National Register Listing

Franklin Canal

Roughly, S of the Texas and Pacific--Southern Pacific RR tracks from western El Paso to Fabens, El Paso, TX

The Franklin Canal has significance for two reasons. First, for over a century, the canal has supplied a major volume of irrigation water to agricultural users in El Paso and to the more easterly parts of the county. In this function, it was successful after many failed attempts over several decades. Second, the canal represents the impetus for a more extensive joint irrigation project as mandated by the International Treaty of 1906-1907 between the United States and the Republic of Mexico.

The Franklin Canal's significance as an irrigation facility dates to the mid-19th century. As early as the 1840s the residents of the area on both sides of the Rio Grande attempted to improve irrigation facilities with dams on the river. However, these all proved unsuccessful; periodic flooding destroyed the dams. Finally, in 1889, the Franklin Canal provided some partial success on the U.S. side even without a dam. The origin of the canal was a rather complex matter. The Texas and Pacific Railroad had acquired the corridor of land that the canal follows today beginning in 1880. However, the railroad found that it had a broader corridor than it needed for its tracks in El Paso proper, so it sold the more southerly part of the corridor to the City of El Paso which subsequently granted right-of-way to the canal company. Farther east, the railroad eventually chose to run the tracks on a more northerly route so it sold an alternate route that it had purchased. This alternate route became a part of the canal route as well. The city eventually picked up legal title to the lands that became the canal before granting usage rights and a fifty-year franchise to the El Paso Irrigation Company, a private entity formed for the purpose of developing the canal and other irrigation facilities in the area.

Initial construction proceeded from 1889 to 1891 when the canal became fully operational throughout its length. A.J. McQuaid of Pueblo, Colorado, bought the company in 1890 and continued with construction and eventual operation. The 1900 El Paso City Directory lists it as named the Franklin Irrigation Company as reorganized under that name in 1898. The name appears to have been from the nearby Franklin Mountains, selected as many businesses select a local geographic name. Indeed, there had been a movement to rename the city of El Paso as "Franklin" during the 1880s but the change, obviously, never occurred. Even so, the Franklin name proved to be long-lasting in the local area. In 1909 still another group, the El Paso Water Users, bought the canal. Under private ownership, the canal supplied many agricultural users until 1912-1913 when the owners sold it to the federal government's Reclamation Service (now the Bureau of Reclamation). However, there had been some drought years during which little water could be supplied. The venture proved unprofitable for investors though it did aid agriculture in the area." Prior to the construction of the Mexican Diversion Dam in 1907, the Franklin Canal simply drew water directly from the Rio Grande, a method with much less control of flow than provided by the use of a diversion dam. After some early attempts, the Mexican diversion dam finally gave this control. With the greater capacity, the U.S. Reclamation Service purchased the canal in 1913 and upgraded it in 1914-1916. The subsequent placement of the All-American Canal and American Diversion Dam also depended on the location of the Franklin Canal which has its officially designated head at the same location as when first constructed. The importance of the canal is readily evident in the vegetation and usage of the lands for farming in areas supplied with irrigation water by the canal in contrast to those lacking irrigation nearby which have only scrubby native vegetation of the semi-arid region. The Reclamation Service purchased the canal for $125,994.09 in 1913, then conducted the major upgrade at a cost of $263,000, a project which employed 681 draft animals and 1200 men in March 1914.

Previously the canal simply had an earth lining but the upgrade included a concrete lining in a number of places. After the upgrade and employment of the diversion dams, the maximum flow of the canal has been approximately 325 CFS. Those sections that are concrete lined are 16 ft. wide. In addition, the Reclamation Service constructed concrete bridges across the canal, 17 timber and steel bridges, 12 timber wagon bridges, and 5 timber footbridges. Though the federal agency had purchased the canal, legal ownership of the land remained with the city for a number of years. On the expiration of the original franchise in 1939, the city released the legal ownership of the canal right-of-way to the United States. Maintenance of 33 bridges in the city that crossed the canal at that date, with full replacement upon their requiring such action, also fell to the United States under this agreement. Today, some 71 bridges cross the canal within the city of El Paso and in the eastern part of El Paso county. Ownership and maintenance of these bridges falls under a variety of more recent agreements. The fact that the majority of the bridges are relatively new and that the remainder has been replaced or extensively repaired since original construction is the primary reason that they are listed as noncontributing to the nomination. The Franklin Canal irrigates approximately 17,000 acres, though the number of users is constantly changing.

