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 xiv
... build reservoirs at the headwaters of the West's most important streams and pay for them using proceeds from river and harbor appropriations or from leases on public grazing lands. Upon their xiv preface and acknowledgments.
... build reservoirs at the headwaters of the West's most important streams and pay for them using proceeds from river and harbor appropriations or from leases on public grazing lands. Upon their xiv preface and acknowledgments.
Page 4
... streams tributary thereto , under the national irri- gation act . I add my earnest request to the prayer of the petitioners and ask that the proposed enterprise be undertaken by the Reclamation Service . ” So it was throughout the West ...
... streams tributary thereto , under the national irri- gation act . I add my earnest request to the prayer of the petitioners and ask that the proposed enterprise be undertaken by the Reclamation Service . ” So it was throughout the West ...
Page 6
... streams were sluggish and flat. Gravity could not be relied upon to feed water from these streams into diversion ditches. Therefore, irrigation canals would be little more than long ponds from which water would be pumped onto ad ...
... streams were sluggish and flat. Gravity could not be relied upon to feed water from these streams into diversion ditches. Therefore, irrigation canals would be little more than long ponds from which water would be pumped onto ad ...
Page 7
... streams as units and coordinate irrigation , drainage , flood control , navigation , and the gen- eration of electrical power throughout the nation . The National Drainage Association stimulated interest in both drainage and irrigation ...
... streams as units and coordinate irrigation , drainage , flood control , navigation , and the gen- eration of electrical power throughout the nation . The National Drainage Association stimulated interest in both drainage and irrigation ...
Page 14
... stream would carry the water 150 to 200 miles east—including more than a hundred miles within Canada—until it reached 250,000 acres of potential farmland near Chinook and Malta. The U.S. Geological Survey began preliminary surveys for a ...
... stream would carry the water 150 to 200 miles east—including more than a hundred miles within Canada—until it reached 250,000 acres of potential farmland near Chinook and Malta. The U.S. Geological Survey began preliminary surveys for a ...
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