NOTE: FAILURE TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW AND FULLFILL THE TWO REQUIREMENTS WILL RESULT IN YOUR LOG BEING DELETED:
Waypoint One: The Bridge
At the posted coordinates you will have a great view of the Lake Roosevelt Bridge. At this stage you are required to post a photo of you (or something personal in the photo) with the bridge in the background. This photo needs to be posted with your "Found" log. Found logs without the required photo will be deleted.
Waypoint Two: The Dam
At the posted coordinates you will have a great view of the Dam. Find the informational sign to answer the following question and send the answer via "message the owner" on the cache page: How many people died in and around the Roosevelt Dam construction site? Answer must be sent when you post your log. Do not post the answer or a photo of the answer with your log. No answer sent at that time will be deleted.
Roosevelt Dam 1903 - 1911. On September 20, 1906 the first stone was laid in place. Over the next 5 years 350,000 cubic feet of block would be cut, shaped and fashioned into the Roosevelt Dam. The blocks of stone were carved out of the canyon walls They were lifted by block and tackle and pulled along by cable. It was not uncommon for the hoist to buckle and break. The giant monoliths would be slammed against the canyon wall or dropped into the construction site below. On February 6, 1911 the last stone was put in place. When completed it was the largest stone dam in the world.
Roosevelt Dam 1989 - 1996. After nearly nine years of work, $430 million in construction costs, 450,000 cubic yards of concrete, and 849 miles of reinforcing steel, another vivid chapter in Arizona history has been rewritten. Modifications to Roosevelt Dam were required because it was determined that the largest probable flood that could flow into the reservoir was far greater than originally thought possible when the dam was designed and constructed in the early 1900s. Raising the height of the dam by 77 feet has increased the storage capacity of Roosevelt Lake by 20 percent, for a total of more then 1.8 million acre-feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water it would take to cover an acre of land to a depth of one foot, and 325,851 gallons. This is roughly the amount of water used by a family of four in one year.
The people who made it happen, building the dam. The construction of Roosevelt Dam involved several thousand people over the course of the project. Hiring was straight forward, a foreman would simply size up a man and decide if he could do the work. Jobs requiring diverse skills were plentiful. Stone and timber cutters, canal builders, and horse and mule tenders were but a few of the employment opportunities. For their efforts, common laborers earned $2.50 per day while powdermen, blacksmiths and masons made $4 to $5. Under harsh and hazardous conditions, workers blasted rock from sheer walls. They also swung picks, shoveled and hauled tons of rock. The original town of Roosevelt (now under Roosevelt Lake) housed hundreds of people. By 1907, Roosevelt had a baseball team, bowling alley, ice-cream parlor, theatre and a school. Workers gathered in labor camps, living in tents, tent houses or small adobe buildings, sometimes with their wives and children.
Hope you enjoyed your trip to the bridge and dam, it's such a beautiful and informative place to visit. Happy caching!
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.