Horse Mesa Dam, Arizona: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form

Summary

Horse Mesa Dam was the second dam that the Salt River Valley Valley Water Users' Association (Association) constructed on the Salt River, from 1924 to 1927, as part of its aggressive hydroelectric expansion program. Horse Mesa Dam consists of the dam, the north spillway, the south spillway, the spillway tunnel, the attached power plant, and the spillway discharge tunnel (all contributing elements). The HEFU turbine house and the engine generator building are non-contributing buildings to the dam complex. From 1936 to 1937, the Bureau of Reclamation modified the spillway system to provide more efficient and safer discharge. Horse Mesa Dam is an excellent illustration of the innovative irrigation and municipal water storage and power generating infrastructure built under the supervision of Reclamation as part of the Salt River Project.

Horse Mesa Dam exhibits statewide significance under Criterion A in the areas of Politics/Government, Community Planning and Development, and Engineering. Under Criterion A, it is associated with the evolution of the Salt River Project, one of the first five federally-sponsored western water projects authorized under the National Reclamation Act of 1902. Under Politics/Government and Community Planning and Development, Horse Mesa Dam is associated with the growth of the Phoenix metropolitan area and reflects the Association's increasing influence and power as they attempted to privately build hydroelectric facilities to meet increased demand and consumption in the Salt River Valley. Under Engineering, Horse Mesa Dam is a good example of a radius thin-arch concrete dam design, that represents a departure from the more traditionally massive curved gravity design used for Roosevelt Dam.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission, Salt River Project

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1924 to 1937 (Period of Significance)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Collaborator(s): Salt River Project

Sponsor(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Submitted To(s): USDI, National Park Service

File Information