Crosscut Canal Viaduct in Papago Park

Datec. 1915

MediumPaper

ClassificationsDocumentary Artifact

Terms

Catalog number1987.1.147

DescriptionCrosscut Canal Viaduct (or flume) in Papago Park.
Although sometimes refered to as a viaduct, this elevated concrete waterway is a very large flume – over 500 feet in length – that carries water along a portion of the Arizona Crosscut Canal from the Arizona Canal. The Crosscut Canal was created to provide water to the Crosscut Hydro Power Plant located in north Tempe. The Crosscut Canal took advantage of a 110 foot drop in elevation between the Arizona Canal and the Grand Canal (to which the water flowed to from the Hydro Plant). That drop in elevation provided an ideal location to build a hydro-electric plant to generate electrical power.
The flume of the Crosscut Canal was needed to carry water across a ravine, about 500 feet in width, and at the same time maintain the elevation needed to deliver water to the hydro plant. The flume was completed by 1913 for the hydro plant which was completed by 1914. The Crosscut Canal flume is located in the Papago Park area and west of the Evelyn Hallman Park (on College Avenue in north Tempe).
The Crosscut Canal flume – or viaduct – was positioned near the popular “Hole-in-the-Rock” location of Papago Park, and the flume itself became something of an attraction as an engineering marvel that enabled the success of the hydro plant. The U.S. Reclamation Service was in charge of the project to built the Crosscut Canal and Hydro Plant, which were then managed and run by the Salt River Project (SRP). For many years after it was completed, the Hydro Plant generated a large proporation of the power delivered to customers of SRP in the Salt River Valley.
For a contemporary construction description of the Crosscut Canal project and the flume – as well as a photo of the completed flume – refer to the Arizona Republican newspaper edition dated June 20, 1913, page 7.

Status

Not on view