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52-513: A local legend purports that anyone who drinks from the river can never again tell the truth. As an anonymous poet wrote: This lush streamside habitat is home to some of the desert's most spectacular wildlife. Yet many of them have become dangerously imperiled as riparian areas have disappeared from the Arizona landscape. In the Sonoran Desert, riparian areas nourish cottonwood-willow forests, one of

104-561: A dam it could not avoid bankruptcy. It owed $ 100,000 to the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company in a mortgage of the placer claims, which was foreclosed on in October 1891. With the loss of its gold mines, the company was effectively disestablished. Historian David B. Dill, Jr. notes "from its conception, the Walnut Grove dam had been a disaster in the making." He faults Blake for lacking experience,

156-426: A last minute design change occurred. Previously, the dam was to be dispensed using a flume system, to feed the hydraulic works and various ranches. But this plan was scrapped in favor of creating a small diversion dam some 14 mi (23 km) downriver, which would be fed by discharging the dam back into the river. Work went very slowly in 1888 due to poor management. Dillingham Bates was also replaced as president of

208-415: A mining engineer. Following the resignation of Oakes Murphy as Governor of Arizona Territory, Brodie was nominated for the position and sworn into office on July 1, 1902. His first several months were spent appointing new officials and organizing his administration. An action of note prior to the convening of the 22nd Arizona Territorial Legislature was the pardon of Pearl Hart on moral grounds. At

260-465: A nominal engineer. The dam was finished at a price of $ 300,000 (equivalent to $ 9,286,329 in 2023). Considerable rains in 1889 revealed limits of the dam. The dam filled to within a foot of the top, and the spillway had to be cleared of a logjam by workers. The Army was concerned enough that the Signal Corps built a weather station at the dam. But the management was unperturbed, and did not order

312-482: A pair of orphaned girls, who sued for $ 50,000 for the death of both parents, and Henry Wickenburg who sued for $ 8,000 for the destruction of his ranch. The orphans' suit was dismissed on technical grounds. The haphazard construction process led to considerable finger pointing, and no individual or company was ever held liable. Though the Walnut Grove Water Storage Company avoided liability, without

364-465: A ranch), was caught and killed in the deluge just before he could reach the camp at the diversion dam to warn them. The water continued on to Wickenburg, washing away settlements on the way, killing others, and destroying the ranch of the eponymous Henry Wickenburg . The true death toll may never be known, and as many as 150 may have died. The dam workers who died are buried in Wagoner, Arizona . News of

416-436: A two-year study on possible joint statehood with New Mexico, finding the residents of Arizona strongly opposed such an action, and appealed to the legislature to oppose such a merger. After hearing the appeal the legislature memorandized the U.S. Congress expressing their opposition to joint statehood. Brodie's address to the session repeated his request to the previous session for tax reform. He also requested laws to deal with

468-581: The Arizona Organic Act . The second unpopular stance was endorsing a bill supporting joint statehood with New Mexico . Between legislative sessions, Brodie was responsible for expanding the size of the Arizona Rangers from fourteen to twenty-six men. This was followed by him selecting the site for Roosevelt Dam . At the beginning of the 1905 legislative session, the Governor announced the results of

520-701: The Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War . His friendship with Theodore Roosevelt then led to Brodie being appointed Governor of Arizona Territory from 1902 to 1905. Alexander O. Brodie was a lineal descendant of Robert III, King of Scotland . His family originated in Northern Scotland and his branch of the Clan Brodie is known as Brodie of Caithness . Brodie was born to Joseph and Margaret (Brown) Brodie near Edwards, New York , in late 1849,

572-532: The "growing evil of wife desertion" and for creation of a sanatorium to treat the growing numbers of people suffering from tuberculosis migrating to the territory. Brodie announced his resignation as governor on February 14, 1905. As a token of their esteem the Democratically controlled legislature presented the Republican governor a ceremonial saber. Following his resignation as governor, Brodie returned to

