Ramah Lake Dam - Ramah, New Mexico - Water Dams on Waymarking.com

The original dike was built in 1894 to provide additional irrigation for the less than 11 inches of annual rainfall the Ramah Valley recieves. This was because the valley's fertile fields were an important source of food products for the city of Gallup during the latter part of the 19th century. Twice the dam failed, first in 1897 and again in 1905 due to heavy runoff during the spring thaws.

Today, Ramah Lake is a popular no-wake fishing spot for anglers seeking trout and catfish. The lake is very a picturesque spot for picnics or hiking as can been seen from this photo.

Of course there is often another side to the story about a dam. Here is an excerpt from a document a session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues that tells a different story about the dam.

For countless generations in the high desert region where rain is very rare and the land is constantly thirsty, the Zuni River flowed through the village sustaining the Zuni/A:shiwi people, our rich agrarian lifeway, and the high desert landscape of our ancestors’ emergence. This sacred waterway is an umbilical cord for my people, a conduit linking us with our spiritual destiny, carrying prayers and offerings to Zuni Heaven, our final everlasting place.

The Zuni River was dammed and diverted by the Ramah Cattle Company, empowering Mormon missionary settlements upstream. The actions have strangled the flow of the river initiating the river’s struggle for survival. And with the demise of the river has come the beginning of a downward spiral of the nutritional health of Zuni people and threat to our culture. 1982 was the last time the river flowed through the village since the Ramah Dam was built. The precious waterway on which the community has relied for centuries, died in its sleep as some vulnerable children do, a Sudden Infant Death, leaving us with shock and anguish. A dead dry riverbed remains where the river once flowed. What was once a rich landscape awake with gardens, wheat and cornfields, is a parched land that only tears can soften today.

The document for the preceeding excerpt can be found here.