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San Felipe Springs
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Locations of the various San Felipe Springs
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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.
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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.
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San Felipe
Spring #3 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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The headwaters of the Acequia Madre canal just below Blue Lake. |
Historical Marker for the Canal
System of Del Rio |
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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 |
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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.
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