Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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LAGUNA DAM



In 1902 Congress passed the Reclamation Act and gave birth to the U.S. Reclamation Service. In 1903 the Yuma Project got underway with plans to build a rock filled diversion dam across the Colorado River, a pumping station, and a series of gravity canals to supply agricultural water to local farmers. It was to be the first dam built on the Colorado River. A site was selected about 13 miles above Yuma on the California side where a bedrock outcrop could be used to toe in the dam footing. A problem quickly became apparent when it was observed that no such dam outcrop could be found on the Arizona side of the river. There was an upheaval of rocks there, but it wasn’t bedrock. The Reclamation Service engineers could not figure out how to build a dam that was only toed in on one side. The British, however, happened to be building just such a dam in India and off they went to see how it was done. While they were there some of them noticed a simple line drawing used in the Hindu culture to symbolize fertility and a plentiful harvest. When they got back that symbol was adopted as the official logo for their dam agency. On June 6 1905 the dam contract was awarded to the J.G. White Construction Company and the dam work soon began. The dam job got off to a poor start because the dam cement could not be made readily available at the dam site and it turned out that the quality of rock supplied from the dam quarry was inadequate. White lost the dam contract as a result and Reclamation finished the dam project after building a railroad spur to the dam site. As a finishing touch they festooned their fine new dam with the official dam logo. Laguna Dam was only 43 feet tall and two thirds of that height was below the river surface so it only impounded about ten feet of water. Mitry Lake grew behind the dam, but it was shallow and soon silted in. Laguna Dam didn’t last very long but it effectively stopped all river commerce upstream. Mining operations that depended on river traffic had to shut down. Some of them still had plenty of mineable reserves. Some of the mines on the Arizona side never went back into production, and now the area is part of the Yuma Proving Grounds and is closed to mineral entry. The photo shows a bridge across the head gate on the Arizona side. The dam logo is plainly evident. They were dam proud of it.

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Photos

LAGUNA DAM
From 4th Avenue and 16th Street in Yuma proceed eastward on Hwy 95 6.5 miles to Ave 7E. Turn left and go another 8.5 miles to the dam site. The dam was built too low for a spillway so the whole top of it was a weir.