Conchas
Dam was one of a number of Depression-era New Deal projects
completed in New Mexico. Pressed for by Governor Clyde Tingley,
the project started in 1935 under Roosevelt's Emergency
Relief Appropriation Act. The act required Captain Hans
Kramer, the Engineer for the new Corps District, to get
90% of his employees from relief roles. Most of the employees
were unskilled and knew only of horses, buggies and wagons.
Here they were taught construction methods, safety, and
how to operate equipment and vehicles.
Prior
to dam construction, a road to the isolated construction
site and an entire town had to be built to provide utilities,
services and housing for the project workers. Work provided
for administrative facilities, repair shops, a church, hospital,
school, stores, and a movie theater. The 24-bed hospital
was the most modern in the state. Being remote, locally
available materials such as adobe and quarried sandstone
were used as much as possible. Workers made 745,000 adobe
bricks to construct the camp.
To
Provide the maximum number of jobs, the relief project used
hand labor extensively. Sledge hammers for breaking rock,
and shovels were the primary tools. In spite of some wages
as low as $0.25 per hour, there was no shortage of people
applying for work. Construction of the camp employed 2,500
people. A second peak in employment occurred during the
construction of the south dike when 1,458 workers were employed
simultaneously. These workers braved harsh environment of
dust bowl storms, cold prairie winters and blistering summer
sun.
In keeping with the goals of the New Deal proponents, the
projects administration building and employee housing were
designed in the Spanish Pueblo Revival style in order to
blend into the regional surroundings. These buildings, still
in use today, utilized the dismantled adobe bricks from
the construction camp.
