Cheesman Dam is a

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

curved

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...

on the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sou ...

located in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It was the tallest of its type in the world when completed in 1905. The primary purpose of the dam is water supply and it was named for Colorado businessman, Walter Cheesman. In 1973 it was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Denver Water Denver Water is a water utility that operates as a Government agency, public agency serving the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and a portion of its surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is funded by water rates and new tap ...

purchased the reservoir and related facilities in 1918.

History

The location for the new dam was explored by chief engineer C.P. Allen on during a fishing trip on September 23, 1893. The first stage was to build a diversion tunnel in 1898, which after the completion of the dam would become the outlet. The plans called for an

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface ...

faced with concrete and metal some 200 feet tall, which began to rise in 1899. This was not to be as after one year of work, on the morning of May 3, 1900, the river began to rise after a heavy rainstorm added to the already high spring river flow. The water filled the outlet pipe and then overtopped the diversion heading for the construction site. The company sent out men to warn those downstream that the still incomplete structure could not last for long. Residents of

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...

were warned at 10:00 AM that the flood would arrive in three hours. The dam was overtopped and swept away leaving only a remnant of the masonry wall. After this disaster the Denver Union Water Company planned a new structure in the same location. The new design would be a hybrid arch-gravity dam constructed of masonry. The blocks of granite for the dam were quarried from two locations near the site, one above and one below the location of the dam. They were transported by short rail lines and even by barge on the lake growing behind the new structure. Construction was renewed and lasted until 1905. At completion the dam was the tallest in the world, a title it would hold for seven years, until 1912. Water flowed over the new dam's spillway for the first time on May 9, 1905.

External links

Cheesman Dam
at Denver Water

Bibliography

* Dams in Colorado Dams in the Mississippi River basin Dams completed in 1905 Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Buildings and structures in Douglas County, Colorado Masonry dams 1905 establishments in Colorado {{Colorado-struct-stub