Espada Dam

When I went to go visit the Espada Dam after visiting and learning about Mission Espada, I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful the scenery was. While we were driving to the dam we could see exactly what the ranger from the Mission was talking about when he was saying that the mission roads run parallel with the river taking every turn that the river takes. The atmosphere around the dam was so peaceful. There were people out fishing and relaxing.

While standing on a bridge that they recently put over the acequia, I tried to imagine how this particular piece of land was back then when this river and aqueduct were so vital to everyday life. Now it is just a place to relax and try to catch some fish. There were old tires, shoes, and beer bottles in the river that kind of took away the feeling of how important it used to be at one time.

The Espada Dam is the oldest functioning aqueduct in the United States. It was constructed in 1745 to help get the water from the San Antonio River into the acequias for the Spanish colonial missions to use for their crops and animals to survive. The Spanish Missions had to find a way to get the water from the San Antonio River closer to the missions so it would be more accessible to water their crops and do their daily chores without being so far away from the mission just incase anything happened while they were gone.

The Espada Dam is originally 270 feet long and about 8 feet tall. It has been through many horrible floods and storms and still stands strong. It has only needed minor repairs once to be able to keep its condition maintained. Just down the stream a little ways from the dam is where the acequia meets back up with the San Antonio river and joins to be one again.

Today the water is still flowing well over the Espada dam and it is still doing its job. The Espada Dam is not relied on for crops and everyday life today as it was so many years ago but we still remember all that they had to do and how creative they had to be while creating such a masterpiece to help them live their lives. We appreciate them for everything that they did to make the best out of their situations, then after a while realize that we may take our running water for granted sometimes!