In 1934, landlocked Arizona basically created its own Navy during a fight with California over Colorado River water. The federal government had begun work on Parker Dam, a project tied to delivering Colorado River water to Southern California. Arizona Gov. Benjamin Moeur objected to construction extending onto Arizona territory and feared California was securing too much control over the river. After initially sending a small group of National Guardsmen to investigate, Moeur escalated things on November 10, declaring martial law and sending about 100 armed troops from the 158th Infantry Regiment to the dam site. There was just one problem when troops needed to inspect the construction from the water: Arizona had no Navy. So two local ferryboats, the Nellie Jo and Julia B., were brought into service. Their owner, Nellie T. Bush, was a licensed steamboat captain and Arizona legislator who became known as the “admiral” of what newspapers dubbed the Arizona Navy. The story got even...