Cheesman Dam is a 211-foot-tall (64 m) masonry curved gravity dam on the South Platte River located in Colorado. It was the tallest of its type in the world when completed in 1905.[1] 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.[2] Denver Water purchased the reservoir and related facilities in 1918.[3]

Cheesman Dam
The dam in 1926
Cheesman Dam is located in Colorado
Cheesman Dam
Location of Cheesman Dam in Colorado
LocationJefferson County, Colorado, USA
Coordinates39°12′27.03″N 105°16′20.05″W / 39.2075083°N 105.2722361°W / 39.2075083; -105.2722361
PurposeWater supply
Opening date1905
Operator(s)Denver Water
Dam and spillways
Type of damMasonry, gravity arch
ImpoundsSouth Platte River
Height221 feet (67 m)
Length735 feet (224 m)
Width (crest)18 feet (5.5 m)
Spillway typeConcrete crest weir
Spillway capacity22,370 cu ft/s (633 m3/s)
Reservoir
Total capacity79,064 acre-feet (0.097524 km3)
Surface area877 acres (355 ha)

History

edit

The location for the new dam was explored by chief engineer C.P. Allen on during a fishing trip on September 23, 1893.[4] The first stage was to build a diversion tunnel in 1898, which after the completion of the dam would become the outlet.[5] The plans called for an embankment dam faced with concrete and metal some 200 feet tall, which began to rise in 1899.[4] 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.[5] The company sent out men to warn those downstream that the still incomplete structure could not last for long. Residents of Littleton, Colorado 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.[4]

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[4] Water flowed over the new dam's spillway for the first time on May 9, 1905.[5]

edit

Bibliography

edit
  1. ^ "Cheesman Dam". American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Cheesman Reservoir History". Denver Water. Archived from the original on 14 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Cheesman Reservoir | Denver Water". www.denverwater.org. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Limerick, Patricia Nelson; Hanson, Jason L. (2012). A Ditch in Time : The City, the West, and Water (1st ed.). Golden, Cololorado: Fulcrum Publishing. pp. 58–65. ISBN 978-1-55591-366-3. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Franklin, Karmen Lee (2011). Digging the Old West : How Dams and Ditches Sculpted an American landscape. Arvada, Colorado: Franklin Design Bureau. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-615-53148-9. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  6. ^ Farrell, Michael (11 August 2015). "A Tale of Two Dams". Platte Basin Timelapse. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  • Dams of the United States - Pictorial display of Landmark Dams. Denver, Colorado: US Society on Dams. 2013.