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| Laguna Dam Celebration, March 31st, 1909 |
History
It all started in 1902 when Congress passed the Reclamation Act, creating the Bureau of Reclamation (first called the U.S. Reclamation Service). A year later, Reclamation moved into the Yuma area and created what was called, at the time, "the great Yuma Irrigation Project," Reclamation's first development along the Lower Colorado River (a 125,000 square-mile watershed congruent of Arizona, California, and Nevada).
Perhaps a popular influence to begin such Government assistance came from explorer John Wesley Powell, who boated down the Colorado River in 1869 and became a National hero. He told our Nation, "The West is an arid land. . . hostile to farming. . .and will never be settled. . . opening up its resources to America. . .unless the Government dams the rivers. . . saves up winter and spring runoff in artificial lakes and reservoirs. . ." Without a reliable, stable source of water, there was no guarantee of life in the Desert Southwest.
The Bureau of Reclamation began just such an ambitious venture with the construction of the Laguna Dam in Yuma. This first authorized dam built on the Colorado in 1909 originally diverted water to farmlands in the Yuma area.
Nearly 100 years later, since the construction of Imperial Dam in 1939, Laguna Dam is used only as regulatory structure, and is a monument to the beginning of the Yuma Area Office.
The Colorado River Siphon, completed in 1912, was considered an engineering marvel of its time and still carries water under the Colorado River to Yuma and the Yuma Valley.
During its first decade Reclamation also began constructing levees along the Colorado River to protect floodplain lands between Laguna Dam and the Mexican border.
By controlling the Colorado River and its tributaries, Reclamation has transformed Yuma from a dusty little town into a well-irrigated, agricultural mecca. During the first decade of this century, when Reclamation completed the original Yuma project, Yuma experienced an increased prosperity that has never been matched during any other time in its history.
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| Laguna Dam - Present day |
Webmaster: Joy Orsini
Updated: Apr 2008