Creation of Roosevelt Irrigation District
By the early 1920s many farmers had purchased land west of the Agua Fria River. The promised supply of water that they had counted on was not going to be delivered. These landowners organized their own irrigation district. In March 1923 the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors tentatively approved creation of the Roosevelt Irrigation District No. 1, named for the former president, Theodore Roosevelt, who had been the biggest supporter of national reclamation and dam building. The first leaders of this effort—W.J. Burns, G.C. Rubel, and T.J. Roberts— carried petitions to every landowner in the area. They obtained signatures from 115 individuals who owned 20,000 acres and agreed to create the Roosevelt Irrigation District (RID).
