Yavapai Indian Nation to celebrate 'dam that never was'

On Nov. 20, the Yavapai Nation northeast of Phoenix, Arizona will host a big Pow Wow, celebrating the 28th Annual Orme Dam Victory Days. This, however, is not your ordinary victory celebration. This party celebrates a “dam that never was."

Orme Dam Victory Days. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, and wondered what this celebration was all about? For the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, however, there is no doubt. Twenty-eight years ago, over half of the Yavapai Nation was nearly destroyed by a devastating flood. Fortunately for the Yavapai Nation, the flood was averted, when water did not back up behind Orme Dam, on account of the dam having not been constructed at the confluence of the Verde and Salt rivers east of Phoenix, as proposed by then U.S. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. But the story could have ended much differently. Had James G Watt never announced the decision not to build Orme Dam, the water would have eventually come. Today, much of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation would be under several feet of water. 17,000 acres, much of it fertile farmland, would have been lost at the bottom of a lake. Needless to point out, but I shall anyway, this would not have had a positive impact on the people of the Yavapai Nation. Who can blame them for wanting to throw a party every year, celebrating the fact that it didn’t happen. The Yavapai Nation was facing extinction. The tribe fought hard to protect what land they had. Tribal members sold fry bread and occasionally cattle, to finance trips to Washington, where they pleaded with officials to keep their land. After nearly ten years, the tribe finally persuaded the federal government to cancel the Orme Dam project. So from Nov. 20, through to Nov. 22, the Yavapai Nation east of Phoenix is celebrating. There will be a parade, an all Indian rodeo, a fry bread contest, a 5K walk & run, and it’s all free and open to the general public. Oh, and did I mention the big Pow Pow? All over a "dam that never was".