Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902-1935Donald Pisani's history of perhaps the boldest economic and social program ever undertaken in the United States--to reclaim and cultivate vast areas of previously unusable land across the country—shows in fascinating detail how ambitious government programs fall prey to the power of local interest groups and the federal system of governance itself. What began as the underwriting of a variety of projects to create family farms and farming communities had become by the 1930s a massive public works and regional development program, with an emphasis on the urban as much as on the rural West. |
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Page xii
... farmers settled the land, or an assessment of the impact of irrigation on rural society. In the nineteenth century ... farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the ...
... farmers settled the land, or an assessment of the impact of irrigation on rural society. In the nineteenth century ... farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the ...
Page 2
... farmers had any experience with desert agriculture. Established irrigation farmers were more likely to repay their debt to the government than were poor settlers new to the West. In 1880, three hundred thousand acres were irrigated in ...
... farmers had any experience with desert agriculture. Established irrigation farmers were more likely to repay their debt to the government than were poor settlers new to the West. In 1880, three hundred thousand acres were irrigated in ...
Page 5
... farmers , permitting federal reclamation to become a national program . Eventually , it was hoped , the Reclamation Service would salvage abandoned , cutover , and swamp land in the humid states . In the words of Frederick H. Newell ...
... farmers , permitting federal reclamation to become a national program . Eventually , it was hoped , the Reclamation Service would salvage abandoned , cutover , and swamp land in the humid states . In the words of Frederick H. Newell ...
Page 8
... farmers pre- ferred the Rio Grande and Carlsbad Projects in New Mexico, the Salt River Project in Arizona, and the Yuma Project in California. European Ameri- can settlers ran the gamut from former tenant farmers who had saved enough ...
... farmers pre- ferred the Rio Grande and Carlsbad Projects in New Mexico, the Salt River Project in Arizona, and the Yuma Project in California. European Ameri- can settlers ran the gamut from former tenant farmers who had saved enough ...
Page 10
... farms on the Yakima Project during the mid - 1920s , and apparently , all prospered.32 For all the Reclamation Service's ... farmers , its leaders insisted , malcontents who lacked character and spunk . In 1913 or 1914 , the Reclamation ...
... farms on the Yakima Project during the mid - 1920s , and apparently , all prospered.32 For all the Reclamation Service's ... farmers , its leaders insisted , malcontents who lacked character and spunk . In 1913 or 1914 , the Reclamation ...
Contents
1 | |
Federal Reclamation 19021909 | 32 |
Twin Falls and Rupert | 65 |
Federal Reclamation 19091917 | 96 |
Federal Reclamation 19171935 | 123 |
The Reclamation Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs | 154 |
Illustrations | 180 |
The Yakima and the Pima | 181 |
The Strange Career of Public Power | 202 |
Water Politics 19201935 | 235 |
Retrospect and Significance | 272 |
ABBREVIATIONS | 297 |
NOTES | 299 |
INDEX | 389 |
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Common terms and phrases
A. P. Davis Administrative agriculture American April arid Arizona Ballinger bill Boulder Dam build Bureau of Reclamation California Carey Act Central Colorado River Commission Commissioner of Indian Cong construction Corps of Engineers cost crops dams and canals December districts electricity Elwood Mead F. H. Newell farm farmers federal government federal reclamation flood control Franklin K Herbert Hoover Hiram Johnson Homecroft Hoover hydroelectric Ibid Idaho Indian Affairs Indian Office irrigation irrigation projects January July June legislation March Maxwell million acres Minidoka Project Mississippi Montana Muscle Shoals October percent Pima public land Reclamation Act Reclamation Bureau reclamation fund reclamation projects Reclamation Record Reclamation Service Report reservation reservoir River Project Roosevelt Salt River Project Secretary Senate settlers Snake River streams Theodore Roosevelt tion town United Valley Washington water policy Water Power water projects water rights West western Yakima Yakima River York