San Felipe Springs

Locations of the various San Felipe Springs  

San Felipe Springs, located in Val Verde county on the outskirts of Del Rio, are the fourth largest in Texas.  There are a group of ten or more springs that extend for over a mile along San Felipe Creek.  A groundwater divide near Brackettville separates this portion of the Edwards Aquifer from the central portion and the much larger springs in San Marcos and New Braunfels.  In 1849, Captain S. G. French described San Felipe Springs and correctly noted they are the most western of a whole series of outflows from the Edwards. He wrote:

To the north of the road, and half mile distant, there is a beautiful spring of water, fifty feet in diameter at the surface, the sides of which incline towards a centre, like an inverted cone, and then, sinking in a cylindrical form to a depth of twenty-eight feet, through a soil of hard clay, afford a passage for the water to rise. The water comes to the surface with a slight ebullition, and flows off in a volume that would fill a cylinder two feet in diameter. This spring is the source of the San Felipe; as it flows on, the volume of its water is increased by other large springs, on either side; until it becomes a creek, when it empties into the Rio Grande, eight miles below the crossing, some thirty feet wide and several feet deep. Near its junction with the Rio Grande, its banks are shaded with large groves of pecan, maple, elm, and mulberry trees.

 

Other early explorers described seven deep, clear pools at San Felipe Springs, with many large fish, surrounded by hackberry trees, grapevines, and cattails.  Gaspar Castano de Sosa may have been the first European to visit in 1590.  By the late 17th century many other Spanish explorers and settlers became familiar with the Springs, since the the Kings Highway to San Antonio and El Paso passed right by.  A mission was established in 1808, and in 1834 the first settlement of San Felipe del Rio began.  The cavalry and stagecoaches made great use of the Springs, and water was hauled and sold in town until 1900 when a water system was installed.  In 1882 two gristmills were using the water for power, and by 1901 there was also an electric light and ice plant.  Irrigation canals and dams were built to water vineyards, orchards, and gardens (see Brune, 1981).  In 1896 R.T. Hill and T. W. Vaughan wrote:

The westernmost of the line of fault springs are the San Felipe springs near Del Rio.  They break out at the edge of the Edwards Plateau, 2 miles northeast of Del Rio and about 5 miles from the Rio Grande.  The pool is almost as large as that at the head of the San Antonio River.  From the deep-seated rock at its bottom the water can be seen welling up in a great column, and has the same peculiar greenish-blue color as that of the other streams of this class.  No trees surround it; it is alone - a fountain in the desert.  The rocks from which it bursts - the Fort Worth limestones - have the same kind of joints and faults as are found at San Antonio and Austin.  The outflow from the pool forms a bold, rushing stream that runs off to the Rio Grande, some 5 miles distant.  The spring stream, in addition to running a mill and supplying the village with water, is partially utilized to supply 15 miles of irrigation ditch and to irrigate 5,000 acres, and can furnish water for the irrigation of several thousand acres more.  Mr. Babb's measurements make a total discharge of 19 second-feet, or about 12,000,000 gallons per day. 

San Felipe Springs still supply the city of Del Rio and Laughlin Air Force Base. The water is no longer intensively used for irrigation because the area downstream from the Springs is now mostly urban. The swimming hole at Horseshoe Park is still a popular cool spot.

In January 2004 scientists announced the discovery of a new species of fish in San Felipe Creek, the first new fish discovered in Texas in over 30 years.  The San Felipe gambusia was first noticed in 1997 by Gary Garrett, a research biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  He asked biology professor Robert Edwards to help him identify it, and the two spent years reviewing existing collections before writing a scientific paper documenting the discovery.  They gave it the scientific name of Gambusia clarkshubbi to honor renowned UT Austin fish expert Clark Hubbs.  Garrett and Edwards said the fish had probably been in the Creek for many years, but by 1997 it had became easier to find because its numbers increased due to efforts by the city of Del Rio and the San Felipe Country Club to improve the Creek's habitat.  

San Felipe Spring #3
This is Spring #3 in the graphic above. Water bubbles up from the depths and runs out of this chamber, filling the swimming hole in Horseshoe Park. The massive pipes sticking into the Springs here supply the City of Del Rio.

Discharge from Spring #3
Photo taken from the other side of the wall in the photo above, showing the discharge of Spring #3 toward the swimming hole.

Swimming hole
A view of the swimming hole in Horseshoe Park, still a popular place to cool off. Notice the old railroad bridge suspended above the creek.

Another view of the swimming hole 
From the opposite bank and looking in the opposite direction from the photo above. Notice Highway 90 suspended over the swimming hole in the background.

Blue Lake
Water leaving Blue Lake, which is fed by Springs 1, 2, and 4. Notice how discharge from the Lake is split. Water flowing to San Felipe Creek is running over the spillway on the right, and the Acequia Madre Canal is on the left.

Acequia Madre Canal 
The headwaters of the Acequia Madre canal just below Blue Lake.

Historical Marker for the Canal System of Del Rio

The sign says:

Crude irrigation systems, drawing water from San Felipe Springs and Creek, were first devised by Indian and Spanish inhabitants of this area. Anglo-American settlers also saw the need for irrigation in this arid region, and about 1869 a group of landowners formed the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing & Irrigation Company. Among early stockholders were W. C. Adams, Donald Jackson, Joseph Ney, Randolph Pafford, James H. Taylor, and A. O. Strickland. They dammed San Felipe Creek just below the Springs, and by 1871 had built canals diverting water to 1,500 acres of land.

Under an 1875 irrigation law, the company received a 99-year state charter which authorized the digging of two canals: five mile long "Madre Ditch", and mile-long "San Felipe Ditch", plus lateral canals. In 1876 the state inspector reported that the San Felipe Company had irrigated about 3,000 acres. Land grant provisions of an 1876 law awarded the Company 5,000 acres of state land for the total mileage of its canals.

In addition to promoting agricultural development, the work of the San Felipe Company stimulated the growth of Del Rio, since the irrigation canals provided water to the city as well. Today this vital water supply system is still in operation.


Historical Marker for San Felipe Springs 

Located at Spring #3, the marker says:

Oasis for explorers, soldiers, freighters - from 1542 onward.

In 1675 priests named the 7 springs for King of Spain.  In 18th century Comanches camped here on their war trail into Mexico.  In 1808 a mission was established 3 miles downstream, on San Felipe Creek.  By 1856-57 springs were on the 1470-mile San Antonio-to-San Diego mail route and on Chihuahua Road for wagons hauling silver and gold from Mexico to Indianola, then chief port on Texas coast.

After settlers came in 1864, irrigation "Mother Ditch" was dug:  soon Del Rio was founded.