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Horse Mesa Dam
Horse Mesa Dam.jpg
Country United States
Location Tonto National Forest, Maricopa County, Arizona
Coordinates 33°35′27″N 111°20′38″W / 33.59083°N 111.34389°W / 33.59083; -111.34389
Construction began 1924
Opening date 1927
Owner(s) U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Type of dam Concrete thin arch
Impounds Salt River
Height 305 ft (93 m)
Length 660 ft (200 m)
Width (crest) 8 ft (2.4 m)
Width (base) 57 ft (17 m)
Dam volume 162,000 cu yd (124,000 m3)
Spillways Gated concrete tunnel and over-the-crest
Spillway capacity 150,000 cu ft/s (4,200 m3/s)
Reservoir
Creates Apache Lake
Total capacity 245,138 acre⋅ft (0.302373 km3)
Catchment area 5,842 sq mi (15,130 km2)
Surface area 2,656 acres (1,075 ha)
Normal elevation 1,919 ft (585 m)
Power station
Turbines 3x 112/3MW units, 1x 97MW pumped-storage unit
Installed capacity 129 MW

The Horse Mesa Dam is a concrete thin arch dam located in the Superstition Mountains, northeast of Phoenix in Maricopa County, Arizona.

The dam is 660 feet (200 m) long, 300 feet (91 m) high and was built between 1924–27. The dam includes three conventional hydroelectric generating units totaling 32 megawatts (MW) and a pumped-storage unit with a capacity of 97 MW.

The dam and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

A few homes are nearby for temporary employee housing. Its name is derived from when sheep-herders used to graze their saddle and pack animals on the mesa when they were driving their flocks through the area. It has an estimated elevation of 2,067 feet (630 m) above sea level.

Reservoir

The dam forms Apache Lake as it impounds the Salt River. The dam and reservoir are located downstream from the Theodore Roosevelt Dam, and upstream from the Mormon Flat Dam.

CLOSE-UP VIEW OF HORSE MESA DAM. HEFU PENSTOCK IS AT CENTER RIGHT, AND LEFT (OR SOUTH) SPILLWAY CHUTE IS AT UPPER RIGHT - Horse Mesa Dam, Salt River, 65 miles East of Phoenix, HAER ARIZ,7-PHEN.V,3-24
Downstream view of Horse Mesa Dam.
Horse Mesa Dam Spillway
Water flowing out of a spillway at Horse Mesa, circa 1940
DOWNSTREAM VIEW OF THE SALT RIVER FROM ATOP HORSE MESA DAM - Horse Mesa Dam, Salt River, 65 miles East of Phoenix, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ HAER ARIZ,7-PHEN.V,3-26
Salt River below the dam.
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