There is a dam near Yuma, Arizona that is highly decorated in swastikas. It was built by the United States government to irrigate thousands of acres of Arizona, California and Native American reservation farmland. To dissuade any ideas that the dam was built with any sort of anti-Semitic thoughts, the structure was completed in 1909, and was intended as a tribute to the Indians from which the construction concepts of the dam were taken from, since the dam was built on a large deposit of silt. While in India, U.S. government representatives also picked up the story of the ancient Hindu God Indra, who at one time, represented thunder, lighting, and rain. Indra (who had four arms and was represented by the swastika with its four arms) had the power to control water. There were those in the U.S. government who thought the swastika would be a fitting symbol for the U.S. Reclamation Service. During its early years the United States Bureau of Reclamation used the swastika for its symbol. The swastikas are a legacy of that period.
The actual name of the dam is the Laguna Diversion Dam, and is the only remaining structure built by the government to retain swastikas. It has been superseded by the Imperial Dam.
One can travel Laguna Dam Road (five miles east of Yuma on U.S. 95) and follow it for around 8 miles to where the county pavement ends. A few hundred yards along a continuing graveled road, one will see the large abandoned gate. A hundred and fifty yards further along rests the bridge. Because of its proximity to the road many people have seen the swastikas on the bridge, but few are aware of the swastikas on the turnouts. To view them one must cross the bridge and follow the old concrete sluiceway down to the large gate and view them from the northwest side of the sluiceway.