Laguna Dam celebrates 100th anniversary

This year is the 100th anniversary of the Laguna Dam, which is the first dam ever built on the Colorado River. It was built to divert water to farmers with thirsty fields and ushered in the end of the steamboat era.

"Laguna Dam made commerce in southwest Arizona possible," said Tom Davis, general manager of the Yuma County Water Users Association (YCWUA).

"It gave a dependable water supply for agricultural use and also for area cities. Before that, the Colorado had been very brutal, and the dam gave a stable source of water for year-round farming. The dam is a testament of the partnership in the early part of the last century between the federal government and private enterprise."

To celebrate the auspicious occasion, the Bureau of Reclamation Yuma Area Office is hosting the Laguna Dam Centennial Celebration.

The free event will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, 201 N. 4th Ave. For more information, call 329-0471.

The celebration will feature guest speakers such as YAO area manager Jennifer McCloskey, Arizona state Sen. Amanda Aguirre, Arizona state Reps. Lynne Pancrazi and Russ Jones, city of Yuma Major Larry Nelson, Quechan Tribal President Mike Jackson Sr. and YCWUA manager Tom Davis.

Photos and other historical memorabilia will be on display, as well as artwork from local students.

According to Reclamation, in the 1890s and early 1900s, three private ditch companies were organized for the purpose of developing and irrigating the bottom lands of Yuma Valley.

In 1902, the U.S. Reclamation Service was established by Congress to investigate and construct water development projects in the western United States.

In 1903, Reclamation engineers moved into the Yuma area to conduct investigations for an irrigation project.

No structures like Laguna Dam existed in the United States, so the engineers traveled to India. While in India, the engineers came across a symbol that represented a Hindu goddess with power over water. They thought it would be appropriate to place the symbol on the Laguna Dam.

This decision would cause controversy years later because the symbol was nearly identical to the Nazi swastika, but at the time it was an innocent decoration.

Also in 1903, the YCWUA was founded and contracted with the United States for the construction of Laguna Dam, the Yuma Main Canal in California, an invert siphon under the Colorado River and a distribution system.

"Yuma was nothing but a sandy desert, with no ice water and no air conditioning," Davis said. "They built the projects with men and horsepower. There were no tractors and no internal combustion engines available."

The Yuma project was authorized in 1904, and in 1905 Reclamation began the construction of Laguna Dam, 13 miles northeast of Yuma.

Materials were delivered via railroad to Yuma and then shipped by steamboat or by wagons to the construction site. Supplies for the engineers and laborers were also hauled, and a temporary town was established at the work site.

Upon completion, the dam was 4,780 feet in length, 19 feet in height above the riverbed and almost 250 feet wide at the base.

The dam, the first Reclamation-authorized dam built on the Colorado River, began diverting water to farmlands in the Yuma area in 1909.

"Farming as we know it would not have existed without the dam," Davis said. "Eventually a more stable dam, the Imperial Dam, was built upstream and replaced the Laguna Dam. The combination of the Hoover Dam, the Parker Dam and subsequently the Davis Dam just below Laughlin, Nev., tamed the river."

Davis said when the Laguna Dam was first built, it provided a steady source of water for farmers and helped ease seasonal flooding.

"In the old days it was just the Laguna on the entire river. The dam reduced flooding, but it would still wash out the Yuma Valley. During the flood of 1916, the Yuma mayor had a heart attack and died. It is amazing what those older timers endured, and their ability to establish private enterprise was astounding. Their will was unbelievable."

According to Reclamation, on March 27, 1909, people celebrated the completion of Laguna Dam construction for three days with barbecues, train rides from Yuma to the dam, parades and baseball.

On March 30, 1909, the Chicago White Sox were traveling from San Francisco back to Chicago, heard about the Laguna Dam Celebration and came to Yuma. The Sox played the Commercial Club of Yuma for the fee of $300, winning in front of a thousand fans.

"The dam is a testament to the will, determination and ingenuity of our forefathers," Davis said. "The dam put Yuma on the map."

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.