Gillespie Dam

{{Infobox dam

|name = Gillespie Dam

|image = Maricopa County-Gillespie Dam-1921-2.jpg

|image_caption = The Gila River flows freely through the breached dam.

|name_official = Gillespie Dam

|dam_crosses = Gila River

|dam_type = G

|res_name = Gillespie Dam Reservoir (former)

|location = Maricopa County, Arizona, US

|purpose = I

|dam_length = {{convert|1700|ft|m}}

|dam_height = {{convert|80|ft|m}}

|construction_began =

|opening = 1921

|demolished = 1993

|cost =

|res_capacity_total =

|extra =

|status = D

|coordinates = {{Coord|33|13|45|N|112|46|10|W|display=inline,title}}

}}

The Gillespie Dam is a concrete gravity dam located on the Gila River between the towns of Buckeye and Gila Bend, Arizona. The dam was constructed during the 1920s for primarily irrigation purposes. It was key to the development of a {{cvt|72,000|acre|adj=on}} parcel owned by "millionaire" W.S. Gillespie of Tulsa, Oklahoma, initially allowing for irrigation of {{cvt|10,000|acre}}.{{r|ce}} A portion of the dam failed unexpectedly in 1993 during unusually heavy rains.

History

The Gillespie Dam was constructed circa 1920 by a local rancher, Frank Gillespie (Gillespie Land and Irrigation Company),{{cite news |title=Protest Halts Water Hearing of Local Board |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110175600/arizona-republic/ |access-date=September 25, 2022 |work=Arizona Republic |date=September 17, 1929 |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}} to replace an existing structure.{{cite web|url=http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80127e/80127E0b.htm|title=Field Excursion Reports|access-date=2008-06-03|publisher=United Nations University}}{{Cite GNIS|24430|Feature Detail Report for: Gillespie}} As the dam was located at an important river crossing that would later become U.S. Route 80, the Arizona Highway Department – the predecessor to the Arizona Department of Transportation – constructed a concrete apron at the foot of the dam to allow for vehicular crossings. As the dam was a simple spillover construction, during times of heavy runoff cars would have to be pulled through the flow by trucks, and during floods could not cross at all.{{cite web|url=http://www.gilabendaz.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B2073D11C-3382-410C-95E1-67FC38B2D6C8%7D|title=Historic Gillespie Dam|publisher=Town of Gila Bend|access-date=2008-06-03}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}

In anticipation of the formation of the United States Highway System in 1926, the Highway Department commissioned the construction of the Gillespie Dam Bridge, a steel truss bridge just downstream from the dam. The bridge was completed and opened to traffic on August 1, 1927, at a cost of US$320,000 ({{Inflation|US|320000|1927|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=US$}}). The bridge, which was at the time the longest highway bridge in the state of Arizona, was immediately incorporated into the highway system as Route 80. The bridge carried US 80 traffic until 1956 when the highway was decommissioned, devolving to a county highway, thus placing the bridge under Maricopa County care. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 1981.{{cite web|url=http://pr.state.az.us/partnerships/shpo/natlregister_s_o_m/may_06/gillespiedam.html |title=Gillespie Dam Bridge |access-date=2008-06-03 |publisher=Arizona State Parks |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526133547/http://www.pr.state.az.us/partnerships/shpo/natlregister_s_o_m/may_06/gillespiedam.html |archive-date=May 26, 2006 }}

Townsite

The dam was also to have supported a new town of Gillespie that was to be built {{convert|12|miles}} west of Gila Bend along the Southern Pacific Railroad. Gillespie was reported to have planned to spend $1,000,000 building the town, including "graded streets, cement sidewalks, business blocks and a hotel, many residences, water and lighting systems and all other modern conveniences."{{cite news |title=Gillespie, A New Town in Arizona |url=https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/sn94050892/id/3554 |access-date=September 25, 2022 |work=The Copper Era |date=May 20, 1919 |page=5 |via=The Arizona Memory Project}}

Failure

The winter months of 1993 saw unusually high rainfall amounts that resulted in record flows through central Arizona rivers and streams, including the Salt River, a major tributary to the Gila upstream from the Gillespie Dam.{{cite web|url=http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/psr/general/history/index.php?wfo=psr&page=top|title=Arizona's Most Notable Storms|publisher=National Weather Service|access-date=2008-06-03}} At approximately 10:30 on the morning of January 9, the dam failed when a segment approximately {{convert|120|ft|m}} in length collapsed into the river. While the precise cause of the failure is unknown, the extreme flooding was almost certainly a contributing factor. The precise size of the flood was not recorded due to equipment failure, but an estimate based upon a high-water mark recorded on USGS equipment yielded a peak flow of approximately {{convert|200000|cuft}} per second, corresponding to a predicted 65-year flood, or a flood of a magnitude anticipated only once per 65 years. The previous high, recorded during similarly disastrous floods in 1980, had been {{convert|178000|cuft}} per second.{{cite book|title=Storm-induced Geologic Hazards: Case Histories from the 1992–1993 Winter|pages=32–33|year=1997|publisher=Geological Society of America|last=Larson|first=Robert|author2=James Slosson}}

Due to the failure, three underground natural gas lines were exposed and later severed by the floodwaters. The bridge downstream survived, and was deemed safe for travel.

The remnants of the dam remain in place and the area is largely accessible to the public. A small earthen embankment exists to divert water into nearby canals.