From Hot Springs to Truth or Consequences

In 1950, Ralph Edwards, a nationally syndicated radio host, issued a challenge for a town to rename itself after his show, “Truth or Consequences.” New Mexico’s Hot Springs took the challenge.

For 50 years after the town earned its new name, Edwards came to T or C and rode as the marshal of its annual parade each year. That’s just part of the story.

For that reason and others, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico is unique. Set in the Chihuahuan desert, it is awash with water. In our broiling climate, it offers water often hotter than the summer heat to relax in. Additionally, it helps irrigate the rest of southern New Mexico and the region’s abundant crops.

Nearby, a futuristic spaceport aims for the stars. Like its odd name, T or C is unique indeed.

A little background is needed. Humans have soaked in these hot springs bubbling out of the ground since before recorded history. Native American artifacts found in excavations of the springs attest to their early presence.

The great Apache warrior Geronimo has a spring named after him there. The hot springs are fed by a vast reservoir of water laden with minerals underneath the town. True, numerous hot springs bubble up out of the state’s landscape, but none are so accessible as those at T or C. That’s why it was originally named Palomas Hot Springs in 1882, later reduced to just Hot Springs.

The volcanic mesa called Elephant Butte which juts up just north of T or C is a result of volcanoes in the vicinity. This massive butte looks like an elephant walking to the Rio Grande for a drink of cool water. Toward the end of the 19th century, Dr. Nathan E. Boyd wanted to dam the Rio Grande at Elephant Butte.

As a private enterprise, he needed more than money to dam the waters. He needed agreements with downriver entities who had claims on the water. Texas and Mexico both had legal rights to the Rio’s waters. Boyd also faced resistance from local ranchers who would lose their land to the growing reservoir behind the dam.

Ultimately, it took an act of the U. S. Congress to solve all the difficulties that had defeated Boyd. The Newlands Act of 1902 created the Reclamation Bureau which started to build large dams around the West. Elephant Butte was one of the first, begun in 1912. The dam opened in 1916, distributing water to Hatch and the Mesilla Valley (40 %), El Paso (40%), and Mexico (20%).

The release of waters through the summer growing season have helped make southern New Mexico an agricultural mecca and have supplied drinking water for El Paso although the drought of the early decades in the 21st century has sometimes forced reductions in these amounts.

Since the 1980s, T or C had experienced a revival. Artists and craftspeople from Santa Fe came looking for a cheaper place to live and create. Retirees arrived chasing the sun at an affordable price. Entrepreneurs bought up old hotels and warehouses to establish spas and restaurants, a surprising array of amenities in a town like T or C.

Then a science fiction vision arrived. Thirty miles east of T or C, Spaceport America opened in 2006, promising suborbital flights (up to 50 miles above Earth and back) for space tourists. Using over $200 million in public funding to build, Spaceport America offers seats which cost $450,000 per person for the 45-minute ride. To date, less than 50 adventurers have flown into the wild blue from there.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Elephant Butte Dam transformed the desert of south-central New Mexico into a vibrant agricultural Mecca. The hope is that Spaceport America will create an equal boom for southern New Mexico. For the region, the question remains — will this be the truth? Or will there be consequences?