Name: Balmorhea, Texas
Address: Balmorhea, TX

The Great Pool of the Great Depression RoadyGoat

The heart of Balmorhea is Balmorhea State Park, and its soul is the pool. As you look at this massive body of water, imagine it being built during the darkest days of the Great Depression. Between 1934 and 1941, hundreds of young men with the Civilian Conservation Corps, Company 1856, most of them locals, descended on this spot. Using mostly manual labor and local limestone, they constructed one of the most remarkable public works of the era. The 1.3-acre pool has a flat bottom in the shallows and a natural rock floor where it drops away, some thirty feet down. It holds over 3.5 million gallons of water, all fed directly from San Solomon Springs. For the men who built it, the project meant a steady paycheck. For America, it was a symbol of hope. And for West Texas, it created a beloved oasis that has cooled and delighted generations of travelers.

RoadyGoat → · 3.7 mi away

An Underground River in the Desert RoadyGoat

Ever wonder how 15 million gallons of water can appear daily in the middle of a desert? The answer is a masterpiece of hydrogeology. The journey of Balmorhea's water begins as rain in the nearby Davis Mountains and in country hundreds of miles to the northwest. This water seeps deep into the ground, entering the vast, porous limestone of the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer. For years, it travels slowly underground, confined under pressure by impermeable rock layers above and below. Here at Balmorhea, a critical geological feature changes everything: the Rounsaville Syncline, a northwest-trending trough of folded and fractured rock, works together with the Stocks Fault. That fault shoves cracked, cavernous limestone up against solid, impermeable stone, and a set of faults left behind as this whole basin slowly stretched apart has shattered the layers even more. These fractures act as natural, high-pressure conduits. They pierce the confining layers, allowing the pressurized water from the deep aquifer to surge upward to the surface. This is an artesian spring system, a natural plumbing marvel that has engineered a desert oasis, making life here possible.

RoadyGoat → · 3.7 mi away

The Fight to Save the Springs RoadyGoat

The clear water of Balmorhea is a stark contrast to the oil fields of the surrounding Permian Basin. In the fall of 2016, that contrast became a conflict. Apache Corporation announced a giant find it called Alpine High and plans to drill across 350,000 acres of southern Reeves County—the country right around this town. The proposal sparked immediate and fierce opposition. Local ranchers, environmental groups like the Big Bend Conservation Alliance and the Sierra Club, and residents of the small town feared that wells, pipelines and compressor stations could threaten the aquifer that feeds San Solomon Springs, destroying a delicate ecosystem and the town's very reason for being. They organized, protested, and commissioned their own studies; the company pledged to stay out of the state park and the city limits. The battle showed how a small community was willing to stand up to a giant industry to protect its identity and its future.

RoadyGoat → · 3.7 mi away

Balmorhea Springs

A 46,000-gallon-per-minute spring-fed pool in the desert, maintained at 72-76 degrees year-round. Home to the endangered Comanche Springs pupfish.

Natural Landmark →

San Solomon Spring

1849

Called "Mescalero Spring" in 1849, when watering corn and peaches of the Mescalero Apaches. To Ft. Davis soldiers, 1856, was "Head Spring". Present name given by first permanent settlers, Mexican farmers. Miller, Lyles and Murphy in 1871 began large-scale commercial irrigation. Murphy built first canals. (1964)

Historical Marker → · 3.6 mi away

Balmorhea Lake

1916

Balmorhea Lake, an irrigation tank also called Lower Parks Reservoir, is located three miles southeast of Balmorhea in southern Reeves County (at 30°58' N, 103°44' W). The surrounding steep to gentle slopes are generally surfaced by reddish-brown to brown sands, clay loams, and clays that support scrub brush and sparse grasses. The lake was built near the prolific San Solomon Springs, which had a reported flow of twenty-two million gallons daily. In 1583 the entrada of Antonio de Espejo stopped at the spring when Jumano Indians guided the Spaniards up the Toyah valley. Dr. John S. Ford passed through the Toyah valley in 1849 and noted productive land along its banks. Madera Valley, near the reservoir, was farmed by prehistoric Indians and Hispanic settlers. After Fort Davis was reoccupied by the army at the end of the Civil War , a lucrative market opened for the grains, vegetables, and cattle of these farmers, who irrigated their fields from San Solomon Springs. In 1909 the Toyah Valley Irrigation Company was organized to supervise water use of the area. By 1915 Reeves County Water Improvement District No. 1 had acquired the water rights and built Balmorhea Lake and Dam. Construction began on the earthfill dam in 1916 and was completed in 1917. The lake surface covers 573 acres, and its capacity is 6,350 acre-feet of water. Sandia Creek feeds into the reservoir from the northeast, and Kountz Draw empties into it from the south. Runoff from Toyah Creek comes into Balmorhea Lake from Madera Diversion Dam and its canals. Surplus water from Phantom Lake Canal, which is supplied by several springs, is stored in Balmorhea Lake until it is needed for irrigation.

