DAVIS DAM AND LAKE MOHAVE

With the completion of Davis Dam, forming Lake Mo-have, 65 miles more of the western border of Arizona are under the lapping waters of a placid lake.

Located just 67 miles below gigantic Boulder (Hoover) Dam and Lake Mead, Davis Dam's reservoir backs up to the tailrace of the latter's powerplant in Black Canyon, making accessible to the average visitor country resembling a miniature Grand Canyon. This new dam and lake are rivals for their upstream brothers' huge annual tourist trade.

It has been a slow process getting Davis Dam completed. Authorization for the dam was first given in April, 1941. Because of the war, work was halted late in the year 1942. Work for the second time was started on the $115,000,000 earth-fill dam in March, 1946.

And in less than five years, the Davis Dam project, including the dam, powerplant and more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines, is substantially completed. All of its final touches will have been added by the middle of next year furnishing the last link in the chain of lower Colorado River dams from Laguna, 13 miles northeast of Yuma, Arizona, to Boulder, over 300 miles upstream.

A great log of rock and earth, the dam has turned the roaring rapids of the tumultuous Colorado River into the still waters of a lake. It rises from the river bottom 200 feet, stretches 1600 feet across the river, is one-fourth of a mile wide at the bottom and wide enough on the top for a double roadway between Arizona and Nevada.

Originally called Bullshead after the rock overlooking the river at the dam site, it was renamed Davis in honor of the late Arthur Powell Davis, director of reclamation from 1914 to 1923 and author of the present river development plans. He was the nephew of John Wesley Powell, who was the first white man to gaze upward from the river to the sheer walls of the Grand Canyon and live to tell about it. Powell made the daring trip in 1869.

Davis was as interested in the Colorado River region as his uncle was. He spent much time exploring the river and there is little doubt that on his trips up and down he saw posOPPOSITE PAGE "SPILLWAY AT DAVIS" BY CLIFF SEGERBLOM. With the completion of Davis Dam another control has been put on the Colorado River. The three regulating gates shown here are 50 by 50 in dimension. The lake has a capacity of 1,820,000 acre feet of water.

Davis, Arizona, is the government's model city for employees of Davis Dam. Population is about 400. (Photo by Phil Blew.) Possibility of some day building a dam in Pyramid Canyon-site of the dam which has his name.

The semi-outdoor type powerplant, alongside the dam, will be going at full production with all five generators about the middle of this year. Then Davis Dam will be the Bureau of Reclamation's fourth largest single power installation, ranking behind Grand Coulee, Boulder and Shasta in that order. It will help meet the heavy demands of a booming southwest.

To take care of the dam's personnel, the permanent community of Davis, Arizona, was created. The completely modern little government town is located just below the dam on the banks of the Colorado River. The government intends to keep this a closed town for employees of the dam. All tourist accommodations will be located at Bullhead, Arizona, one mile below Davis city, and at a concession above Davis Dam on the lake shore.

Bullhead also was born with the construction of Davis Dam. But in marked contrast to Davis, it is completely open with even the utilities being privately owned and operated.

The population of both communities is approximately the same about 400 persons in each. Children from Davis attend elementary school in Bullhead. High school students are taken by bus to Kingman where they attend the Mohave County Union High School. There are six different churches in the two towns-three in Davis and three in Bullhead.

Davis' city officials are the government heads of the Davis Dam Project. Bullhead is administered by authorities in Kingman as are all towns in Mohave County. However, it has its own deputy sheriff and justice of the peace. It's unofficial governing body is an active chamber of commerce.

Both towns have wonderful community spirits and citizens are quick to point out the healthful climate and recreation facilities and, in Davis, the business opportunities.

COLOR STUDY OF LAKE MOHAVE

OPPOSITE PAGE “LAKE MOHAVE” BY MIKE ROBERTS. This colorful body of water was formed by the completion of Davis Dam. Here is a superlative fishing area, 67 miles long, and only four miles wide at its widest point. Under the administration of the National Park Service, this lake will become one of the West's important recreational areas.

