Ash Fork Steel Dam | |
 Current view of dam face | |
   | |
| Location | Coconino County, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Ash Fork, Arizona |
| Coordinates | 35°13′31″N 112°24′54″W / 35.22528°N 112.41500°W |
| Built | 1897 |
| Architect | Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad |
| Architectural style | Reservoir Dam |
| NRHP reference No. | 76000373[1][2] |
| Added to NRHP | July 30, 1976 |
The Ashfork Bainbridge Steel Dam, the first large steel dam in the world, and one of only three ever built in the United States, was constructed in 1898 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) to supply water for railway operations near Ash Fork, Arizona. It is named for the town of Ash Fork, and for Francis H. Bainbridge, a civil engineer and graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a member of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers, and an engineer for ATSF.[3] The dam has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.[1]
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ A note on images: In aerial or satellite images the steel dam is to the west and slightly to the south, closer to I-40, of the two dams visible at all but the highest magnification. It impounds water in an elbow shape with a bend to the right. The masonry dam is upstream, farther north and east, and impounds more water in an irregular shape.
- ^ According to material found in this PDF: Arizona Society of Civil Engineers 150th anniversary booklet, Bainbridge invented the steel dam and obtained a United States patent on it, No. 537,520, filed September 11, 1894