Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The original Roosevelt Dam

As reader Becki points out in her comment on the last post, Roosevelt Dam was originally a brick structure and the Wikipedia entry has this picture taken when it was much newer, or way back when it was new...




As she points out, the road actually went across the dam on the top, and the bridge wasn't there...

The dam was started in 1906 and finished in 1911...   In 1996 the old dam was completely encased into the new concrete dam...  The Wikipedia info is here.

This is a more detailed history and a bunch more neat info here...

Retired Rod
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5 comments:

  1. Jim and SandieFebruary 18, 2014 at 9:48 AM

    Thanks for the follow up. I didn't know that about the dam.

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  2. GypsyFebruary 18, 2014 at 11:54 AM

    I often think about who and what was displaced in order to build the dam. In CA right now the water in Folsom lake (created by the Folsom Dam) is so low that the remains of an old gold mining town are visible.

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  3. JohnFebruary 19, 2014 at 1:03 AM

    We sure miss the beautiful character of the old dam. Thanks for the additional history. Becki

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  4. PhilFebruary 19, 2014 at 10:56 AM

    When they built that bridge to take traffic off the top of the dam, The traffic count was something like 65 vehicles a day. I did a calculation, and figured interest alone on the bridge resulted in a cost of something like $38 per vehicle. I thought they shouuld have considered a a floating bridge at a fraction of the cost. But it was "federal money" so it cost the state nothing....

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  5. RickFebruary 19, 2014 at 5:18 PM

    Thanks for the history lesson Rod. A lot of work for bricklayers in that dam!

    ReplyDelete

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