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    Glen Canyon Dam
    Glen Canyon Dam
    Glen Canyon Dam
    Ebook179 pages36 minutes

    Glen Canyon Dam

    By Timothy L. Parks

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    About this ebook

    Constructed between 1956 and 1966 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River was a project of immense proportions. Even before the non-stop pouring of 5 million yards of concrete began, much work had to be accomplished. The town of Page, Arizona was established on a windswept mesa to house workers and their families, and the 1,028-foot Glen Canyon Bridge was built to carry men, materials, and equipment to the dam site. Though the dam has proven a controversial structure throughout its history, the massive undertaking of its construction was an undeniable triumph of ingenuity and determination.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateApr 28, 2004
    ISBN9781439614228
    Glen Canyon Dam
    Author

    Timothy L. Parks

    In this unique volume, author and historian Timothy L. Parks tells the story of the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, an engineering feat equaled only by its older brother, the Hoover Dam, built 350 miles downstream and some 30 years prior. Through a fascinating collection of photographs, many never before published, Parks illustrates the technology and the equipment, the imagination and the hard work of thousands that made Glen Canyon Dam-and the beautiful Lake Powell- a reality.

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      Book preview

      Glen Canyon Dam - Timothy L. Parks

      Parks

      INTRODUCTION

      Behind it would sit Lake Powell, the second largest man-made body of water in the United States, though the length of the lake and its miles of shoreline far surpassed that of Lake Mead, which was greater by volume and just 300 miles away. Access, from one side of the deep Glen Canyon to the other, would be made possible by the design and erection of, at the time, the highest and longest steel arched bridge in the United States, Glen Canyon Bridge.

      For the Bureau of Reclamation, it was the 149th dam to be built, and it would be second in height to only one other, Hoover Dam. But in terms of mass, Glen Canyon Dam would be the largest—it was a dam builder’s dream—and in 1956, to remote northeastern Arizona, many of these dam builders arrived to take on the task.

      Officially, work on the project began October 1, 1956. Ceremoniously, however, it began October 15, 1956 when the first detonation of charges to begin excavations was triggered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as he pressed a key so many miles away in Washington, D.C. It was much more than a typical groundbreaking, one replete with gold-plated shovels, when those first huge slabs of Navajo sandstone came crashing down from the steep canyon wall of Glen Canyon into the river below. It was earth-shattering!

      Glen Canyon Dam, the literal concrete structure, was erected over a period of time from 1960 through 1963, but prior to its actual construction—the non-stop pouring of 5 million yards of concrete—much work had to be done.

      A bridge, the Glen Canyon Bridge, had to be built to span Glen Canyon so that men, materials, and equipment could move and be moved from one side of the canyon to the other without having to travel the roughly 200 round-trip miles it would take otherwise. The steel arch design, Glen Canyon Bridge was shipped in pieces to the site and was erected between 1957 and 1959.

      To go with the bridge, a road was built. Existing U.S. Highway 89 was re-routed to connect with each side of the new Glen Canyon Bridge. From the north, Highway 89 at Kanab, Utah was brought east across southern Utah then dropped south into Arizona to connect with the west side of Glen Canyon Bridge. Then from the south, Highway 89 was extended north from Bitter Springs, Arizona to connect with the east side of the bridge. The new stretches of highway and Glen Canyon Bridge meant that it was only a quarter-mile trip to get from one side of the canyon to the other.

      A town also had to be created since the workmen and their families would need someplace to live nearby. Page, Arizona, which began life as Page Government Camp, was founded on the high, windswept Manson Mesa just south and east of the dam site. On Thanksgiving Day, 1957, the first workers—a few with their families—moved into the newly built cinder block houses. It was not until 1975, 12 years after completion of the dam that Page was incorporated as a city in the state of Arizona.

      Before the actual dam construction could begin, work on the two facing canyon walls had to be done. An access tunnel was blasted and carved out of the east face to allow trucks and equipment passage from the canyon rim to the river bottom. Diversion tunnels—two of them, one on each side—were bored and lined with concrete so the mighty Colorado River might be skewed off its course and the dam allowed to rise from a dry canyon floor. The Colorado River was diverted on February 11, 1959. Excavation for the dam foundation was completed at a depth of 127 feet below the river bottom, and on June 17, 1960, the first concrete was placed. Pours continued non-stop until September 13, 1963, when the last concrete pour on the dam was made.

      Some months prior to topping out the dam structure the first storage of water behind Glen Canyon Dam began, that occurred on March 13, 1963. After the dam was completed, work installing electric generating turbines was performed from 1963 until 1966, and the first electricity was generated on September 4, 1964.

      Nearly ten years after work first began, Glen Canyon Dam was dedicated on September 22, 1966. Mrs. Lyndon Johnson performed the dedication before the thousands in attendance, and the following August, the Carl T. Hayden Visitor Center was opened to the public. Native Arizonan Carl T. Hayden had served the state of Arizona in the United Sates Congress for 57 years and was an influential supporter of water reclamation projects such as this

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