John M. Walker's quest to bring water to Alamogordo

Popular history often focuses on a single or brief series of figures that encapsulate an entire era or movement: it is not history’s fault, but rather our limited attention span that we have for the subject.

A byproduct of this practice is that history remembers the general, the revolutionary, and the great explorer, but rarely does history focus on the people that take a possibility and make it, often through shear strength of personality, into a historical reality. These soldiers, protesters, and settlers, make for a history too complex for the average reader, but in their stories, we find the true spirit of their struggle, and in doing so we might recognize a piece of it in ourselves.

Such might be said of the efforts of John M. Walker and his labors in the establishment of the town of Alamogordo.

While not as notable in the birth of Alamogordo as the Eddy Brothers or their partner and lawyer William Hawkins, John M. Walker was one of a small contingent that saw that the dream of a rail town, built from former grazing lands, was created to suit its new purpose.

Shortly after William H. Woods confirmed and rerouted the waters of Alamo Spring towards the future site of Alamogordo, John M. Walker was directed to funnel additional water from La Luz Creek towards the new town of Alamogordo. To do so, Walker would need to design and build a ditch system covering 6 miles of open desert, which is exactly what he did. Walker would layout and dig this ditch single-handedly, and when he was done with his masterpiece he released the waters of La Luz Creek, and rode on horseback back to Alamogordo to observe the fruits of his labors.

To his credit, his channel carried the needed water to the newly minted town, but upon arrival Walker realized the shortcoming of his design: he did not build a means of slowing or stopping the new source of water. As such, not only did this new rail hub have a steady source of water, but it also had an excess, and the town began to flood. Seeing the fault, Walker rode with all due speed back towards La Luz to stem the tide of the flooding.

In the end, Walker’s canal would not only provide water to the residents of Alamogordo, but also to Alameda Park, which was designed as a natural barrier between the commotion of the town’s rail yard and the town proper, with its ponds and groves of trees.

Walker’s work would not end with supplying water, as he continued his usefulness to the community by working with men like James Blakely, John Dale, and under the supervision of William Woods as part of the Alamogordo Improvement Company, the lot was tasked with plotting out the boundaries of the new community. Before they started their work building a town, the men housed their families in canvas tents on the edge of what would become decades later the main thoroughfare of town.

Ready set and brandishing a surveyor’s chain and compass supplied by Mr. Eddy, along with wagons full of wooden stakes; the crew began the work of laying out the dimensions of a future town from amongst the open desert, to include a proper grid system of streets.

While his efforts of defining the width and breadth of the new town of Alamogordo were of great import, his single-handed efforts to ensure that his community had the water necessary to feed the thousands of trees they had planted proved to be Walker’s greatest contribution to the area, and it was said that for years to come one could often find him riding along the length of his canal, shovel ready, to ensure that the water kept on flowing.

The Tularosa Basin Historical Society Museum of History is looking for to obtain a photograph of John M. Walker. TBHS does not have a picture of Walker in their collection. If anyone has a photograph of John M. Walker and wishes to donate it or give TBHS permission to copy it, they can call 575-434-4438.

Jeffrey A. Weiler is a volunteer docent at the Tularosa Basin Historical Society Museum of History who has a very strong background in history.