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
... tion policy. In 1900, 90 percent of the population of the United States lived in the eastern half of the nation, while less than 10 percent resided in the western half. Progressive Era politicians sought to move people to resources as ...
... tion policy. In 1900, 90 percent of the population of the United States lived in the eastern half of the nation, while less than 10 percent resided in the western half. Progressive Era politicians sought to move people to resources as ...
Page xvi
... tion that all problems could be reduced to matters of engineering and , once the correct facts were gathered , easily solved . Government could turn nature into a productive machine just as the assembly line had rationalized the man ...
... tion that all problems could be reduced to matters of engineering and , once the correct facts were gathered , easily solved . Government could turn nature into a productive machine just as the assembly line had rationalized the man ...
Page 13
... tion Service guided or influenced their development.44 THE IDEOLOGY OF RECLAMATION: THE “BIG THREE” AFTER 1902 From 1898 to 1902, such champions of federal reclamation as George H. Maxwell, William Ellsworth Smythe, and Frederick H ...
... tion Service guided or influenced their development.44 THE IDEOLOGY OF RECLAMATION: THE “BIG THREE” AFTER 1902 From 1898 to 1902, such champions of federal reclamation as George H. Maxwell, William Ellsworth Smythe, and Frederick H ...
Page 17
... tion of sprawling cities. It was possible, he insisted, to combine the efficiency, organization, and productivity of industrial America with the time-honored values and open space of rural America. A one-acre irrigated plot on the edge ...
... tion of sprawling cities. It was possible, he insisted, to combine the efficiency, organization, and productivity of industrial America with the time-honored values and open space of rural America. A one-acre irrigated plot on the edge ...
Page 18
... - tral idea around which the National Irrigation Movement was organized . . . . The success of the Homecroft Village near Phoenix will lead to its duplica- tion in the neighborhood of many other cities and towns 18 SAVING LOST LIVES.
... - tral idea around which the National Irrigation Movement was organized . . . . The success of the Homecroft Village near Phoenix will lead to its duplica- tion in the neighborhood of many other cities and towns 18 SAVING LOST LIVES.
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