The Chronicles Of Grant County

Main Street As The Big Ditch – Part Two

 Signage at the Big Ditch Park detail aspects of Silver City being an oasis in the desert, its devastation by floods, and its efforts to protect the natural watershed. (The photograph was provided courtesy of the Town of Silver City.)The Big Ditch Park was created by people, but the land was shaped by nature. Floods of water carved the ground into what you see today when you visit this passive recreational area in Downtown Silver City.

Two major floods, in particular, impacted the Grant County seat. The major flood of 1895 was detailed in last week's edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County. This edition provides some background on a second major flood, this one in 1903.

To help protect Silver City from flooding, a large dam was built. But that dam did not stop the devastating flood in 1903.

On April 4, 1903, the Albuquerque Weekly Citizen reported that "The big Main Street dam is progressing nicely under the personal supervision of J. A. Harlan, the contractor. When completed it will take a mighty stupendous flood to wash it away, and Mr. Harlan believes that no flood in the next fifty years will be able to even give the dam a fair test as to strength and durability when he turns it over to the city [Town] council of Silver City."

About three months later, the Albuquerque Morning Journal – "The Only Daily Newspaper Published In New Mexico" – included a headline about Silver City on its front page of its edition dated July 15, 1903: "Big Dam Holds." The subheadline stated that "Floods At Silver City Will Henceforth Be Under Control – Crowd Watch First Trial Of Structure."

This news article detailed that the dam was quite large – "one of the largest structures of the kind in New Mexico" – and noted that "If it withstands the flood that annually come down from the mountains it will prove a great boon to Silver City."

The Albuquerque Morning Journal included quotes from the Silver City Independent newspaper in its news article: "The shower of Friday afternoon brought a fair sized stream of water down the Main street arroyo...The syphon at the dam was put into use and worked admirably...Present indications are that the dam is the right thing in the right place."

Unfortunately for the people of Silver City, nature was far more powerful than the dam built by people.

That power was evident in the devastation that befell the Town on the afternoon of August 11, 1903.

In a news article with the headline of "Silver City Flooded" on August 15, 1903, The Deming Headlight detailed the destruction in Silver City: "A wall of water seven feet high rushed through the residence portion of the town Tuesday flooding homes and stores and ruining their contents. In the streets debris was piled to a depth of several feet. The new dam was partially wrecked. Dozens of families are homeless and destitute. It is conservatively estimated that the loss will reach $100,000."

To put that number in perspective, $100,000 in 1903 would equate to more than $2.6 million in July of 2020. [Note: Official statistics from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics only go back to January of 1913. Thus, the actual value of the damage in 1903 would likely be substantially more with an additional ten years of data.]

This news article also quoted later information from the Silver City Enterprise newspaper. Though that local newspaper did not indicate the damage was as severe as detailed by the newspaper in Deming, the Silver City Enterprise did note that while "Nearly every business house in town is supplied with floodgates to bar the water from entrances, and they proved a great help…the liquid mud in most cases seeped under the boards and spread across the floors, depositing a sediment several inches deep."

"...The business portion of the town presented a thoroughly desolate appearance and at first it was thought the loss to the merchants would be very heavy," the information from the Silver City Enterprise continued. "Fortunately the loss was much lighter than the appearances of the stores would lead one to believe..."

On August 19, 1903, the Deming Graphic reported that storms also hit Silver City the day after the massive flood of August 11th. This newspaper quoted an unnamed "eye witness" who indicated that while there was no loss of human life, the person did confirm that at least two horses were killed in the flood.

"The actual loss, however is comparatively small and the exaggerated reports sent out by sensational newspaper correspondents are almost wholly without foundation," according to the unnamed eyewitness. "The big item of loss occurred Tuesday [August 11th] when the flood undermined a section of the news $15,000 dam in Main Street, taking it out and ruining the use of the structure for this year at least. It will require about $2,500 to repair it."

The Las Vegas Optic noted – wryly – the situation with flooding in Silver City in a small news article on August 21, 1903. The news article detailed the ground-breaking for a new Methodist Episcopal church (at 500 West Broadway, the former location of what is known today as the "First United Methodist Church of Silver City"): "It will be comforting to the brethren of the faith in Silver City to know it is on high ground."

A few days later, on August 26, 1903, the Deming Graphic indicated that "A force of men are rapidly removing all evidence of the recent floods from the streets of Silver City."

The Town of Silver City again rebuilt. After the floods of the early 1900s, much of its Main Street was now reportedly 55 feet below grade level.

One building remains from the time of these floods more than 100 years ago. We'll detail aspects of that structure in The Chronicles Of Grant County next week.

 An aerial map shows the site of the Big Ditch through the center of Silver City. (This map was provided courtesy of the United States Geological Survey.)

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