Yesterday we went to the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse and Birding Center. This site is the original water pump station built in 1904 that brought the Rio Grande River water up into it's plant, 
generated power from the water, and pushed the water up north about 20 miles north of the River to irrigate farmlands. Was a pretty big feat to do back then. Two men rescued the abandonded pumphouse (went high tech in the late 1950's and then shut down due to other plant on-board about a mile down river) and made it into a teaching/historical museum. Very educational - they get many classes from schools coming through to teach the kids how the "Magic Valley" started and was populated. Seems just about anything that is planted here grows, hence the 'magic'. In the lower level of the museum a model train club has set up an accurate display of trains, tracks, the towns along the river - churches, schools, jails, post offices, houses, industries and agriculture minitures. The 'conductor' that described the railroad system to us - of all places he was originally from - Elyria!, was so proud of the display since he carved many of the models, telling us how the valley started and how the trains made movement of agriculture products to the north possible which in turn made the valley very prosperous, turning from agriculture to industry to retail. As a matter of fact, the city of McAllen (population 110,000) today serves 1.5 
million people in the retail industry. There are 4 Super WalMarts, 4 Lowes, 4 Home Depots, 6 indoor malls, bazillion restaurants and hotels, you name it - it's here. The Pumphouse also is one of the nine main birding sites along the Rio Grande and we had planned to walk the trails afterward. However. If you look closely at the picture here you will see a Border Patrol Car parked right at the museum - not surprising since we were right at the border and you see these cars all the time. We got to the starting point of the trail and 2 couples stopped us, they were just coming back from the path and we were at the starting point - they were wide eyed and stammering. They were stopped by the FBI, police and Border Patrol with guns drawn at them! Yikes. They instructed them to get back to the Pumphouse and not venture on the path. Needless to say - we didn't go hiking. And as we drove away - we made sure that we were heading north (towards McAllen) and not south!
generated power from the water, and pushed the water up north about 20 miles north of the River to irrigate farmlands. Was a pretty big feat to do back then. Two men rescued the abandonded pumphouse (went high tech in the late 1950's and then shut down due to other plant on-board about a mile down river) and made it into a teaching/historical museum. Very educational - they get many classes from schools coming through to teach the kids how the "Magic Valley" started and was populated. Seems just about anything that is planted here grows, hence the 'magic'. In the lower level of the museum a model train club has set up an accurate display of trains, tracks, the towns along the river - churches, schools, jails, post offices, houses, industries and agriculture minitures. The 'conductor' that described the railroad system to us - of all places he was originally from - Elyria!, was so proud of the display since he carved many of the models, telling us how the valley started and how the trains made movement of agriculture products to the north possible which in turn made the valley very prosperous, turning from agriculture to industry to retail. As a matter of fact, the city of McAllen (population 110,000) today serves 1.5 
million people in the retail industry. There are 4 Super WalMarts, 4 Lowes, 4 Home Depots, 6 indoor malls, bazillion restaurants and hotels, you name it - it's here. The Pumphouse also is one of the nine main birding sites along the Rio Grande and we had planned to walk the trails afterward. However. If you look closely at the picture here you will see a Border Patrol Car parked right at the museum - not surprising since we were right at the border and you see these cars all the time. We got to the starting point of the trail and 2 couples stopped us, they were just coming back from the path and we were at the starting point - they were wide eyed and stammering. They were stopped by the FBI, police and Border Patrol with guns drawn at them! Yikes. They instructed them to get back to the Pumphouse and not venture on the path. Needless to say - we didn't go hiking. And as we drove away - we made sure that we were heading north (towards McAllen) and not south! 
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