Park Elevation 3,962 ft Make a reservation on the New Mexico State Parks reservation website. Night sky programs are very popular at this park, which features an observatory. Some of these trails take visitors to historic structures at the park. Leasburg Dam State Park offers peace and relaxation, a beautiful cactus garden, several hiking trails, and opportunities for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and birding. The nearby Fort Selden site is a 19th century army outpost that is famous for its Buffalo Soldiers.Ī short 25 minute drive from bustling Las Cruces brings you to this quiet park along the Rio Grande. The historic El Camino Real used by the Spanish to supply northern colonies around Santa Fe passes near the park including the infamous Jornada del Muerto section. Its purpose was to provide irrigation water for the Mesilla Valley. The dam was the first water diversion structure built on the Rio Grande in New Mexico by the Reclamation Service, predating Elephant Butte Dam by almost 10 years. A visitor center offers exhibits on frontier and military life and living history demonstrations are occasionally offered.The historic Leasburg Dam, Leasburg Canal, and Dam Tender’s House perched at the edge of the bluff overlooking the dam were built between 19 by the U.S. Today the stark adobe brick walls of the frontier past evoke a feeling of personal connection to the past. By 1890 criminals and raiding parties were no longer considered a threat as hostilities and, like many small forts in the Southwest, the government decommissioned the fort and it was abandoned in 1891. A young Douglas Mac Arthur called the fort home while his father was post commander in the late 1880s. Several of the units stationed at the fort were black troopers, referred to as Buffalo Soldiers. Infantry and Cavalry, the intent was to protect settlers and travelers in the Mesilla Valley from desperados and Apache Indians. The fort was established in an effort to bring peace to the south-central region of present-day New Mexico. Built in 1865 by troops from Albuquerque, the entire post was constructed of adobe with the exception of the Administration Building. The most popular site to visit is Fort Selden State Monument. From about mid-March to mid-October the park is also a venue for fishing, canoeing, and kayaking in the Rio Grande. Leasburg Dam State Park offers year-round camping, picnicking, and bird watching. Constructed in 1908, it is one of the oldest diversion dams in New Mexico which was constructed not to hold back the flow of the Rio Grande river, but to instead divert it into a system of canals for use by nearby farms. It flourished for almost 50 years, then fell from favor, and was even once used as a women’s prison and also an art center.Īnother unique feature of Radium Springs is the Leasburg Dam. It attracted many people who felt the water was beneficial for arthritis, nerve problems, and many other diseases. It was when the post office was established, that a mineral analysis of the water was performed and showed enough “millimicrocuries” of radium per liter of water that the town could use the word “radium” in its name! In the 1920s the Radium Springs Resort Hotel was built with bathhouses connected to the wells. The community owes its name to the free-slowing mineral hot springs that were often frequented by soldiers from nearby Fort Selden. The small town of Radium Springs is located on NM-185 east of the Rio Grande and across from Fort Selden State Monument and the ruins of a 19th-century army outpost Fort Selden.
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