Historic American Engineering Record: San Francisco Canal, Between 40th Street and Weir Avenue and 36th Street and Roeser Road, Maricopa County, Arizona

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. AZ-8 presents a written historical summary and relevant historical documentation about the construction and use of the San Francisco Canal, which delivers water to portions of Tempe, Arizona on the south side of the Salt River. The report contains a narrative description, photographs, drawings, and maps.

The San Francisco Canal was one of the first few operating irrigation ditches in the Salt River Valley. It was the only privately owned canal south of the Salt River. The canal was dug in 1871, and then broadened and lengthened in the mid-1870's. After 1901, it was the principal water source for the seven thousand acre Bartlett-Heard Land and Cattle Company. The canal continues to serve residential Tempe.