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The Battle over Hetch Hetchy - America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism (Paperback, New Ed)
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The Battle over Hetch Hetchy - America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism (Paperback, New Ed)
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In the wake of the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, the city
of San Francisco desperately needed reliable supplies of water and
electricity. Its mayor, James Phelan, pressed for the damming of
the Tuolumne River in the newly created Yosemite National Park,
setting off a firestorm of protest. For the first time in American
history, a significant national opposition arose to defend and
preserve nature, led by John Muir and the Sierra Club, who sought
to protect what they believed was the right of all Americans to
experience natural beauty, particularly the magnificent mountains
of the Yosemite region. Yet the defenders of the valley, while
opposing the creation of a dam and reservoir, did not intend for it
to be maintained as wilderness. Instead they advocated a different
kind of development--the building of roads, hotels, and an
infrastructure to support recreational tourism. Using articles,
pamphlets, and broadsides, they successfully whipped up public
opinion against the dam. Letters from individuals began to pour
into Congress by the thousands, and major newspapers published
editorials condemning the dam. The fight went to the floor of
Congress, where politicians debated the value of scenery and the
costs of western development. Ultimately, passage of the passage of
the Raker Act in 1913 by Congress granted San Francisco the right
to flood the Hetch Hetchy Valley. A decade later the O'Shaughnessy
Dam, the second largest civil engineering project of its day after
the Panama Canal, was completed. Yet conflict continued over the
ownership of the watershed and the profits derived from
hydroelectrocity. To this day the reservoir provides San Francisco
with a pure and reliable sourceof drinking water and an important
source of power. Although the Sierra Club lost this battle, the
controversy stirred the public into action on behalf of national
parks. Future debates over dams and restoration clearly
demonstrated the burgeoning strength of grassroots
environmentalism. In a narrative peopled by politicians and
business leaders, engineers and laborers, preservationists and
ordinary citizens, Robert W. Righter tells the epic story of the
first major environmental battle of the twentieth century, which
reverberates to this day.
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