View Upstream by junge1

Photography • Landscape • posted on Mar 17, 2018

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Description

This view is upstream from the Gillespie Dam Bridge of Gillespie Dam, a concrete gravity dam. The dam was constructed by a local farmer in about 1920 to replace an existing dam primarily for irrigation purposes. In the winter months of 1993 unusually high rainfall amounts occurred that resulted in record flows through central Arizona rivers and streams, including the Salt River, a major tributary to the Gila upstream of the Gillespie Dam. On 9 January 1993 a 120-foot (37 m) section of the dam failed. The resulting flood waters exposed and later severed three underground natural gas lines, but the bridge survived and was deemed safe. No exact amounts of flow were known due to equipment failure, but estimates by the USGS based on high water marks and other evidence indicated a peak flow of 200,000 cubic feet (5,700 cubic meter) per second, corresponding to a 65-year flood. In the upper part of the picture is a dirt berm, or dam, that now functions as a diversion. This picture was taken on 10 March 2018, Sig..