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624-481: The 400 sq mi (1,000 km ) watershed behind the Hassayampa. The surface area of the reservoir was 1,120 acres (4.5 km ). A period of heavy rain began on February 16, 1890. Some 7 in (180 mm) of rain fell not only at Walnut Grove, but also upstream at Fort Whipple . The event was estimated as a 25-year flood (a flood having a 4% chance of occurring in any given year). Emergency work to widen

676-676: The U.S. Army at the rank of major. After serving briefly in the War Department 's record and pension office, he was assigned to the Philippines serving on a board overseeing the Friar lands dispute. In 1907 he was made adjutant general of the Department of the Dakotas and in 1911 was transferred to the Department of California to perform the same job. Bordie was promoted to colonel in 1912 and retired from

728-688: The United States appearing likely, Brodie sent telegraphs to President William McKinley and Governor Myron H. McCord seeking permission to raise a volunteer regiment of cavalry. With the start of the Spanish–American War the Rough Riders were formed and Arizona Territory allocated a quota of 170 men. Brodie was appointed as senior regimental officer at the rank of major on April 25, 1898. Following training in San Antonio , Texas, Brodie's unit

780-485: The Walnut Grove Water Storage Company by the wealthy Henry Spingler Van Beuren. That the project was supervised from distant New York further degraded its construction quality. Van Beuren appointed a new Chief Engineer: Alexander Oswald Brodie , who would go on to become Territorial Governor of Arizona. The dam was nominally completed in 1888. Projects to improve the dam, and to prepare downstream areas for mining, continued until its collapse, and were overseen by Brodie as

832-452: The afternoon Brown gave him the camp's best horse and told him to rush to warn those downriver that the dam would soon fail. But despite Brown's humanitarian instincts, he made a "fatal mistake too: he paid Burke ahead of the task." Rather than riding downriver, Burke stopped in a nearby bar for a drink, using the money he had just been paid. Burke got drunk, and never warned anyone of the imminent failure. At 9 that night, water overtopped

884-422: The chief. After seeing this exchange the rest of the band returned peacefully to the reservation. In August 1874, he was assigned to Fort Walla Walla , Washington where he participated in the campaign against Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Perce . Following this, Brodie served at Benicia Arsenal , California and Fort Colville , Washington before being promoted to first lieutenant on May 25, 1876. Around

936-455: The company for not following Robinson's plans, Nagle & Leonard for shoddy construction, and management for failing to warn those downriver. He notes that the disaster was little considered in Arizona, emblematic of a lack of corporate conscience and a popular admiration of the wealthy. At any rate, the failure of the dam served as a lesson to southwestern dam builders, whose future projects were far more meticulous than Walnut Grove. The dam

988-566: The course of an eight-hour fight, and returned safely to camp after nightfall. As result of his efforts that day, Brodie received a personal commendation from the Secretary of War . During another incident he and one other soldier pursued and captured a band of Apache that had escaped from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation . After finding the group, the band's leader threatened to kill Brodie. Brodie responding by shooting

1040-454: The dam site in February 1886, where further rights to build a dam were secured, and it was determined a considerable amount of gold could be retrieved. Blake returned to New York, but was back on site by August 1886. He and two of his sons oversaw the digging of a quarry for dam fill, the construction of roads, a sawmill, an office, and quarters for workers, and the building of the initial part of

1092-407: The dam, carelessly blasting dynamite next to the dam, and reducing the spillway size to 20 ft (6.1 m) wide and 5 ft (1.5 m) deep. Further, the spillway was to be put next to the dam, instead of half a mile away. Despite these changes, the dam was to remain taller than originally planned. But Nagle remained as chief contractor, working a crew of 200 men in shifts 24 hours a day. Nagle

