Power House, Roosevelt Dam, 1940

Power house at Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona, 1940. Originally built between 1905 and 1911, Theodore Roosevelt Dam was renovated and expanded in 1989-1996. Until then, it was a National Historic Landmark. It serves mainly for irrigation, water supply, and flood control, and has a hydroelectric generating capacity of 36 megawatts. The beginning of federal production of electric power occurred at Roosevelt Dam when Congress, in 1906, authorized the Reclamation Service to develop and sell hydroelectric power at the Salt River Project. Completed at a cost of $10 million, it was the largest masonry dam in the world for its time with a height of 280 feet (84 m) and a length of 723 feet (216 m), while Roosevelt Lake was for a time the world's largest artificial reservoir. The dam contributed more than any other dam in Arizona to the settlement of Central Arizona and to the development of large-scale irrigation there. Photograph by Russell Lee (1903-1986)

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Arizona Hydroelectric Hydroelectricity Irrigation Masonry Reclamation Southwest

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