File:Arizona National Guard members filling canteens at water's edge, Colorado River, near Parker, Arizona, 1934.jpg

English: DESCRIPTION

Man at right may be Private H.W. Suman or Private M.N. VanPouten. Cf. Los Angeles Times article, March 11, 1934, "Army Scans Dam Site: Arizona Soldiers Visit Scene, First Report from Seat of Two-State Dispute Sent to Phoenix, Military Party Movements Made to Halt Asserted California Invasion." The first direct contact with the river and dam site by the soldiers was made by a detail under Maj. Pomeroy, Privtae [sic] H.W. Suman and Private M.N. VanPouten, who were in the party. Three men in uniform, Franklin I. Pomeroy at center, crouching at water's edge, holding canteens, with water in foreground, water and mountains in background In 1934, with plans in place for United States Reclamation Service and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to build Parker Dam on the Colorado River between Arizona and California, Arizona governor Benjamin B. Moeur protested the diversion of water to California by sending members of the Arizona National Guard to the dam construction site. A local ferry service also participated under the informal name of the Arizona Navy.

A similar photograph appears with March 12, 1934 Los Angeles Times article, “A.E.F. Reaches Battle Front,” with caption: Maj. F.I. Pomeroy of the Arizona Expeditionary Force is shown below with two members of his army, grimly surveying the Colorado River at the point where, it is reported, the “enemy” is planning to construct a dam. The major, at extreme right, furnishes Gov. Moeur of Arizona with a daily report of his observations flashed from the field by short-wave radio.