Santa Fe Dam is a flood-control dam on the San Gabriel River located a few miles southwest of Azusa in Los Angeles County, California. For most of the year, the 92ft-high dam and its reservoir lie empty, but can hold more than 45000acre feet of water during major storms. During the dry season, the basin behind the dam is used for groundwater recharge, as well as various recreational activities.HistoryConstruction of the dam began in 1941 under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), mainly in response to major floods on the river in 1938; however, work stopped in 1943 and did not resume again until 1946 due to the unlucky intervention of a major flood and World War II. The dam embankment and spillway were completed in early 1947, and the entire project was finished in January 1949 with the installation of the spillway gates, four months ahead of schedule.StatisticsSanta Fe Dam is a horseshoe-shaped curved gravity structure located on the alluvial flood plain of the San Gabriel River roughly 3mi downstream from the San Gabriel Mountains. The dam is of zoned earthen construction and has a structural height of 92ft, standing 87ft above the riverbed. It is one of the largest dams by volume in the United States, containing more than 12000000yd3 of material in an embankment more than four miles long.
