Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902-1935University of California Press, 2002 M12 31 - 408 pages Donald 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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Results 1-5 of 83
Page xii
... became the cor- nerstone of individual autonomy and national economic prosperity. Between 1870 and 1900, the opening of the Great Plains to agriculture more than dou- bled the nation's cultivated land. That increase, along with millions ...
... became the cor- nerstone of individual autonomy and national economic prosperity. Between 1870 and 1900, the opening of the Great Plains to agriculture more than dou- bled the nation's cultivated land. That increase, along with millions ...
Page xiii
... became epidemic . In 1894 alone , fourteen hundred strikes involved more than five hundred thousand workers . To make mat- ters worse , a severe drought visited many parts of the West in 1893–95 , with a complete crop failure in 1894 ...
... became epidemic . In 1894 alone , fourteen hundred strikes involved more than five hundred thousand workers . To make mat- ters worse , a severe drought visited many parts of the West in 1893–95 , with a complete crop failure in 1894 ...
Page xiv
... became Wyoming's first state en- gineer, and in that capacity he prepared many congressional bills designed to water the West during the 1890s. Senator Francis E. Warren, Mead's bene- factor and confidant, introduced most of those bills ...
... became Wyoming's first state en- gineer, and in that capacity he prepared many congressional bills designed to water the West during the 1890s. Senator Francis E. Warren, Mead's bene- factor and confidant, introduced most of those bills ...
Page 13
... became a crusade to transform American society.45But within a few years of passage of the Reclamation Act, reclamation's leading ideologues parted company. Reclamation as homemaking gave way to reclamation as dam build- ing, and social ...
... became a crusade to transform American society.45But within a few years of passage of the Reclamation Act, reclamation's leading ideologues parted company. Reclamation as homemaking gave way to reclamation as dam build- ing, and social ...
Page 15
... became . Each side accused the other of duplicity.5 54 By the spring of 1904 , railroad executives and politicians in the north- west had lost faith in Newell and the Reclamation Service . Senator Henry C. Hansbrough charged Newell with ...
... became . Each side accused the other of duplicity.5 54 By the spring of 1904 , railroad executives and politicians in the north- west had lost faith in Newell and the Reclamation Service . Senator Henry C. Hansbrough charged Newell with ...
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