page_title: Yuma Project
section_title: Canals
hierarchical_section_title: Yuma Project / History and construction / Canals
context_page_description: The Yuma Project is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project built to irrigate over 68,000 acres of land in Yuma County, Arizona and parts of Imperial County, California. The project is designed to exploit year-round farming conditions and water from the Colorado River. It consists of the Laguna Diversion Dam, pumping plants, a power plant, a 53-mile system of canals, 218 miles of lateral canals, levees and drains. The project began in 1903 and the majority of the work was completed by 1915. It was the first dam and reclamation project on the Colorado River and workers had to overcome many natural and logistical obstacles to build and maintain it. The Laguna Diversion Dam was replaced by the Imperial Dam as the Project's water source between 1941 and 1948. Today, it serves 275 farms and over 94,000 people.
context_section_description: Construction on the Yuma Canal which branched off the California side of the Laguna Dam began in 1909. One and half miles from the dam, at Indian Heading, the Yuma Canal splits into the Reservation Main Canal and the Yuma Main Canal. The Yuma Main Canal continues 10.5 miles (16.9 km) southwest until it reaches the 9.9-foot (3.0 m) Siphon Drop Spillway where a power plant was later built in 1926. After another 3.5 miles (5.6 km), it reaches the Colorado River Siphon which siphons the water under the Colorado River. After it reaches Yuma, it split into the East and West Main canals to pass through the Valley Division and to the Mexican border. The Yuma Main Canal along with the East Main Canal and part of the West Main Canal were complete by 1912. The rest of the West Main Canal started again in 1913 and was completed in 1915.
  Work on the Reservation Main Canal began in 1907 and its adjacent lateral canals began in 1908. The Mojave and Cocopah Canals were constructed as splits off the Reservation Canal. Construction on the Colorado River Siphon began in 1909 and would initially consist of a 50-foot (15 m) inverted siphon that transfers water via the Yuma Main Canal to the Valley Division. Construction on the siphon was halted in February 1911 after the surrounding sandstone proved too porous and unstable. The Bureau of Reclamation decided to use pneumatic compressed air to finish the construction which sank the siphon further to 76 feet (23 m) and it began to operate on June 29, 1912. In total, the Yuma Project contained 53 miles (85 km) of canal and 218 miles (351 km) of lateral canal.
caption: A Bell-type turbine being installed at the Siphon Drop Spillway power plant
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