Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water

by Marc Reisner

In the arid West, denying one’s neighbor water was a virtual declaration of war. But Moeur had his own response to such a challenge. He would begin waging a real war. The advance expeditionary force consisted of Major F. I. Pomeroy, 158th Infantry Regiment, Arizona National Guard, plus a sergeant, three privates, and a cook. Their instructions, issued personally by the governor, were to report “on any attempt on the part of any person to place any structure on Arizona soil either within the bed of said river [the Colorado] or on the shore.” Moeur knew full well that such an attempt had already been made, for the Bureau was doing some test drilling at the site of Parker Dam—a smaller regulation dam downriver from Hoover—from a barge, and the barge was secured against the current by a cable whose eastern end was anchored in Arizona soil.