[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 36 (Thursday, March 10, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE THEODORE ROOSEVELT DAM

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                         HON. DAVID SCHWEIKERT

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 2011

  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 100th 
anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt Dam, the cornerstone of water 
resource operations in Central Arizona. The reliable, sustainable water 
supply provided by the dam and its reservoir, Theodore Roosevelt Lake, 
has served as an economic catalyst that spurred decades of growth and 
helped create the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
  The Salt River Valley, home to metropolitan Phoenix, was little more 
than a few military outposts and prospecting camps until the first 
modern canal company was organized in 1867. The success of this venture 
encouraged more irrigation concerns. Most used the ancient canal 
networks created and maintained by an indigenous civilization that 
thrived in the area more than 1,000 years earlier.
  As a result of these canal companies, settlements cropped up across 
the Valley. Local leaders agreed a dam was needed to regulate the flow 
of the Salt River, which fed the canal networks, to ensure a reliable 
source of water and sustain development.
  A group including a surveyor, journalist, and canal company 
superintendent identified a possible dam site in 1889 about 80 miles 
east of Phoenix near the confluence of Tonto Creek and the Salt River. 
The site was nestled among the Superstition wilderness area, the Sierra 
Ancha Mountains, and the Salt River Canyon.
  Next, residents had to determine how to pay for such a massive 
undertaking. The Salt River Valley Water Users' Association was 
organized in 1903 when Valley landowners pledged their property as 
collateral for a government loan to build the proposed dam. It was a 
unique arrangement only made possible by an act of Congress the 
previous year, the National Reclamation Act of 1902.
  Dam construction began in 1905 under the supervision of the U.S. 
Reclamation Service, now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. When completed 
in early 1911 and dedicated personally by the president whose name it 
bears, Roosevelt was the world's largest masonry dam.
  Hydroelectric generation from the dam provided early power to, and 
served as the basis of, power operations for the Salt River Project 
(SRP), a water and power entity that includes the Salt River Valley 
Water Users' Association.
  Roosevelt Dam has undergone various improvements through the ages, 
including three separate upgrades of its hydroelectric generating 
capacity. A major modification of the dam and reservoir was completed 
in 1996 when the height of the dam was raised by 77 feet and the dam 
envelope was strengthened.
  This modification was part of a comprehensive project to increase 
water storage, improve dam safety and enhance flood control throughout 
central Arizona.
  Through a partnership with SRP, the federal government, and state and 
local communities, central Arizona has grown into a vital metropolitan 
region in the Southwest.
  Mr. Speaker, as Theodore Roosevelt Dam embarks on its second century 
of service to the people of the Salt River Valley, it deserves special 
recognition for its historic and invaluable contributions to my state.

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