Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Dose of HistoryNatural SurroundingsValley of the Sun
Home›Dose of History›Roosevelt Dam Key to Valley Population Boom

Roosevelt Dam Key to Valley Population Boom

By Andrea Aker
August 12, 2010
1799
1

Paula, an Arizona Oddities reader, recently inquired about the history and creation of Roosevelt Dam. While that’s quite a long story with several sides, we’ve done our best to summarize a few key points in a short blog post.

Whenever I have questions like this about Arizona history, I go to Arizona Oddities contributor and all-around-AZ-expert Marshall Trimble. I asked him for the story behind Roosevelt Dam, and this is what he told me:

WordPress Consultant, www.lifeofjustin.com

Roosevelt Dam was the first major Reclamation Project in the West and was probably the most significant event in the entire history of the Salt River Valley because it provided a reservoir of life-giving water that would make it possible for people to live here. Up until then, the settlers would have to leave during times of drought.

The Valley is blessed with more than 13,000 square miles of watershed from the mountains and Mogollon Rim. No other large valley in the West compared, and that’s why it was chosen following the National Reclamation Act of 1902. Construction began in 1905 and the world’s highest masonry dam was completed in 1911 at a cost of $10 million. The debt to the federal government was repaid in full in 1955. Today, Roosevelt Lake contains 75% of the Salt River water. The Salt River Project, a quasi-governmental agency, manages the dams and lakes.

Without the watershed and the lakes, the Valley would be practically unpopulated today.

(Visited 212 times, 1 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. Eleanor Roosevelt Leads Sober Dedication of Douglas International Airport
  2. A Brief But Fascinating History Of The Hohokam: The Valley’s First Residents
  3. Life in Old Boom Towns with Jackass Prospectors
  4. Rotten Row: A Glimpse into the Lives of Boom Town Lawyers
  5. How the Phoenix Area Nabbed the “Valley of the Sun” Nickname
Tagsroosevelt damwater

1 comment

  1. Why Does the Valley Have a Canal System, and How Does it Work? | 27 September, 2011 at 07:08 Reply

    […] you’re too embarrassed to ask: Where does the water come from?In the years after construction of Roosevelt Dam, a series of five dams—three on the Salt and two on the Verde—were built to help store water […]

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Four Deserts, One State

This Week Past Years

2019

  • 5 Facts About the Southwest’s Strangest, Smelliest Inhabitant – The Javelina

2015

  • A Beer Between the Forked Tree in Flagstaff

2014

  • Mow the Lake?

2013

  • Peach-Faced Love Birds Live in the Valley?

2012

  • Walk in the Path of Ancient Hohokam at Sears-Kay Ruin
  • Rest Stop Marks Border of Gadsden Purchase

2010

  • Why Do People Paint Citrus Tree Trunks White?
  • Elephant Feet in Northern Arizona?
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2023 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.