Lake Havasu Feb. 2011

The land that is now Lake Havasu was purchased by Robert McCulloch Sr. in August 1963. (the founder of McCulloch Co. Which is known for its chain saws) Original purchase was 26 square miles and was sold to him for $73.47 per acre. The abandoned Army Air Corps landing strip on the land that he bought provided McCulloch the airport necessary to bring in prospective land buyers, and this, along with the lake provided a perfect testing site for his small engine business. The population of Lake Havasu City in Dec.1975 was 15,500 and in 2000 it had increased to 41,938 and is now above 55,000. The Colorado River runs through Lake Havasu. and is backed up by the Parker dam, creating the town. It was formed in 1938, with the completion of the Parker Dam. Which is the deepest dam in the world with 73 % percent of its structural height of 320 feet being below the original riverbed. The main attraction of the city is the London Bridge. Which has a 2,000 year history.Some of the highlights of the bridge are mentioned several times in history from about 1,014 on as the site of resistance to Viking invasions. Later the Vikings laid cables around the pillars and then rowed swiftly downstream, dislodging the supports. This is where the origin of the poem, "London Bridge is Falling Down". From AD 1066 on there are numerous mentions of London Bridge. The great fire of 1135 burned it down. In 1163 a new bridge bridge of elm was built. It was to last for 699 years.

On July 4, 1823 John Rennie's design was accepted for a new bridge. It opened August 1, 1831 and the old bridge was demolished. The Rennie bridge is the one now at Lake Havasu. Some interesting facts about the bridge. The Bridge was purchased on April 18, 1968 for a bid of $2,460,000 from the City of London by Mr McCulloch. To avoid taxation, the bridge was declared an antique and has been identified as the world's largest antique by the Guiness Book of Records. The 22 million pounds of granite (10,276 pieces) were shipped from London through the Panama Canal to Long Beach CA. and then trucked to Lake Havasu, a 10,000 mile journey. Total reconstruction time was three years, from the laying of the cornerstone in September 1968 to dedication October 1971. The Bridge measures 952 feet, while in London it was 1,005 feet long. During World War two the Germans attempted to blitz London with air attacks. Although the bridge never sustained heavy damage, it was strafed by machine gun fire.A one mile channel was dredged to form the Island Due to the weight of solid granite, the interior section is concrete and allows a way to provide several different utility services to the Island.
The Parker dam spans the Colorado River between Arizona and California, 155 miles downstream from Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation, Parker Dam is operated with Hoover and Davis Dams (Did you know that there was a Davis dam?) to bring water and power benefits to residents of the lower Colorado River Basin. Parker Dam's primary purpose is to provide reservoir storage for water to be pumped into the Colorado River and central Arizona Project Aqueducts. Lake Havasu, the reservoir behind Parker Dam, is about 45 miles long and can store nearly 211 billion gallons of water. Lake Havasu provides clear, desilted water for the Colorado River Aqueduct and serves central Arizona Project.
Lake Havasu is home to more lighthouses than any other city in America. These 1/3 scale replicas are actual functioning navigational aids, built to the specifications of famous East and West coast lighthouses. There are currently 19 that dot the shores of the lake, with several others planned. Lake Havasu has worked to place the lighthouse replicas on both the Arizona and California sides of the lake. Not only are they decorative, but they provide valuable navigation tools for boaters.