The Roosevelt Dam is built across Salt River, Arizona. It is a perk of the system to irrigate the Salt River valley. Before it was built this great valley was only imperfectly irrigated. Hence much of its rich land was not cultivated because of lack of water. The dam was built by the United States Reclamation Service. It is the business of this government bureau to reclaim waste lands. As you see, the dam is constructed on a curve which extends up the river. The radius of this curve is some 400 feet. It is built of stone quarried from either side of the canyon of the river. It contains about 350,000 cubic yards of masonry. From the lowest to the highest point of the dam it is 280 feet. At its greatest length it is over 1,000 feet thick. The roadway you see is 240 feet above average low water. The dam backs the water up in Salt River for 16 miles. The lake so formed is from a mile to two miles wide. It holds enough water to flood over a million acres to the depth of one foot. The water for irrigation is let out through a channel 500 feet long. This has 6 gates to regulate the water supply. These gates will let pass 36,000,000 cubic feet of water in one hour. There are also two spillways to let out excess water in time of heavy rains. Below the dam the water is distributed by a great system of canals. These were also a part of this great irrigation scheme. Formerly the Salt River valley was barren waste. Now it is amazingly fertile, with a water supply that can always be counted on whether it rains or not. The dam was formerly opened by President Roosevelt, on March 18, 1911. What other lands have we reclaimed? Keystone ID: 16742 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.