The state parks board gave McCulloch Properties permission to build, or rebuild, the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City, but the objected to the plan to divert water from Lake Havasu to flow under the bridge.
The the federal government chimed in saying it was OK with the water diversion, but McCulloch would have to have permission from the State Parks Board.
Then there was the question of whether the bridge would be located on private land or park land. This appeared to be, in part, an issue of control.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Tuesday, July 16, 1968
State To Approve Site of New London Bridge
PHOENIX (AP) — Bert Fireman, chairman of the State Parks Board, said Monday McCulloch Properties Inc. will be given approval to reconstruct the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City.
Fireman, whose announcement followed a board meeting with federal officials, said the State Parks Department objects, however, to a McCulloch plan which calls for water diversion over state-leased federal land.
The company’s plan calls for the bridge to be erected on McCulloch land over water diverted from the lake to create a lagoon on land leased by the state from the government for park purposes.
Albert Romeo, head of the Lower Colorado River Land Use Office, also objected to the company plan, claiming it would set a precedent by diverting water across federal land to private land.
Romeo, who attended Monday’s meeting, said such a water diversion would have to be approved by the secretary of the interior.
Instead, Fireman said the state has proposed two alternate plans which C. V. Woods, president of McCulloch Properties, has refused to look at.
One would place the lagoon on McCulloch-owned land southeast of the site chosen by the company. The park department would trade equal acreage with McCulloch so that no federal land would be involved.
The second plan calls for using the bridge to span a part of Thompson Bay, where it would be over existing water, rather than an artificial lagoon.
Fireman said the state leases the land around Lake Havasu for park and recreational purposes and commercial use of it by McCulloch would violate the lease.
A U.S. Coast Guard official at Monday’s meeting said his agency wants to review bridge plans to make sure there is sufficient clearance for boats.
Fireman said either of the state proposals would assure continued recreational development of the state-leased land around Lake Havasu. Both plans will get parks department approval, he predicted.
From the Star, Thursday, August 8, 1968:
Federal Land Okayed
Land Bridge Needs Thames In Havasu
The federal Department of Interior announced yesterday that it would have no objection to a channel across federal land at Havasu City for the newly imported London Bridge to span.
The famous old bridge has been purchased by McCulloch Properties, Inc., of Havasu; but there is no Thames for it to cross there — not yet.
The 80-foot-wide channel would traverse one mile across a peninsula extending into Lake Havasu from the Havasu community. There is a state park at the tip of the peninsula.
James E. Officer, assistant to Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall, said it is now up to the State Parks Board. The federal land concerned is leased by the state.
But herein may lie the rub.
McCulloch now plans to place the bridge across a lagoon at the center of the proposed channel. They lagoon and bridge would be on private land.
Several months ago the park board passed a resolution okaying the project, but the resolution was based on McCulloch’s word that the bridge and lagoon — not just the channel — would be located on park land, not on private property.
The board will likely hear the matter next week.
Soon a few of the principals in the discussion appeared to be behaving like children, some refusing to meet to discuss the issue, others saying rumors of a pending agreement were false. The singing or a nursery rhyme was beginning to seem appropriate.
From the Star, Thursday, August 15, 1968
Bridge Buyer Won’t Talk With Board
PHOENIX (AP) — The State Parks Board reports that McCulloch Corp. had declined to meet with it this week to discuss the location of London Bridge at Lake Havasu City.
McCulloch, founder of the Colorado River city on the Arizona-California border, bought the 134-year-old bridge for $2.5 million earlier this year and is paying another $250,000 to have it brought there.
The question of where to put it is still unresolved.
Dennis McCarthy, parks department director, advised Gov. Jack Williams and Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall that McCulloch officials turned down an invitation to meet with the board on Wednesday.
McCulloch had appealed to Udall and Sen. Carl Hayden, D-Ariz., for permission to divert Lake Havasu water to private land without consent of the parks board.
