Laguna Diversion Dam

Laguna Diversion Dam

The Laguna Diversion Dam is an earthfill diversion dam located 13 miles Northeast of Yuma, Arizona. It creates the Laguna Reservoir along the Colorado River. Constructed between 1909 and 1924, the Laguna Dam was decorated with numerous swastikas, thus developing the eventual nickname "Swastika Dam." It should be strongly noted that the swastikas present on this structure were not put there for racist reasons or anything remotely negative. They were placed there far before Hitler altered the meaning of the swastika. This dam was the first authorized dam built on the Colorado which originally diverted water to farmlands in the Yuma area.

The dam was built due to the passage of the Reclamation Act by the US Congress in 1902, creating the Bureau of Reclamation, originally known as the U.S. Reclamation Service. In 1903 the U.S. Reclamation Service moved into the Yuma area and created what was called "the great Yuma Irrigation Project." This project was the first development of the U.S. Reclamation Service along the Lower Colorado River.

External links

• USBR Laguna Diversion Dam Website
• Swastika Dam article by Walter Smoter Frank
• USBR History of Laguna Dam

Colorado River system
Dams and aqueducts (see US Bureau of Reclamation)	Shadow Mountain Dam • Granby Dam • Glen Canyon Dam • Hoover Dam • Davis Dam • Parker Dam • Palo Verde Diversion Dam • Imperial Dam • Laguna Dam • Morelos Dam • Colorado River Aqueduct • San Diego Aqueduct • Central Arizona Project Aqueduct • All-American Canal • Coachella Canal • Redwall Dam
Natural features	Colorado River • Rocky Mountains • Colorado River Basin • Grand Lake • Sonoran desert • Mojave desert • Imperial Valley • Colorado Plateau • Grand Canyon • Black Canyon • Glen Canyon • Marble Canyon • New River • Paria Canyon • Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez • Salton Sea
Tributaries	Dirty Devil River • Dolores River • Escalante River • Gila River • Green River • Gunnison River • Kanab Creek • Little Colorado River • Paria River • San Juan River • Virgin River
Major reservoirs	Fontenelle Reservoir • Flaming Gorge Reservoir • Taylor Park Reservoir • Navajo Reservoir • Lake Powell • Lake Mead • Lake Mohave • Lake Havasu
Dependent states	Arizona • California • Colorado • Nevada • New Mexico • Utah (See: Colorado River Compact)
Designated areas	Glen Canyon National Recreation Area • Lake Mead National Recreation Area

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