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1144-490: The dam. Wells Bates, and Charles Henry Dillingham, visited the dam in Christmas 1886. Christmas was described as pleasant by all involved, including Blake who noted they had had a "fatted turkey". But it seems Dillingham was annoyed by a conversation he had witnessed the day before between Blake and another local prospector. So Dillingham returned on January 15, 1887, and fired Blake. Blake was very bitter, feeling that he had done

1196-560: The dam. The strain on the dam snapped solid steel cables holding the intake tower together. Shortly after midnight on February 22, the Walnut Grove Dam gave way. Four billion gallons (15 billion liters) of water rushed down the canyon. A 50 ft (15 m) tall wall of water reached the diversion dam at 2 in the morning. The flood washed away the worker's camp and company headquarters, killing some 50 workers. A second messenger, William Akard (who had earlier found Burke drunk at

1248-399: The disaster reached Prescott (the county seat ) at 8 that evening, and Sheriff Buckey O'Neill assembled a rescue party. O'Neill rode downriver, burying bodies and rendering aid. The Johnstown Flood , a dam collapse which killed over 2,200 people, had occurred the previous year, and the impacts of that flood made the collapse of the Walnut Grove Dam much more significant. The story made

1300-433: The ephemeral nature of the Hassayampa made such operations difficult year round. To solve this, the brothers resolved to build a dam. Efforts to procure land and capital for the dam were in earnest by 1883. Wells Bates spent a portion of 1883 in the area, making legal arrangements related to building a dam, including claiming all the water in the Hassayampa. The brothers established the Walnut Grove Water Storage Company for

1352-630: The fish must carry canteens." Into this environment came two brothers, Wells & DeWitt Bates, who filed 63 placer gold mining claims in 1881 along the Hassayampa. Just a mile from Rich Hill, Arizona (the site of the Weaver/Walker gold rush), the Bates brothers purchased the Marcus mine, hoping to strike it rich. They intended to follow the example of the California gold rush, and use hydraulic mining . But

1404-493: The front page of the New York Times. The week after, John Wesley Powell gave a brusque and damning account of the collapse to Congress, noting "an ignorant engineer believes the dam is safe ... for he has never seen it at flood time." Powell said that a hydrologic survey is a must for dam building, and that engineers need to plan for every contingency. Immediately, victims began suing the dam company. Chief among them were

1456-452: The legislative appropriation which created the fund illegal as it had no oversight provisions to prevent misuse. With the start of the 22nd Legislature in January 1903, Brodie requested several changes to the territorial tax code . The first change he asked for was increasing the tax rates for mining operations which the Governor felt were not paying a fair share in comparison to other parts of

1508-464: The most difficult work for very little pay, but acquiesced on January 30. Blake was replaced by the firm of Nagle and Leonard, of San Francisco. The position of Chief Engineer, formerly Blake's, went to N.E. Robinson. Robinson proved a more able engineer than Blake. He revamped the dam's design, rebuilt the leaky core of the dam, and called for a large spillway 55 ft (17 m) wide by 12 ft (3.7 m) deep. Crucially, Robinson's design for

1560-411: The practice of paying miners in company scrip redeemable only at the company store . Brodie also requested the pay for the governor's secretary be increased from US$ 125 to US$ 150/year. Other legislation coming from the session were laws requiring the licensing of dentists and physicians, requiring schools to fly the United States flag during hours the school was in session, expanding the facilities of

1612-542: The project was considerable. Intended to be used for gold mining, the dam failed before it could be put to use. Gold was discovered along the tributaries of the Hassayampa River in 1863 by Pauline Weaver and Joseph R. Walker , prompting an Arizona gold rush. The river is subject to considerable seasonal change, including vast flash floods. In the words of one prospector, the river was a place "where at times an ocean steamer might be floated, and where at other seasons ...