Udall said this is a matter for the state to decide.
The board and McCulloch earlier had an agreement to erect the bridge on some land held by the state. The board feels that this would add to park attractions and give the state some control over commercial development in the area.
McCarthy said McCulloch apparently has changed its mind about the location and now wants the bridge on its own land.
The parks board director said McCulloch reportedly has started earth moving for the project, a move which brought a warning that no permits have been issued to divert river waters to the lagoon.
And from the Star Thursday, September 19, 1968:
London Bridge Plans Falling Down?
By ROBERT K. WALKER
LAKE HAVASU CITY (AP) — If the stones of the famed London Bridge were smaller, it’s entirely possible officials of McCulloch Corp. and the State Parks Board would be throwing them at each other.
With the laying of the foundation stone only a few days off, the company and parks board still have not bridged their dispute over where the 134-year-old span is to be located.
The Lord Mayor of London is scheduled to put the stone in place — at least symbolically — next Monday.
“Wherever they put it, it will be on speculation,” declared Bert Fireman, chairman of the parks board.
It was hinted by McCulloch officials this week that an agreement was about reached.
“No agreement has been reached,” Fireman retorted.
“There are many factors involved. It’s going to take some time.”
McCulloch Oil Corp. purchased the bridge in April for $2.4 million and it is being shipped to Arizona stone-by-stone for reassembly at the real estate development along the Colorado River.
Arriving Sunday in Phoenix will be Lord Mayor Sir Gilbert Inglefield, Sheriff of London Peter M. Studd, Chief Commer D. L. Clackson, sword bearer Brigadier R.H.S. Popham, and mace bearer Brigadier P.J.E. Clapham.
Also in the party will be Deputy Dudley S. Game, chairman of London’s Bridge House Estates Committee; Deputy Cyril P. Lewis, past chairman; Ivan F. Luckin, Esq., and Harold K. King, city engineer. They will be guests of honor Sunday night at a formal dinner being hosted by Arizona Gov. Jack Williams and paid for by McCulloch.
Fireman said he doesn’t plan to attend even though all Parks Board members were invited.
The bridge is to be located at the neck of a peninsula which juts out into Lake Havasu, a 45-mile long lake formed on the river by Davis Dam along the Arizona-California border.
At issue is whether the bridge will be entirely on land owned by McCulloch, entirely on land owned by the state, or with one end on McCulloch territory and the other on state property.
“They asked us to put it in the state park,” Fireman said. “Then they moved the location.
The Parks Board possibly has the upper hand in Old West Poker game since it controls land surrounding the bridge site, and the state will have to give its permission of any channel is to be cut across the neck of the peninsula to provide a “river” for the bridge.
McCulloch officials have suggested they might either dig a lagoon under the bridge and fill it with pumped water or by percolation.
The company envisions developing an “international city” around the bridge to draw millions of visitors annually.
Fireman fears this will create a “Coney Island” atmosphere.
By putting one side of the bridge on state park land, Fireman says, the state can somewhat control the situation.
He says the board would be perfectly hoary to let McCulloch do as it pleases with the privately owned land on the other end.
McCulloch purchased about 13,000 acres from the state in 1963 and has now built a town of about 3,000 residents.
The promoters predict a population of 100,000 by 1980.
The state controls all of the shoreline along the area, but leases part of it to McCulloch as concessionaire to provide public conveniences such as a marina and motel.
Some Arizonans have been dismayed by the project.
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to move Lake Havasu to the London Bridge?” one of them suggested this week.
But McCulloch is proceeding full speed ahead with the project, even of the foundation might not be within a good stone’s throw of where the bridge eventually will be located when in place in 1971.
Perhaps that solution wasn't so bad, moving Lake Havasu to London. But surely they have bureaucracy there, too.
The predicted population of 100,000 by 1980 didn't happen, but population has increased considerably.
Next: Agreement, maybe.