The Franklin Canal's significance as part of an international irrigation system stems from the terms of the Treaty of 1906 between the United States and Mexico. The early success of the Franklin Canal depleted the Rio Grande enough to bring protests from the Republic of Mexico. That nation found its own irrigation canals lacking the volumes of water that had been available in years prior to the development of the Franklin Canal. Mexico had 280 years of history of irrigation of its own in the El Paso area. So the United States recognized that a problem needed to be addressed. Engineers who studied the matter soon determined that a solution, in part, appeared to be diversion dam facilities across the Rio Grande, a proposition with obvious international implications. The Rio Grande frequently flooded but those in 1904 and 1905, were so serious as to further add to the impetus to construct dams that could serve the secondary purpose of controlling such future events (though contemporary newspapers say nothing about damage to the Franklin Canal they recount other widespread damage).

The United States and Mexico had maintained an International Boundary Commission since 1884 which had primarily negotiated rights over lands left on the opposite side of the Rio Grande after floods. This was an endless task and the Commission soon realized that it was essentially an agency exercising futility.

In 1906 the problems of water allocation led the U.S. and Mexico to add that aspect of border problems to the areas of consideration. The two nations engaged in formal diplomacy at the highest levels which resulted in a treaty. Representing the United States was the Secretary of State himself, Elihu C. Root. Representing Mexico was that nation's Ambassador to the U.S., Joaquin Caucasus. The treaty required the U.S. to deliver to the Acequia Madre, also known as the "Old Mexican Canal," at Ciudad Juarez, some 60,000 acre-feet of water per year. The terms included the following schedule of allotments:
January: 0
February: 1,090
March: 5,460
April: 12,000
May: 12,000
June: 12,000
July: 8,180
August: 4,370
September: 3,270
October: 1,090
November: 540
December: 0.

President Theodore Roosevelt placed his signature on the final document on May 21, 1906, and sent it on to the U.S. Senate which approved it on May 26.

The Mexican Congress approved it on January 5, 1907, and it was proclaimed in force on January 16, 1907. The treaty gave the International Boundary Commission a new but more reasonable task to accomplish. The treaty also marked an important U.S. realization of the rights of its immediate neighbor in Latin America during a period when overall Latin-American relations were at a very low point. From Mexico's viewpoint, the treaty marked a significant gain by the administration of Porfirio Diaz which was otherwise known for letting foreign business interests take advantage of the nation. Unfortunately for Diaz, his administration's success in this matter has been lost in the complex events of the Mexican Revolution which he himself did much to provoke a few years later.

Indeed, the new powers of the International Boundary Commission can not be over-emphasized. That entity subsequently constructed and maintained a series of diversion dams and irrigation canals all along the Rio Grande. As noted above, the Mexican Diversion Dam, the American Diversion Dam, and the All-American Canal are in the El Paso area. The Treaty also proved to be a major impetus toward the construction of Elephant Butte Dam in U.S. territory in the State of New Mexico for control of the Rio Grande as part of the compliance with terms for delivery of water to the Republic of Mexico, though Elephant Butte did not fall under the authority of the International Boundary Commission. To enforce the terms of the Treaty regarding the Rio Grande farther north where both banks are in U.S. territory, Congress passed a 1906 Amendment to the Reclamation Act of 1902 which applied that measure to Texas. Further, a 1944 expansion of the Treaty did apply to the International Boundary Commission in empowering it to build several other major facilities farther downstream on the Rio Grande. These include Amistad Dam and Reservoir near Del Rio, Texas, Falcon Dam and Reservoir, near Rio Grande City, Texas, and Anzalduas and Retamal Dams, near Brownsville, Texas. All of these facilities provide substantial irrigation waters to both sides of the river. Amistad and Falcon Dams have major power plants which send electricity to both the United States and Mexico. The success of this impressive series of facilities on an international border stems in large part from the original success of the Franklin Canal which proved cooperation was possible.

Local significance of the structure:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1992.