Old Hidalgo Pumphouse, Hidalgo, TX

We took a tour of The Old Hildago Pumphouse, built on the banks of the Rio Grande River in 1909.  It is the only remaining example of a steam powered irrigation pump.  The pumphouse used Honey Mesquite to fuel huge steam-driven boilers.  These boilers drove 20 ft diameter irrigation pumps that could take up to 250,000 gallons of water per minute from the Rio Grande and raise it to a network of gravity flow irrigation canals to make modern agriculture possible in Hidalgo County, Texas.  This maze of irrigation canals run throughout Hidalgo County and are still in use today.  A flood in 1933 changed the course of the river to a half-mile away from the pumphouse.  A channel was dug from the pumphouse to the river, to bring river water to the huge intake pipes of the pumphouse.   Through the years, the boilers were converted to oil, then natural gas, then diesel. The pumphouse was decommissioned in 1983.

Model

Boiler

 Part of Intake Pump

Water Pipes

 Water Pipes

How much water needed for a Bale of Cotton?

Water Softener

Intake values after the river changed course in 1933.

Flood Control Gates

The Old Hildago Pumphouse is part of the World Birding Center. We saw a variety of sparrows, black-bellied whistling ducks and even some turtles.