Laguna Diversion Dam, Laguna Dam Road, Yuma

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AZ-87. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Laguna Dam Road, Yuma, Yuma County, Arizona Dates of Construction: Construction began on July 20, After some financial difficulties due to changes in the design, labor troubles, floods, and transportation problems, the contractor secured an annulment of the contract on January 23, The federal government then finished the project on March 27, Builder: The contract for the construction of the Laguna Diversion Dam was originally awarded to White & Company. The federal government finished construction. Original Owner, Use: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The dam was built as part of an irrigation system, generally known as the Yuma Project. Present Owner, Use: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The dam is currently maintained as a control for tailwater from the Imperial Dam, located 5 miles above this site. The large sluice gate on the California side remains open, passing water from desilting operations at the Imperial Dam.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AZ-87. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Laguna Diversion Dam is significant for its unusual Indian Weir design, which made it the first of its kind built in the United States. The dam is also notable as the first dam built on the Colorado River. Description: The dam is a rock-filled weir that stretches across the Colorado River in Arizona and California, about 14 miles north of Yuma, Arizona. The dam measures long. It consists of three parallel concrete walls across the river bed. The crest, middle, and toe walls were, respectively, 57 and 93 apart, and each is 5' thick. The crest wall is 14' high, the middle is and the toe wall is 7'. Rock fill was placed between these walls and above the crest wall and below the toe wall. This type of design provided a suitable diversion on a river having unstable deposits under its bed.

The settling basin on the California side was designed so the velocity of water flowing through it and into the canal would be about 1' per second. Silt in the basin could be sluiced out periodically through three large steel gates, each with a height of 18' and a width of These gates are the LAGUNA DIVERSION DAM HAER No. AZ-87 (Page 2) most striking feature of Laguna Diversion Dam today and remain open since water is now being diverted at Imperial Dam, located some 5 miles above. History: The Laguna Diversion Dam was built as part of the larger Yuma Project, an irrigation project overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Silt carried by the Colorado River caused nearby canals to be filled with sediment.

This problem was met at Laguna Diversion Dam by a combination of settling and sluicing devices and by admitting only surface water into the canals. Alterations were made in due to the lowered river level. At some unknown date, the gates to the Yuma Main Canal were closed off.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AZ-87. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Davis, Arthur Powell. Irrigation Works Constructed by the United States Government. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Force, Edwin Truesdell. The Use of the Colorado River in the United States, diss., University of California, Berkeley, Hanna, Electrically Operated Sluice Gates and Drop Timber Regulator Gates for the Laguna Dam. Engineering News LIX, no. 9 (February 27, The Laguna Dam, Yuma Irrigation Project, California. Engineering News LIII, no. 6 U.S. Department of the Interior. Dams and Control Works. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, Vincent, Edwin D. The Construction of Laguna Dam, Colorado River, Arizona. Engineering News LIX, no. 9 (February 27, Turning the Colorado River and Completing the Laguna Dam, Arizona- California. Engineering News LIX, no.

23 (June 10, Wegmann, Edward. The Design and Construction of Dams. 8th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Willey, Day Allen. Irrigation of the Yuma Valley. Scientific American 99 (August 1, The Yuma Irrigation Dam. Scientific American 99 (October 21, Historians: T. Lindsay Baker and Steve Rae, August 5, LAGUNA DIVERSION DAM HAER No. AZ-87 (Page 3)

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AZ-87. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Laguna Diversion Dam was inventoried for the Historic American Engineering Record as part of the Southwest Water Resources Project, a joint project with the Texas Tech Water Resources Center. The survey was subsequently published as Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites by the American Society of Civil Engineers in September