Central Arizona Project
Part of: USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office (PXAO)
The Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Arizona Project (CAP) collection presents results of the extensive cultural resource investigations conducted during the planning, construction, and maintenance of the project’s water delivery systems and associated infrastructure. The wide scope and expansive scale of CAP archaeology represent an impressive and now integral contribution to Southwestern archaeology, and much of the work changed and challenged many conceptions of Arizona’s prehistory. The collection’s materials are organized according to the CAP’s water delivery systems and other structures. Within each of these delivery system collections, materials are further divided into archaeological projects and tasks that were conducted to investigate cultural resources
The CAP is a multipurpose water resource development and management project that provides irrigation, municipal and industrial water, power, flood control, outdoor recreation, environmental enhancement and sediment control. The project also provides delivery of Tribal homeland water, partial settlement of Indian water rights claims, and economic benefits accruing from the leasing of Indian agricultural water rights to municipal entities. Water is provided to lands in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties, and to several communities, including the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson. Authorization also was included for development of facilities to deliver water to Catron, Hidalgo, and Grant Counties in New Mexico. In addition to water delivery systems, the CAP includes power generation infrastructure, principally participation in the Navajo Generation Station and a transmission system to supply power to pumping plants and check structures of the Hayden-Rhodes, Fannin-McFarland and Tucson aqueducts
For administration and construction purposes, the CAP was divided into the Granite Reef, Orme, Salt-Gila, Gila River, Tucson, and the Indian and Non-Indian Distribution divisions. During project construction, the Orme Division was re-formulated and renamed the Regulatory Storage Division; it includes New Waddell Dam and Camp Dyer Diversion Dam. Upon completion, the Granite Reef Division was re-named the Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct, and the Salt-Gila Division was renamed the Fannin-McFarland Aqueduct.
The CAP was authorized by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968. Construction of the project began in 1973 with the award of a contract for the Havasu Intake Channel Dike and excavation for the Havasu Pumping Plant (Mark Wilmer Pumping Plant) on the shores of Lake Havasu. Construction of the other project features followed. The backbone aqueduct system, which runs about 336 miles from Lake Havasu to a terminus southwest of Tucson, was declared substantially complete in 1993. The new and modified dams constructed as part of the project were declared substantially complete in 1994. All of the non-Indian agricultural water distribution systems were completed in the late 1980s, as were most of the municipal water delivery systems. Several Indian distribution systems are either under construction or remain to be built; it is estimated that full development of these systems could require another 20 years or longer.
When authorized, the plan included the construction of Hooker Dam and Buttes Dam on the Gila River to provide conservation storage, flood and sediment control, and recreation opportunities, and the construction of Orme Dam at the junction of the Salt and Verde Rivers to provide flood protection and water conservation. None of these facilities were built. Although authorized, Buttes Dam and Hooker Dam on the Gila River (in New Mexico) and Charleston Dam on the San Pedro River were not constructed because of cost considerations, a lack of demand for the water, lack of repayment capability by the users, and environmental constraints. To fulfill the authorized functions of Orme Dam, Plan 6 was developed. Plan 6 is the Regulatory Storage Division of the project and includes New Waddell Dam and Camp Dryer Diversion Dam located on the Agua Fria River, a tributary of the Gila River, and a modified Roosevelt and Stewart Mountain dams on the Salt River. These two dams predate the project and have been modified for safety and increased storage capacity.
Site Name Keywords
AZ U:10:6(ASM) •
AZ U:15:102(ASM) •
AZ U:15:19(ASM) •
AZ U:15:48(ASM) •
AZ U:15:76(ASM) •
AZ U:15:77(ASM) •
Scorpion Point Village •
AZ U:10:14(ASM) •
AZ U:10:5(ASM) •
AZ U:15:46(ASM)
Site Type Keywords
Archaeological Feature •
Artifact Scatter •
Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex •
Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features •
Settlements •
Domestic Structures •
Agricultural or Herding •
Hamlet / Village •
Rock Alignment •
Midden
Other Keywords
Central Arizona Project •
Flake •
Projectile Point •
Metate •
Mano •
Hammerstone •
Knife •
Core •
Bowl •
Debitage
Culture Keywords
Hohokam •
Historic •
Euroamerican •
Historic Native American •
Archaic •
Yuman •
Salado •
Patayan •
Yavapai •
Sinagua
Investigation Types
Site Evaluation / Testing •
Archaeological Overview •
Data Recovery / Excavation •
Systematic Survey •
Reconnaissance / Survey •
Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis •
Research Design / Data Recovery Plan •
Heritage Management •
Records Search / Inventory Checking •
Environment Research
Material Types
Ceramic •
Chipped Stone •
Ground Stone •
Building Materials •
Fauna •
Shell •
Metal •
Macrobotanical •
Glass •
Fire Cracked Rock
Temporal Keywords
Prehistoric •
Hohokam Classic period •
Hohokam pre-Classic period •
Historic •
Hohokam Colonial period •
Historic Period •
Hohokam Sedentary period •
Sacaton Phase •
Gila Butte Phase •
Colonial Period
Geographic Keywords
United States of America (Country) •
North America (Continent) •
Arizona (State / Territory) •
USA (Country) •
Maricopa County (County) •
Central Arizona •
Pinal County (County) •
US (ISO Country Code) •
Salt River •
lower Verde River
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-100 of 256)
There are 256 Documents within this Collection [remove this filter]
Archaeological Investigations Along the Liberty-Parker 230 kV Transmission Line, Central Arizona Project (1978)
A Cultural Resource "Re-Survey" of the Liberty-Parker 230 kV Transmission Line Right-of-Way, Central Arizona Project (1978)
Archaeological Testing at AZ T:3:79(ASM) in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, Yavapai County, Arizona
Additional Cultural Resources Survey within the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts, Central Arizona Project Canal, Maricopa, Pinal, Pima Counties, Arizona (2017)
Cultural Resources Assessment of 117 Archaeological Sites for the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts, Central Arizona Project Canal: Photo Log (2017)
The Hayden Rhodes Large Site Resurvey: A Class III Cultural Resources Survey and Assessment Within 16 Archaeological Sites on Bureau of Reclamation Right-of-way Along the Hayden Rhodes Aqueduct (Central Arizona Project Canal) Between Quartzite and Phoenix, La Paz and Maricopa Counties, Arizona: Report (2014)
Historical Archaeological Investigations at Dam Construction Camps in Central Arizona: First Annual Report (1987)
The Historical Archaeology of Dam Construction Camps in Central Arizona, Volume 2B: Sites in the New Waddell Dam Area (1994)
The Historical Archaeology of Dam Construction Camps in Central Arizona, Volume 2C: Sites at Other Dams Along the Salt and Verde Rivers (1994)