Clay Thompson

The Republic | azcentral.com

Ahoy there, mateys. Belay that mizzenmast and hoist that belaying pin and gather 'round the scuttlebutt while old Cap'n Clay spins you the tale of the valiant Arizona Navy and the glorious Battle of the Colorado River.

In 1934, long before you were born, California began construction of Parker Dam on the Colorado River to supply water to southern California.

The problem was that Congress had not yet authorized the dam and this riled Arizonans who felt California was stealing Arizona's water.

So, in 1934, Gov. Benjamin Moeur called out the National Guard and ordered 40 infantrymen and 20 machine-gunners to the Colorado to block construction of the dam on the Arizona side.

In a telegram to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Moeur said, "I therefore found it necessary to issue a proclamation establishing martial law on the Arizona side of the river at that point and directing the National Guard to use such means as may be necessary to prevent an invasion of the sovereignty and territory of the State of Arizona."

The Guard commissioned a couple of old steamboats from a pistol-packing state legislator named Nellie Bush to scout the enemy's side of the river. Bush was proclaimed Admiral of the Arizona Navy.

The fleet got tangled up in some cables and had to be rescued by the Californians.

The affair angered Harold Ickes, the U.S. secretary of the Interior, who had to halt construction of the dam.

The U.S. Supreme Court eventually issued an injunction prohibiting anyone from interfering with construction of the dam, our troops came home and the Arizona Navy was mothballed.