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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Page xiii
... million for the decade , the spectacular growth of American cities , the expansion of tenant farming , and the proliferation of large institutions , including the manufacturing corporation , deepened the fears of the nation's social ...
... million for the decade , the spectacular growth of American cities , the expansion of tenant farming , and the proliferation of large institutions , including the manufacturing corporation , deepened the fears of the nation's social ...
Page xiv
... million acres.7 The Carey Act had limited success in the 1890s. In 1896, therefore, War- ren called for a federal survey of potential reservoir sites in Colorado and Wyoming, insisting, “It is no more than fair and just that these arid ...
... million acres.7 The Carey Act had limited success in the 1890s. In 1896, therefore, War- ren called for a federal survey of potential reservoir sites in Colorado and Wyoming, insisting, “It is no more than fair and just that these arid ...
Page xvii
... million acres, and it was limited entirely to the American West. The grandeur of Boulder Dam masked a failed dream. Scholarship is collaborative work, so acknowledgments are hardly a stale formality. No book is completely original, and ...
... million acres, and it was limited entirely to the American West. The grandeur of Boulder Dam masked a failed dream. Scholarship is collaborative work, so acknowledgments are hardly a stale formality. No book is completely original, and ...
Page 2
... million acres in 1890 and 7.3 million acres in 1900.5In 1902, Frederick Newell estimated that between 60 million and a hundred million acres could be reclaimed in the West, a body of land roughly the size of California, and he crowed ...
... million acres in 1890 and 7.3 million acres in 1900.5In 1902, Frederick Newell estimated that between 60 million and a hundred million acres could be reclaimed in the West, a body of land roughly the size of California, and he crowed ...
Page 3
... million.7 But where should the new water projects be situated? When Congress met in December 1901, it considered two alternatives: a comprehensive bill that covered the entire West and a bill to construct experimental projects adja ...
... million.7 But where should the new water projects be situated? When Congress met in December 1901, it considered two alternatives: a comprehensive bill that covered the entire West and a bill to construct experimental projects adja ...
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