Rattlesnake Springs Historic District, Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The Rattlesnake Springs Historic District is part of an isolated unit of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, surrounding a spring that creates an oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert. The area was homesteaded and farmed in 1880 by William Henry Harrison. Harrison, who claimed kinship with U.S. President William Henry Harrison, established the Harrison ditch system to irrigate the lands, which remains in existence, and which is responsible for the landscaped appearance of the area today. Harrison died in 1930, and the National Park Service acquired the property as a source of water for the national park, 6 miles to the north and west. The Park Service built a number of structures in the Territorial Revival style. ()