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Description

Scarce birdseye view style map of the area around Phoenix, highlighting the Salt River Project and the lands irrigated by the various canals in the area.

The map shows a number of important early dams, including:

  • Granite Reef Dam (built 1906-1908)
  • Stewart Mountain Dam (1928-30)
  • Mormon Flat Dam (1923-25)
  • Horse Mesa Dam (1924-27)
  • Bartlett Dam (1936-39)
  • Horseshoe Dam (1944-46)
  • Cave Creek Dam (1923)

Salt Water Project

Early settlers in Phoenix and nearby areas were forced to rely on the flow of the Salt River to sustain agricultural activities. Failed plans to build a dam on the river in 1897, combined with a series of droughts, heightened the need for controlling the river.

With the passage of the National Reclamation Act of 1902, funding for reclamation projects with low-interest government loans paved the way for the creation of the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association the following year. Over 200,000 acres \of private land belonging to the ranchers and farmers in the association were pledged for collateral and the association was officially incorporated February 7, 1903, becoming the first multipurpose project started under the reclamation act.   Construction on the Roosevelt Dam would commence the following year.

The original Roosevelt Dam, completed in 1911, was the highest masonry dam ever built.   

Hydroelectricity was produced at the dam site during construction, and used for the manufacture of cement and other purposes. In 1906 (before the dam was completed) electricity began to be produced from a hydroelectric generator within the dam.  

In 1936, the Arizona Legislature allowed for the creation of governmental districts that could finance large-scale agricultural projects with tax-free bonds. Shortly thereafter, the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District was created, the second half of SRP as it exists today. Over the next several decades, a series of major improvements along the Salt and Verde rivers would raise the number of reservoirs in the district to six, and at the same time SRP was constructing and maintaining a number of other electrical generating stations throughout the state.

Rarity

OCLC locates 2 copies.