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The Salt River Project Diversion and Conveyance Historic District consists of nine main canals, the diversion dam that feeds water to those canals, and one hydropower plant situated on one of those canals. The contributing properties are: Granite Reef Diversion Dam (a structure); the Southside Gatekeeper���s house at the dam (a building); three canals serving land on the north side of the Salt River (the Arizona, Grand, and New Crosscut canals, all structures); six canals serving land on the south side of the Salt River (the South, Eastern, Consolidated, Tempe, Western, and Highline canals, all structures); and the Crosscut Hydro Plant (a building), situated at the downstream end of the New Crosscut Canal. All are part of an operationally interconnected system of 1,300 miles of canals, laterals, ditches, and drains, with appurtenant sub-structures, that supply water to farms and communities within an approximately 375 square mile water service area. The Crosscut Hydro Plant is one component of the larger Salt River Project power generation system that, collectively, provides electric service to a three county area of central Arizona that encompasses Phoenix and its satellite communities and area farms. The Salt River Project Diversion and Conveyance System exhibits statewide significance under Criterion A in the areas of Politics/Government, Community Planning and Development, and Agriculture. Under Criterion A it is associated with the evolution of the Salt River Project, one of the first five federally-sponsored western water projects authorized under the National Reclamation Act of 1902. Under Politics/Government and Community Planning and Development, it is associated with the growth of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Under Agriculture, it was pivotal in providing water to support the agricultural industry that was the economic foundation of local communities in the Salt River Valley.

Pursuant to a 2009 Programmatic Agreement between the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office, the Salt River Project, and the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, the Bureau of Reclamation prepared documentation formally nominating the Salt River Project system of dams and main canals to the National Register of Historic Places (Register). The Salt River Project Multiple Property Submission (MPS) was formally accepted and listed on the Register on August 7, 2017. This is the Salt River Project Multiple Property Documentation Form, or cover document, which provides a historic context for nomination under this MPS, describes associated property types, and provides a list of major references.

This historical research report is designed to support mitigation for the relocation of Gates 7-13.4-41 and 7-13.4-42 (See Image 1) and Lateral 7-13.4 on the north side of Dobbins Road west of 55th Avenue, Laveen, Maricopa County. This report describes the findings of research into the historic use of the lateral and surrounding area in the south half of Section 5, Township 1 South, Range 2 East. The United States is relocating the lateral and turnout structures in a land exchange because of urban development. This is a memorandum.

Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted a Class III (Intensive), non-collection cultural resources survey on approximately 170 miles of the Arizona, Arizona Crosscut, Grand, Tempe, Tempe Crosscut, Consolidated, Eastern, South, Western, Highline, and Kyrene Branch Canals in Maricopa County, Arizona. The survey was undertaken at the request of Jon S. Czaplicki, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) archaeologist and Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for Contract No.1425-2-CS-01820. The canals, which are owned by the federal government, are under the jurisdiction of Reclamation and are maintained and operated by the Salt River Project (SRP). The survey was performed to provide an inventory and assessment of cultural resources located within or immediately adjacent to the canals' right-of-way which may be impacted by future development. The work was conducted under authorization from the SRP and Reclamation. A portion of the Arizona Canal right-of-way from Granite Reef Dam to Pima Road is situated within the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) and was surveyed under SRPMIC Archaeological Permit dated October 29, 1996. A portion on the northern side of the South Canal right-of-way from Granite Reef Dam to the branch with the Eastern Canal was surveyed under SRPMIC Archaeological Permit dated November 12, 1996. Letter authorization from Barry W. Welch, acting Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) dated November 15,1996, granted permission to conduct non-collection survey on tribal lands under the Federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA). The southernmost 4 miles of the Eastern Canal are under the jurisdiction of the Roosevelt Water Control District (RWCD) and were surveyed under a verbal authorization from Mr. Joe Nykas, RWCD field superintendent. The survey located 21 prehistoric sites, 2 historic properties, 1 possible prehistoric canal segment, 2 historic canal segments,and 59 isolated occurrences. Of the sites, 19 were previously recorded.

