Roosevelt Dam
Roosevelt Dam was originally constructed between 1905 and 1911 to control to the
erratic flow of the Salt River and to harness the water for irrigation. The dam turned
the Arizona desert into land that could be farmed.
Once the world's tallest masonry dam, this structure is named after President Theodore
Roosevelt, who was instrumental in approval of the Federal Reclamation Act of 1902,
and who dedicated the original dam in March 1911.
Roosevelt Dam is unique in the way it was originally constructed. It was the world's
largest "cyclopean-masonry" dam, a Greco-Roman style of building that uses huge,
irregular blocks. It is now covered by new concrete.
In 1996 a $430 million modification project was completed that raised the height of the
dam to 357 feet and expanded the lake's storage capacity by 20 percent -- enough for
1 million more people. This 77-foot increase offers six Valley cities 304,729 new acre-feet
of water storage to the dam and, for the first time, provides SRP with substantial amounts
of flood control and Safety of Dams storage space. The dam has hydrogeneration capacity
of 36,000 kW.
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Renovations at Roosevelt Dam used 444,000 cubic yards of concrete, enough to
pave a two-lane road from Phoenix to Tucson.
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The quantity of reinforcing steel used in the dam's renovation -- 6.7 million
pounds -- would be 849 miles long if placed end to end. This is the distance
from Phoenix to Denver.
Roosevelt Dam forms Roosevelt Lake. Below are some lake statistics:
- Length: 22.4 miles
- Shoreline: 128 miles
- Capacity: 1,653,043 acre-feet
- Surface acreage when full: 21,493 acres
- Maximum depth: 188 feet
