The Chronicles Of Grant County

Main Street As The Big Ditch – Part One

Aerial View of Big Ditch Park in Silver City, NM (The photograph was included in the "Silver City Greenways and Big Ditch Master Plan" and was provided courtesy of the Town of Silver City.)

Trees and other vegetation can be seen in this aerial view looking south through Downtown Silver City. At the turn of the last century, much of the Town's original Main Street was located where this greenery is today.

A beautiful park with a name that may seem odd to some – the Big Ditch Park – winds its way through the heart of Silver City.

It may look like a well-planned use of land to allow water to flow naturally through the center of the town. While it is that, its development came about not because of the original town plan. The Big Ditch Park became reality because of devastating floods that transformed Main Street into a gully.

Flood waters have been part of life for Silver City since its settlement as a town in the early 1870s.

Two floods in particular – one in 1895 and a second one in 1903 – altered the course of history – and development – in the county seat of Grant County.

The news of the flood on July 21, 1895, was reported by news organizations in the Southwest and the Rocky Mountain regions as well as by other news organizations throughout the United States. The front page of The Eagle of Silver City on July 31, 1895, included a round-up of several news articles detailing the flood that devastated Silver City ten days earlier. A few excerpts:

The Denver Times reported on July 22, 1895, that "A tremendous washout is reported at Silver City, NM, last night, which washed away the greater part of the business portion of the city and a long...[stretch] of the Santa Fe [Railroad] track."

The El Paso Times reported on July 23, 1895, that "The Santa Fe [Railroad] was delayed nine hours by a washout and the Silver City special is still unaccounted for...Last night the operator at Whitewater, sixteen miles this side of Silver City, telegraphed that the wires were down between Whitewater and Silver City."

The Albuquerque Citizen reported on July 23, 1895, that "There were many thrilling and narrow escapes from drowning by people living in the flooded districts, and heroic rescues were made by taking people on horseback from houses...[some buildings are greatly] damaged by the mud piled up four feet in the streets and water rushing through stores and offices."

From The Eagle itself, the following dispatch was sent to Associated Press newspapers on July 23, 1895: "Between 9 o'clock and midnight Sunday night five inches of rain fell in this city, and on the mountains north it was very much greater. Before 9 o'clock water was rushing down the mountain sides in torrents, and a few minutes later the business streets were filled with a flood from four to eight feet deep. The grade of the streets is heavy, and the water rushed through them with such swiftness that crossing was impossible."

"A foot bridge, constructed so people in the lower part of town could cross to a place of safety in case of a flood, was swept away and all means of getting out of the flooded district were cut off," the dispatch from The Eagle continued. "The night was intensely dark, and for three hours the people were panic stricken. Scores of people gave themselves up for lost when some weaker buildings began to crumble before the flood. The business part of the city beggars description."

The Town of Silver City rebuilt, but its Main Street was now reportedly 35 feet below grade level.

To help protect the Town, a large dam was built. But that dam did not stop another devastating flood in 1903. Those events will be detailed in The Chronicles Of Grant County next week.

An entrance to the Big Ditch Park is located in the central part of Silver City, New Mexico. (The photograph was provided courtesy of Ken Ladner, 2020.)

Do you have questions about communities in Grant County?

A street name? A building?

Your questions may be used in a future news column.

Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@mail.com. 

© 2020 Richard McDonough