Reclamation Helps Celebrate Theodore Roosevelt Dam's 100th Year
Bureau of Reclamation employees, current and past, joined the Salt River Project (SRP) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of Roosevelt Dam on Friday, March 18, 2011, at an event held on the crest of the dam. The crest of the dam has been closed since September 2001 for security reasons, which made the event even more special for those employees who had worked on the dam modifications in the 1990s.
Reclamation, known in the early 1900s as the Reclamation Service, designed and constructed Theodore Roosevelt Dam, the first multi-purpose Reclamation project authorized under the Reclamation Act of 1902. Operation and maintenance of the dam, downstream facilities and canal delivery system were turned over to SRP in 1917. Reclamation later designed and oversaw construction of major modifications in the 1990s to provide increased flood and seismic protection to downstream users.
Kira Finkler, the Bureau of Reclamation's deputy commissioner of external and intergovernmental affairs, joined Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, SRP President David Rousseau, SRP Vice President John Hoopes and John Sullivan, associate general manager of SRP's Water group, in addressing approximately 200 guests. Finkler assisted in the opening of a time capsule that was placed at the dam at its Golden Jubilee celebration in 1961. A letter from President John F. Kennedy was extracted and read to the guests as the conclusion of the ceremonies.
Click on images for full-size photographs.
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Original dedication of Roosevelt Dam March 18, 1911 |
Roosevelt Dam today with modifications to its original masonry arch construction |
More information about the dam, its history, and its present-day operations are available at:
- Roosevelt 100th Anniversary Video
- Arizona Governor's Proclamation
- Media Coverage
Arizona Republic
Payson Roundup
Engineering News Record - Phoenix Area Office Historical Photos, Exhibit, History of Roosevelt Dam
- Projects and Facilities - Theodore Roosevelt Dam
- Projects and Facilities - Salt River Project
- Salt River Project History (published by Reclamation)
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Updated: March 2011