Colonial difference is a story of national infrastructures. To understand how colonialism works across Indigenous lands, we need to appreciate the physical, legal, and political factors involved in the building and expanding of national infrastructures in different historical contexts; infrastructures that arrive in some places while denied in others. Using archival documents, this article accounts for the colonial politics necessary to bring Colorado River water into Phoenix and Tucson. It highlights how the following moments worked to enlarge Arizona’s population and power while denying Diné water claims: the 1922 Colorado Compact, Arizona’s 1960s campaign for the Central Arizona Project, and recent Indian water settlements between Arizona and Navajo Nation. The infrastructures that emerged from these events formed a coal–energy–water nexus reliant on Navajo coal while constructing Arizona’s water network. In sum, these projects served as colonial beachheads—temporal encroachments on Indigenous lands and livelihoods that augment material and political difference over time and exacerbate inequalities.

殖民地差异是国家基础设施的故事。为了了解殖民主义在整个土著土地上的运作方式，我们需要了解在不同历史背景下建设和扩展国家基础设施所涉及的自然，法律和政治因素；在某些地方到达而在其他地方则被拒绝的基础设施。本文使用档案文件解释了将科罗拉多河水引入凤凰城和图森所必需的殖民政治。它强调了以下时刻如何扩大亚利桑那州的人口和权力，同时否认迪纳的水权要求：1922年的科罗拉多契约，亚利桑那州在1960年代为中央亚利桑那项目发起的竞选活动以及最近在亚利桑那州和纳瓦霍民族之间的印度水域定居点。这些事件中出现的基础设施在建设亚利桑那州的供水网络时形成了依赖于纳瓦霍煤炭的煤－能源－水关系。总之，这些项目是殖民地的滩头堡，是对土著土地和生计的暂时侵占，随着时间的推移，物质和政治差异不断扩大，加剧了不平等现象。