WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
SHEM DAM AND THE 2011 FLOOD
on the Santa Clara River/Creek
HISTORY
In 2011, a major flood once again badly damaged the Shem Dam.It was the same area repaired in 1958 that sustained most of the damage caused by this flood.
The downstream face of the spillway was again badly undercut and partially carried away,
exposing the interior of the portion of the spillway repaired in 1958.
The undercutting carried away nearly all of the apron that once extended downstream from its face,
including the lower portion of the spillway wall and the ridge that crossed the apron along the
downstream side of the churning bowl.
The only part of the spillway apron that survived is a portion of the line of "breakers" built along
the downstream edge during the 1938 repair.
The low masonry wing walls built along the sides of the apron in 1935 and rebuilt in 1938
were unharmed in the 2011 flood.
It was the damage from this flood that prompted the Shem Dam Rehabilitation Project.
PHOTOS
TBDREFERENCES
Historic American Engineering Record, Shem Dam (Winsor Dam), HAER No. UT-96Prepared by Scott O'Mack, William Self Associates, Inc.,
for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
March 2016, 96 Pages (see pp. 2, 12, 31)
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