Tsha Handbook →

Balmorhea, TX

1906

Balmorhea is on State Highway 17 about one mile southwest of Brogado in southwestern Reeves County. Indian and Mexican settlers farmed around the area from early times, taking advantage of the good supply of water from nearby San Solomon Springs . The town was laid out in 1906 in the center of a 14,000-acre tract watered by the springs. Balmorhea was named for the land developers who sent their agent, Ira M. Cole, to file the plat for the townsite. Their names were E. D. Balcom, H. R. Morrow, Joe Rhea, and John Rhea, and they organized the Toyah Valley Irrigation Company to supervise water usage. A public school was organized, and a post office opened in 1908. About 1910 the Pecos Valley Southern Railway laid its tracks from Pecos to Toyahvale through Balmorhea, and a hotel was built in the town. In 1925 fifty people were reported living in Balmorhea, and by 1927 that number increased to 500. A bank opened in 1928 and operated until 1933. The population reached 1,220 in the 1930s, and the number of businesses bounced between twenty-five and thirty-three. A gradual decline began after World War II . Throughout the 1950s and most of the 1960s the population was around 600, and the number of businesses declined to nineteen. In 1961 the town was incorporated. In 1968 Balmorhea had a population of 1,009 and thirty businesses. By 1988 it had four businesses and a population of 528. The 1990 United States census set the population of Balmorhea at 765. In 2000 the population dropped to 527. By 2020 that number had fallen to 408. The community had a mayor and city council, several churches, a public library, and local education was operated under the Balmorhea Independent School District. A number of businesses catered to tourism as well as trucking. Balmorhea State Park is located at San Solomon Springs.

Tsha Handbook →

Mission Mary

1902

MISSION MARY FROM 1895 TO 1935, FATHER NICHOLAS BROCARDUS EIKEN SERVED SEVERAL MISSION STATIONS IN THIS REGION, INCLUDING MISSION MARY, ESTABLISHED BY 1902 IN THE CALERA COMMUNITY. THE ORIGINAL ADOBE AND RUBBLE SANCTUARY WAS BUILT IN 1925 AND FEATURED PILLARS, WHICH WERE REMOVED WHEN THE BUILDING WAS PLASTERED IN THE 1940s. THE RECTANGULAR PLAN CHURCH FEATURES A BELL TOWER AND A LOW PITCH ROOF WITH EXPOSED RAFTER TAILS. TODAY, MOST OF THE AREA’S SMALL MISSIONS HAVE DISAPPEARED, AS HAS CALERA. MISSION MARY STANDS AS A MONUMENT TO AREA SETTLEMENTS AND TO THE CHURCHES AND THE RESIDENTS THEY SERVED. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2010

Historical Marker → · 5.8 mi away

Wild Rose Pass

1849

In early days the Indian trail through these mountains followed the gorge below known as Limpia Canyon. To avoid the floods travelers over the San Antonio - El Paso Road, emigrants, U.S. troops and supply trains, and the mail chose this higher pass famed for its wealth of wild roses. Erected by the State of Texas 1956.

Historical Marker → · 18.3 mi away

Balmorhea, Texas

Music in Balmorhea

Songs About Balmorhea

Artists From Balmorhea

Rivers & Roads in Song near Balmorhea

History of Balmorhea

The Great Pool of the Great Depression RoadyGoat

An Underground River in the Desert RoadyGoat

The Fight to Save the Springs RoadyGoat

Balmorhea Springs

San Solomon Spring

Balmorhea Lake

Balmorhea, TX

Mission Mary

Wild Rose Pass

Things to Do in Balmorhea

Everything Near Balmorhea