In response to the Great Depression and subsequent drops in crop prices, farmers struggled harder to have a dam constructed on the Verde River.

[3] 80% of the funding for the dam was provided by the Salt River Project (SRP) and 20% by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Beginning in March 1994, the dam was raised 21.5 feet (6.6 m) and subsequently, its service spillway was modified as well to accompany the new height.

The new spillway consists of a concrete control structure and a three-segment fuse plug which is designed to erode in specific stages during flooding.

[8] The reservoir created by the dam, Bartlett Lake, has a 178,186 acre-feet (219,789,000 m3) capacity at the normal surface water elevation of 1,798 ft (548 m).