The document presents the results of archaeological monitoring at the Salt River Project (SRP) Lassen Substation in Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona. The work was conducted by Northland Research, Inc. for SRP and entailed monitoring for their expansion of utility lines along the Western Canal beginning at Lassen Substation. The project area is located within La Ciudad de Los Hornos (Los Hornos), a Hohokam site. Lassen Substation is on land owned by SRP; the Western Canal and right-of-way is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, but maintained and operated by SRP. Archaeological monitoring was performed from January 24 through February 10, 1995. Three archaeological features were encountered: a pithouse, a midden, and a canal (possibly historic). These features, observed only in trench profile, were recorded through profile drawings, photographs, and artifact collections. No human remains were encountered. As the trenching has been completed and all archaeological remains have been documented, no further work is deemed necessary at this time.

Together, Historic American Engineering Records (HAER) Nos. AZ-22 and AZ-23 present a written historical summary and relevant historical documentation about the construction and use of the Western Canal and the Highline Canal, which are waterways that serve Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, and parts of south Phoenix, Arizona on the south side of the Salt River. This report, Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-22, presents a narrative history of both canals and their infrastructure features. It also includes photographs, drawings, and maps of the Western Canal. HAER AZ-23 (see https://core.tdar.org/document/393530) presents photographs, drawings, and maps of the Highline Canal. The Western Canal provides water for agricultural, industrial, and municipal uses to portions of eastern Mesa, south Tempe, and south Phoenix, near the base of the Salt River (South) Mountains. The construction of the canal resulted from the Reclamation Service's inability to purchase the Tempe Canal, in an effort to improve drainage for south Tempe agricultural fields. From 1911 to 1912, Reclamation worked to connect feeders from the Consolidated Canal in Mesa (the Peck, Wallace, and Pine Feeders) to the Kyrene Branch Canal in south Tempe and the Wormser Branch Canal in south Phoenix. After a funding delay, the Western Canal Company completed construction under Reclamation's supervision. Simultaneously, in 1912, the Highline Canal Construction Company formed to build and mange a canal that would deliver water to agricultural interests and residents on the southern and eastern slopes of the Salt River (South) Mountains. From 1912 to 1914, the company constructed the Highline Canal and Pump. Both the Western and Highline Canals continue to supply water to the southeastern portions of the Salt River Valley, and are long-standing features on the landscape. The canal right-of-ways have also been transformed into recreational spaces, which include bike and pedestrian trails and canal-side parks.

Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) monitored the excavation of an 11.73 mi (18.88 km) long trench for the El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) pipeline in the cities of Mesa, Tempe, and Chandler. Archaeological monitoring was recommended because of the likelihood of crosscutting prehistoric irrigation canals and the close proximity of Alta Vista, a prehistoric Hohokam habitation site (AZ U:9:48 (ASM)). The monitoring was conducted in order to document these cultural resources when they became exposed in the pipeline trench. A total of seven canals and six subsurface features were revealed in the pipeline trench. Two additional canals were identified in a sewer trench that was open at the time of the EPNG monitoring and that abutted the EPNG line. The file includes a copies of Linda Scott Cumming's Pollen Analysis of Three Canals on the El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) Project and Manuel R. Palacios-Fest's Report on Nonmarine Ostracodes from El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) Project, Tempe, Arizona, as appendices.

When the Salt River Project (SRP) decided to build the Lassen Substation (LSS) along the Western Canal just east of Priest Drive in Tempe, they determined to recover the significant archaeological resources that would otherwise be impacted. Thus a 2-ac parcel of the Hohokam village site known as La Ciudad de Los Hornos was excavated in 1988 by Archaeological Consulting Services (ACS); 195 cultural features were recorded. SRP also contracted with the present authors to write an overview of previous archaeological work at Los Hornos and to interpret its community patterns during the millennium of Hohokam occupation. This study would thus provide a model of the larger cultural context of the SRPLSS/ACS 2-ac sample from a site that encompasses approximately 450 ac.