The first time I saw the Rio Grande, I was disappointed. Having grown up in the Southwest, the reality just didn’t match up to the grandeur of its legend. It wasn’t until much later on that I came to discover it was man’s intervention that had diminished this once mighty tributary. Dams and irrigation canals, though life-giving to those who settled along its banks over the centuries, had sucked the pomp out of the river itself. The Rio Grande, once known as the Mississippi of the Southwest, had become the Rio Pequeño over time. And nobody feels the effect more than the poor citizens of our neighbor to the South, Mexico. But that’s another story.
Today, the Rio Grande follows a completely different path than the lazy, twisty, windy sojourn it once traveled. The bosque that once marked its passage for miles on both sides, is long gone, except in small pockets where conservationists and national parks try desperately to preserve it. The annual floods that once swelled its banks and brought life to the surrounding desert have been tamed by human engineering. It’s hard to complain about such things, because without that engineering, there couldn’t be places like Las Cruces or Truth or Consequences along it’s banks. And let’s not forget the chile industry, which has become part of the lifeblood of this area. It’s all give and take, in the end.
Still, I wonder at times what it must have been like to come across an immense body of water, in the middle of the desert, that stretched so far it was difficult to see the other side. What must those early pioneers have thought? Had they finally reached the ocean they’d heard so much about? Were they, in fact, in California? Maybe. Maybe, not. The irony is that it was this great body of water that convinced those pioneers they should settle here. It’s all part of the history of the area, dating back to the mid-16th century. That, in and of itself, creates a mystique that will always lend charm to the Rio Grande; both for the people who live here and those who make a pilgrimage to its diminished banks, in search of the true wellspring of the Great American Southwest.
Lush vegetation and filled to the banks only during the monsoon months.
Still, the winter lends its own beauty to el Rio.
Articles and Resources:
Living In Las Cruces: A River To Flow Through It
http://www.livinginlascruces.com/html/SP2008/riogrande.html
Wikipedia Entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande
Google Timeline with links to articles and historical texts:
http://www.google.com/archivesearch?as_user_ldate=1500&as_user_hdate=2009&q=rio+grande&scoring=t&hl=en&um=1&q=rio+grande&lnav=od&btnG=Go
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