Hydraulic fracturing has been used to create and subsequently to enlarge the first hot dry rock heat-extraction loop at Fenton Hill, New Mexico. Encouraging results prompted the DOE to expand this project into a program of national scope. The elements of that Program and their present status are discussed. Emphasis is given the ongoing Fenton Hill Project where techniques and information developed in the existing research system will soon be used to produce a multiply-fractured engineering system in hotter rock at the same site. Recent results from research loop operation and progress in constructing the engineering system are reported. Although acoustic mapping and system geometry indicate that the primary hydraulic fractures are essentially vertical, relatively low fracturing pressure and absence of a sharp breakdown suggest that at Fenton Hill fracture initiation occurs by reopening of old natural fractures rather than by initiation of new ones. Flow patterns and temperature behavior suggest opening of additional old fractures as the loop is operated. Except where the hot fluid leaves the crack system to enter the production well, flow impedances are very low without either artificial propping or inflation by pressurization.