Willow Lake – Prescott AZ

City:
Prescott, AZ

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Parks and Recreation, Lakes and Ponds, Water Supply

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
Unknown

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

Willow Creek dam and reservoir were constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding in 1938-39.  Willow Lake is now the centerpiece of Willow Lake Park and there is a 6-mile trail around the lake.  It sits in an area called the Granite Dells, with impressive rock hills all around and prehistoric indigenous sites and petroglyphs.

Willow Creek Dam is constructed of concrete that tapers fro 6 feet thick at the base to 2 1/2 feet thick at the top and it is 85 feet high.  It created a reservoir of about 400 acres, with a storage capacity of 8,000 acre-feet. The project included a small diversion dam on Granite Creek and a diversion canal to Willow Creek.

Willow Creek reservoir was undoubtedly created for the Chino Valley Irrigation District, which had built the dam for Watson reservoir on Granite Creek in the early 20th century.  The city bought both reservoirs as the area urbanized in the late 20th century.

Source notes

C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration. Washington D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 1939.

https://www.prescott-az.gov/recreation-area/willow-lake-park/

Location Info


Willow Creek Reservoir
Prescott, AZ 86301
Yavapai County

Coordinates: 34.603666, -112.43957

Site Details

Federal CostTotal Cost
$127,752 $127,752.00

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