AZ: The History of Arizona podcast

In 1930, thousands of Arizonans came together to celebrate the official dedication of the unique Coolidge Dam. It was the culmination of years of work to get a dam on the Gila River, but its legacy remains a bit complicated. But, hey, at least it gave us one really funny joke.

After getting through the House and the Senate on unanimous votes, the bill to build the San Carlos Dam had to clear its final obstacle - the potential bill killer known as "Silent Cal."

After more than a decade of trying and only getting a portion of the San Carlos project funded, Hayden and his allies set their sights on one big push to get the San Carlos Dam funded. The first step? Getting it through the Senate.

Throughout the 1910s, Carl Hayden and others failed to get their storage dam on the Gila River. However, in the early 1920s they were able get a smaller reclamation project approved. Too bad it would do little, if anything, to help the water-strapped Maricopa and O’odham living on the Pima Reservation.

In which someone suggests a radical idea - actually collecting hard data on and documenting the impact of upstream diversions to the O’odham living along the Gila River.