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1664-568: The purpose of creating a dam. A site some 20 mi (32 km) north of Wickenburg was chosen for the dam, mostly for gold mining, but also for general purpose irrigation. William P. Blake was the initial designer, but was fired shortly after beginning work in 1886. Blake (a prominent geologist and grand-nephew of Eli Whitney ) seems to have been on the project only so that his reputation might attract investors. While he had considerable mining experience, Blake lacked civil engineering or dam building experience. Blake accompanied Wells Bates to

1716-461: The rarest and most threatened forest types in North America. An estimated 90 percent of these critical wet landscapes have been lost, damaged or degraded in the last century. This loss threatens at least 80 percent of Arizona wildlife, which depend upon riparian habitats for survival. The Hassayampa River was the location of the 1890 Walnut Grove Dam failure, which led to over 100 fatalities along

1768-474: The reservoir and the boating it offered. Van Beuren also tried to speed the project along. Van Beuren oversaw the delivery of the hydraulic equipment to begin gold mining, and was away in Phoenix for that purpose when the dam burst. Mining had been set to begin about a month after the dam burst. The final dam was 110 ft (34 m) tall, 400 ft (120 m) long at the top, 10 ft (3.0 m) wide at

1820-485: The river. 33°55′58″N 112°41′50″W  /  33.9327121°N 112.6972566°W  / 33.9327121; -112.6972566 Walnut Grove Dam The Walnut Grove Dam was built north of Wickenburg, Arizona , United States, along the Hassayampa River . Its failure in 1890 killed over 100 people. Its construction from 1886 to 1888 was chiefly on the impetus of the Bates family, whose mismanagement of

1872-605: The second of four children. At the outbreak of the Civil War , Brodie was 11 years old and asked his father to allow him to enlist. Brodie's father promised him that he would be sent to West Point when he was old enough. By age 13 he was a student in a boarding school in Canton, New York operated by St. Lawrence University . Brodie received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1866 and upon graduation

1924-465: The spillway put the outflow about a half mile away from the dam itself. But Robinson's design also grew much higher, to 110 ft (34 m) tall, 35 ft (11 m) more than Blake's. Robinson seems to have been the most competent of the many engineers who were cycled through the project. But Robinson soon discovered that the Bates brothers were more interested in selling stock than building an actually sturdy dam. Despite Robinson's quality work, he

1976-424: The spillway was ordered by dam superintendent Thomas H. Brown. But by the 21st the spillway was being scoured by so much water that its bank closest to the dam broke. Water was now scouring the dam, and Brown was certain the dam would fail. Brown asked for a man who knew the territory so as to go warn of the impending disaster. He found Dan Burke, a blacksmith and habitual drunk. Burke knew the territory, and at 2:30 in

2028-409: The territorial insane asylum , and authorizing school districts with 1,000 or more residents to hire music and art instructors. Brodie also took unpopular stances on two of the session's bills . The first stance was opposition to a bill granting women the right to vote. Brodie, who personally supported women's suffrage , opposed this bill on the basis that it was not permitted under the limitations of

2080-421: The territorial economy. He also proposed an exemption from taxation of 10 years for new railroads and 9 years for hydroelectric dams to encourage additional transportation and electrical generation capabilities within the territory. Other changes to mining operations were the establishment of an eight-hour day for mine workers, with railroad workers receiving a limit of 16 consecutive hours of work, and outlawing

2132-632: The time of his promotion, Brodie married Kate Reynolds of Walla Walla, Washington . His wife and newborn daughter died during childbirth in August or September 1877, and Brodie resigned his commission on September 30, 1877. After leaving the military, Brodie worked as a cattleman in Kansas and miner in Dakota Territory before enlisting in the U.S. Cavalry at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri in August 1883. His enlistment returned him to Arizona Territory, where he

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2184-515: The time, the outlaw was the only female at the Yuma Territorial Prison and her presence was causing disruptions as guards and other prisoners vied for her attentions. The December 1902 pardon was made on the condition that Hart leave the territory, a condition she quickly fulfilled. Another display of the new Governor's ethical stance was his refusal to use a US$ 750 discretionary fund which was available for his personal use. Brodie considered

