Arizona history comes to life with 2,000 photo collection [Video]

Nearly 2,000 photographs taken by U.S. Reclamation Service photographer Walter J. Lubken show life in the Salt River Valley in the last years before Arizona became State 48.

“Lubken’s images of irrigation, agriculture, and scenery offer an unparalleled glimpse into life in the Salt River Valley in the early Twentieth Century,” said SRP Research Archives & Heritage Department Senior Historical Analyst Jodi Moon.

Most of the photos were taken from 1900 to 1911 so you can see what the Valley looked like before its agricultural expanses were developed with buildings and towns, the earliest days after Roosevelt Dam’s completion and a little snapshot of the lives of Arizonans.

Lubken was an official photographer for the United States Reclamation Service from 1903 to 1917. His work focused on irrigation projects across the …