5 Dams to Explore in Arizona

Coolidge Dam is a concrete multiple dome and buttress dam located on the Gila River in Arizona, United States. It was opened in the 1930s to provide irrigation water for the surrounding region. The dam is 249 feet tall and 580 feet long and impounds the waters of the Gila River to form San Carlos Reservoir.

Davis Dam spans the Colorado River in Pyramid Canyon 67 miles downstream from Hoover Dam and 88 miles upstream from Parker Dam.The earth fill dam begins on the Nevada side, but it does not extend to the Arizona side on the east. Instead, there is an inlet formed by earth and concrete, that includes the spillway. The hydroelectric power plant is beside the inlet.

Glen Canyon Dam is the second highest concrete arch dam in the United States, Located on the Colorado River in northern Arizona. The 26.2 million acre-feet of water storage capacity in Lake Powell, created by Glen Canyon Dam, serves as a ‘bank account’ of water that is drawn on in times of drought.

Headgate Rock Dam was constructed in 1942 and is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Lake Moovalya was created by this dam and provides irrigation water to Colorado River Indian Reservation farms.

A majestic dam built in 1950 across the Colorado River. It is located about 1 mile below the junction of the California border and the Colorado River between the town of Los Algodones. It is the final dam on the Colorado River. It is run by the International Boundary and Water Commission. The dam is noted as the location Chris McCandless crossed into Mexico by kayak.