The Cibola Citizen is publishing a series on the history of Bluewater and the creation of Bluewater State Park.
Brief synopsis of Part I: The Bluewater Land and Irrigation Company was registered in Valencia County in 1894. (Cibola, created on June 19, 1981, had originally been part of Valencia County.) The BLIC began work in 1895 on the Blue Water Canyon dam which included a 400-acre reservoir. Floodwaters from the partial dam failure in 1903 damaged homes, fields, and part of the Santa Fe Railroad track. The original corporation filed bankruptcy; the Bluewater Development Company took on the project, but inadequate engineering resulted in structural problems, according to New Mexico Territorial Engineer Charles D. Miller, who acknowledged that the defects could have eliminated if the BDC had utilized expert supervision during the construction process.
(The Cibola Citizen published Part I on April 7, page B4.)
Brief synopsis of Part II: Residents of Albuquerque, Bluewater, and Gallup hosted a three-day Fourth of July dedication in 1927 to celebrate completion of the main Bluewater storage dam. Frihoff G. Nielson attended as a representative of the early instigators of the reservoir project. The organizers recognized E.A. Tietjen, who had partnered with Frihoff in the earlier dam projects.
The U.S. Highway System announced plans in 1926 for Route 66, which connected Chicago, Illinois with Los Angeles, California. The roadway was one of the original highways in this country. Route 66 was also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America, and the Mother Road.
The New Mexico Highway Department had improved the roadbed in November 1927 by grading and installing crushed stone surfacing on 10.4 miles of Route 66 between Grants and Bluewater.
The Main Street of America roadway, which connected the Midwest with the West Coast, was scheduled for completion in 1928.
(The Cibola Citizen published Part II on April 14, page B4.)
The 1926 alignment for Route 66, between Gallup and Grants, was planned for just north of Bluewater.
This access to interstate transportation contributed to the prosperity of the nearby agricultural community that flourished after the completion of Bluewater Lake. The availability of water for irrigation encouraged widespread farming activities. Vegetable growing, especially carrots, became the most popular crops.
The State of New Mexico paid $106,000 to purchase 168 acres in 1937 and Governor Clyde Tingley signed legislation that created Bluewater State Park. The park is between Gallup and Grants along Interstate 40, seven miles southwest of Prewitt, McKinley County, via NM-412.
“In 1939 the first shipment of carrots reached the eastern market and attracted much attention for the color and size and quality,” reported the Gallup Daily Independent.
The 1940 U.S. Census identified the increasing ethnic diversity of Bluewater; and the report included one additional head of household compared to the 1930 data. Surnames included Abirin, Angel, Bowlin, Fitch, Hertet, Roundy, Treyque, Tucker, Vaden, Whetten, and Wilcoxan, among others.
Controversy surrounded water rights even prior to the establishment of the state park. The Bluewater-Toltec Irrigation District and the State Game Commission signed the 1948 Bluewater Lake Minimum Pool Agreement, which stated that all water below 7,365 feet belonged to the state Department of Game and Fish and all water above that level belonged to the B-TID.
Farmers increased their reliance on pumping water from the underground aquifer to irrigate crops following the signing of the Minimum Pool Agreement which had reduced the amount of water available to members of the B-TID.
The area’s carrot production had flourished between 1941-56 but a drop in the aquifer level caused growers to reduce vegetable production by late 1956.
The State Parks and Recreation Commission assumed operational/oversight responsibilities for Bluewater State Park in 1955. The park was expanded in 1958 when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management ceded 236.64 acres for recreational use. A further expansion occurred with the 1962 BLM donation of an additional 117.96 acres.
The Cold War directly affected this region, especially agriculture. The booming uranium mining industry required substantial amounts of water for its operations. Some agricultural landowners, who suffered from competition by farmers in other states, sold their water rights to the mining companies because the water rights had a higher sale value than the actual real estate.
(Mineral rights, water rights, and land ownership are three separate entities. Mineral rights and surface rights can be owned by two different parties, if the mineral rights have been sold to another person or entity, according to www.rangerminerals.com)
The uranium mining industry created environmental threats which were not identified during the boom period.
The U.S. Congress enacted the 1978 Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act in response to groundwater contamination that had resulted from uranium mining and ore processing.
The Bluewater Uranium Mill closed in 1982. All the mill tailings from the decommissioned enterprise were placed into six onsite disposal cells. The main cell, 354 acres, holds 23 million tons, approximately 90 percent, of the contaminated tailings.
Expansion of the freeway system following the end of WWII directly affected the economic vitality of this region. Route 66 was no longer the Main Street of America because of the extensive by-pass system which eliminated direct access to many places across the U.S.
Interstate 40 bypassed Albuquerque in 1970; other bypasses included Santa Rosa, 1972, Moriarty, 1973, Grants, 1974, San Jon, 1976, and Gallup, 1980.
In present day usage the term “Bluewater” means the land around Bluewater Lake or the land around the town of Bluewater wrote author Eugene Sabin in 2014, “Story of Bluewater.”
Although Bluewater was never much more than a railroad loading station; a trading post, two motels, a café, garage, and gas station, the proximity to Route 66 contributed to its once lively business community, according to www.legendsofamerica.com › nm-continentaldivide.
Sabin is the great-grandson of Ernst Albert Tietjen, who has been credited for founding the town of Bluewater.
Area residents and Cibola County Historical Society members contributed to this series.