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Grand Valley Diversion Dam | NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic site

USA / Colorado / Palisade /
 dam, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic site
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Historic diversion dam listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a historic district.

- Built: 1913-1916
- Designer: Hiezu Siebzehn Tafeln (Vienna, Austria), with the consultation of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
- Type: roller dam
- Length: 546 feet
- Areas of significance: Social History; Agriculture; Invention
- Date added to NRHP: 10/8/1991
- Other designations: U.S. Historic District; listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties

This is just one of four roller gate-type dams in the United States, and one of two built for diversion purposes (as opposed to power generation). Furthermore, the one other roller gate diversion dam is much smaller, having only one gate, while this ones boasts six. It was built to divert water into the Government High Line Canal, which allows for the irrigation of over 5,000 acres of farmland in the region. In the dam's early years, sole credit for the structure's design in the press was given to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, as anti-German sentiments were high at the time. However, most of the initial engineering work for the project was carried out by a Vienna-based engineering firm. The technology used in the dam was relatively new at the time, and was necessitated by the presence of both train tracks and a highway that lie just a few feet above the high water mark. Roller gates allow more precise management of water levels, while a more conventional dam design would have flooded the train tracks during the spring months.
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Coordinates:   39°11'21"N   108°16'55"W
This article was last modified 2 years ago