2236-420: The top, 150 ft (46 m) long at the base, and 138 ft (42 m) wide at the base. Its construction was rock fill, made of locally blasted granite. The spillway's final size after expansion work is uncertain, but was estimated as having a capacity of 2,200 cubic feet per second. Such a spillway could only handle at most a five year flood (a flood having a 20% chance of occurring in any given year) given

2288-482: The workers camp, just below the diversion dam, to be moved. Still, the company realized the spillway needed improvement. Wells Bates ordered an expansion of the spillway, enlisting Benjamin S. Church, dean of the American Hydraulic Engineers. Church confirmed that the spillway was inadequate, and work on it continued. Van Beuren and some of his family visited the dam in the winter of 1889/1890, enjoying

2340-623: Was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Cavalry Regiment (United States) on June 15, 1870. As a newly commissioned officer, Brodie was assigned to Camp Apache , where he participated in General George Crook 's campaign in Arizona Territory. During this assignment there were several events of note. On June 21, 1871, Brodie and a group of five troopers were ambushed by a numerically superior band of Apache fighters. The young lieutenant managed his group's ammunition supply over

2392-655: Was deployed to Cuba . On June 24, 1898, during the Battle of Las Guasimas , he was wounded by a bullet in his right wrist. Initially refusing to leave the battle, Major Brodie was eventually forced from the field by pain and blood loss. He was evacuated from Cuba and treated in the hospital at Fort Wadsworth , New York. After recovering from his wound, Brodie returned to the Rough Riders on August 11, 1898, and, being promoted to lieutenant colonel , succeeded Theodore Roosevelt as unit commander. Brodie himself mustered out on September 15, 1898, and returned to Arizona Territory to work as

2444-596: Was discharged in February 1884. Remaining in the territory, Brodie established a permanent residence in Prescott while working around the territory as a civil and mining engineer . From 1887 till 1890 he worked as superintendent and chief engineer of the Walnut Grove Dam on the Hassayampa River north of Wickenburg . As the dam was nearing completion, in February 1890, a flood caused the dam to collapse, causing 70 deaths and millions of dollars in damage. Brodie himself

2496-450: Was entirely unsupervised by an engineer for about a month. A new chief engineer, Luther Wagoner, began work on August 10, 1887. Wagoner noted that the spillway plan was inadequate, but his objections seem to have gone largely unheeded. The spillway was built starting in December 1887, and came out to a dimension of 26 ft (7.9 m) wide and 7 ft (2.1 m) deep. At this point,

2548-407: Was fired for unknown reasons just four months after being hired. The final design was done by Walter Gillette Bates, a Bates brothers' nephew. Walter had no experience, having previously been a professor. Robinson's equally competent assistant, John M. Currier, resigned shortly thereafter, noting that the firm of Nagle and Leonard was doing very shoddy work. Failures under Nagle included a bulge in

2600-522: Was held innocent of wrongdoing in the failure as he had publicly called for higher construction standards on the project. In 1891, Brodie was appointed commander of the Arizona Territorial National Guard by Governor John N. Irwin , a position he held till May 1892. On December 15, 1892, Brodie married Mary Louise Hanlon. The second Mrs. Brodie was a survivor of the Walnut Grove Dam failure. A distant uncle, Henry Spingler van Beuren

2652-485: Was never rebuilt. All that remains of the dam is a diversion tunnel, construction roads, and some chunks of the spillway. The river below the dam remains a popular spot for gold hunters. Alexander Oswald Brodie Alexander Oswald Brodie (November 13, 1849 – May 10, 1918) was an American military officer and engineer. Earning his initial reputation during the Indian wars , he came to prominence for his service with

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2704-455: Was the president of the company that built the dam. The couple had two sons, with the first dying in 1896 and the second being born in 1898. Politically, Brodie served as Yavapai County recorder from 1893 till 1895. and was the Republican nominee for Territorial delegate in 1898, when he returned to the territory as a war hero. On March 3, 1898, with the outbreak of war between Spain and

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