Emery's Landing at Eldorado Canyon is one of the popular recreational centers on Lake Mohave. (Photo by Cliff Segerblom.)

The same, but Bullhead will probably grow to be one of the largest agricultural and recreational centers along this section of the Colorado River.

The new recreation area created by the dam comes under the National Park Service domain-the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. Lake Mohave, named after the Indians of the surrounding country, is long and slender, instead of spreading out into two huge basins like Lake Mead. From a visitor's standpoint, Lake Mohave has much more scenic appeal than Mead. It is confined between the sheer cliffs of Black, Eldorado, Painted and Pyramid Canyons and from vantage points on their rims the visitor can overlook much of the lake.

From Davis Dam, the lake backs up through Pyramid Canyon into Cottonwood Valley forming a large basin of water four miles wide. From there, it narrows down between sheer walls of gaudy Painted Canyon, sometimes called Eagle Rock Canyon because of the odd formation on one of the walls resembling that of a sitting eagle, formed by two or three flows of lava over a white formation, probably pumice.

At the upper mouth of Painted Canyon is Searchlight Landing where vehicles were ferried across the river to connect the old Kingman-Searchlight road. Between Searchlight and Eldorado, the lake has covered up the old landmarks of the Gold Bug mill on the Arizona side and Rockefeller mill on the Nevada side. The old dredge once used in a placer attempt in this area also has been inundated.

Beyond Eldorado is the most scenic portion of the whole lake-Black Canyon with its varicolored steep walls. Deep within the canyon is Willow Beach and at its end, Boulder.

The National Park Service has set aside four resort areas for concessions on the new lake. Three of these, Willow Beach, Emery's Landing at Eldorado Canyon, and Searchlight Ferry or Cottonwood Landing, are located at old river concession sites. When the waters of the lake begins to rise, the concessions were moved back to permanent locations on the lake shore. The fishing camp at Willow Beach, on the Arizona side some 12 miles below Boulder Dam, had to be relocated at an elevation some 30 feet above its old river site. Emery's Landing on the Nevada side below Willow Beach had to be moved back more than 1,500 feet.

The fourth concession will be located on the Arizona side at Kathryn Mine, an abandoned workings of the early days, 3.6 miles above Davis Dam. When this resort is completed, it will include a large boat dock with all needed marine supplies, a store, restaurant, motel cabins, trailer park, bathing beach and other facilities to meet all needs.

The area's biggest drawing card outside of the dam will be fishing. Unlike the other lakes formed by dams on the Colorado River, the waters of Lake Mohave will remain cold-somewhere around 53 degrees. It will be fed through the penstock outlets of Boulder Dam and that water, taken from the lower levels of Lake Mead, is plenty cold.

Trout will live in such chilly water while bass need a warmer habitat. There probably will be bass in the waters just above the dam, itself, but as the lake approaches Boulder Dam there still will be trout. Imagine bass and trout fishing in the same lake! For the next two or three years the lake will be the finest fishing grounds in the country-a fisherman's paradise.

Much preliminary work had to be done by the Park Service before the waters of the lake inundated places of Indian lore and historical spots along the banks of the river. As many historical landmarks as possible were salvaged before they were lost forever.

In the 1860's boats were used regularly on the Colorado River for hauling salt. The salt was distributed to several mills all of which are buried now beneath Lake Mohave's waters. At two places along the river, the rapids were so swift and the fall so great that it was necessary to use a steam winch to pull the big boats up over fast water. Ringbolts were embedded on the shore for this purpose at Ringbolt Rapids above Willow Beach and at Roaring Rapids below Willow Beach. These ringbolts were removed and will be placed in a Park Service museum.

Although several large fields of Indian petroglyphs remain above the water level, many boulders with excellent Indian writings were covered. Boulders which could be carried were taken from the largest collection of petroglyphs