Walnut Grove Dam

Yavapai County · At Kirkland Junction turnoff to Walnut Grove, on U. S. Highway 89. · location approximate

Ruins of WALNUT GROVE DAM Though 135 ft. thick at the base and standing 110 ft. high, this Dam weakened and collapsed during the night of February 22, 1890. The rushing water took more than 50 lives and swept away everything in its path. Damage extended as far downstream as Wickenburg. The Dam was never rebuilt.

Named in the Arizona Department of Transportation's 1997 list of markers standing in its right of way. That 1997 list covers only state highway right of way, so it does not reach markers on city streets, on tribal land, or in state and national parks.

1958 text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people. The book proposed 100 markers for Arizona's highways and records 14 as cast when it went to press.

Arizona still marks its history under the same law: the State Historical Advisory Commission approves a marker, the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records certifies that its text is authentic and historically correct, and the Arizona Department of Transportation erects and maintains the markers on state highway right-of-way. Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: Historical Markers in Arizona, Vols. I-II (Arizona Development Board, 1958), text by Bert Fireman

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