San Esteban Lake (Rio Grande River Basin)

San Esteban Lake is located ten miles south of Marfa in Presidio County, on Alamito Creek, a tributary of the Rio Grande. The lake is now owned by Alpha Twenty One Corporation for irrigation and recreation purposes. Construction of the dam began in 1910 and was completed in 1911 by St. Stephen Land and Irrigation Company. The lake was first named Alamito Dam after the Creek. The present name was adopted after the dam was constructed and was named for the water hole and settlement merged by the lake. The dam is a concrete pier and deck type structure of 400 feet long with a maximum height of 68 foot. The lake has a capacity of 18,770 acre-feet encompassing an area of 762 acres at the conservation pool elevation of 4,451 feet above mean sea level. The drainage area above the dam is unknown but the lake has been mostly dry due to lack of stream flow.