Our Retama Village resident group gathers at the entrance to the museum. The original Hidalgo Pump House was built in 1909. The current electric pump station raises water 42 feet from the Rio Grande River to this canal.  The water flows into the holding lake behind the canal wall in the photo.  From there the water flows in an underground canal, 15 miles to Edinburg , Texas. Once the water has been pumped out of the river, gravity moves it inland. This is a statue of Father Miguel Hidalgo who is considered the father of the country of Mexico for leading the Revolution in 1810. This is the first Humble Oil pump installed in Hidalgo; a 1926 Bowser gasoline pump Two of the original pumps.  They were steam powered. One of the diesel engines is in the background that were used instead of steam for a while. Another pump.  At their peak capacity, all of the Hidalgo pumps move 463,000 gallons per minute. There is a model railroad club who has an extensive HO gauge layout on display in the museum. The layout is quite extensive with a high level of detail...a wedding party coming out of church. Vic's Limestone Quarry display. A pretty good shot of one of the trains. Merry Christmas at the RV park. The original Golden Arches of McDonald's. The Lionel Electric Train Center. This is one of the original boilers that created the steam for the pumps. They were first fed by mesquite wood, then by diesel oil.  Then the boilers were The feed water pump supply softened water into the boilers The water being feed into the boilers was softened with salt to reduce calcium buildup in the boiler tubes. The remaining smoke stack.  At its peak, the Hidalgo Pump Station had two smokestacks. An antique Ford tractor used in the Rio Grande Valley. Even though the weather was damp and cloudy, the butterflies were out. On our trolley tour of the Hidalgo area, we passed a group of police trainees practicing traffic control.? $1.65 for regular gas...not the cheapest in the Valley!
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