The late 19th and early 20th-century elements of the project were designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1964.

In order to work this area agriculturally settlers arriving in the late 19th century turned to irrigation to provide water for their crops.

Charles B. Eddy and Pat Garrett, two local ranchers and businessmen, hatched the idea of a larger and more organized corporate-run irrigation system to serve the entire lower Pecos River valley.

The project got underway in 1889, when construction began on the Avalon Dam, which now serves as a diversion and regulation point for the system.

It was then taken over by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which completed reconstruction of the Avalon Dam in 1907, and has overseen the project since.