquín del Monte, a visita or submission serving Reynosa. Known early as La Habitación and Rancho San Luis (San Luisita) and later as Edinburg and eventually Hidalgo, it served as the first seat of government for Hidalgo County, established in theyears following Texas statehood. It retained that distinction until the early twentieth century, when political and economic pressures, coupled with periodic flooding, caused officials to move the county seat to Chapin, present Edinburg. Hidalgo failed to materialize as a rival to the rapidly developing railroad towns farther north and instead grew incrementally but steadily. It remained strategically viable in terms of the local economy, however, because of its proximity to the river. Water from the Rio Grande tapped at Hidalgo proved to be a determinant of sustainable growth throughout the county.1 Plans for irrigation systems along the Rio Grande date from the colonial era, when Escandón envisioned a network of acequias similar to those successfully used by missions along the San Antonio River. Such gravity-flow systems failed to work in the Valley , though, where the shallow riverbed proved impractical for redirecting water to the higher elevations of the surrounding land. Large-scale irrigation there was only feasible if the water could be lifted, and in the early days of settlement in that region the req- 150 ChApter 10 uisite technology for widespread use of such systems did not yet exist. It was not until the advent of practical pumps, steam engines, and lift stations that irrigation on such a...