Cadillac Desert (100 page)

McDiarmid, John M. Letter to Ronald Robie, May 30, 1980.

Pafford, Robert. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Eel River Basin Planning and Interagency Coordination on Route Selection,” January 19, 1968.

—. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Proposed Alternative to Kellogg Unit, Central Valley Project,” December 24, 1968.

—. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Subsidence in the Westlands Water District” (undated).

Regional Director, Sacramento. Memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Westlands Water District—Ground water pumping and excess lands.” March 16, 1964.

Robie, Ronald, Department of Water Resources. Letter to Thomas Graff, Environmental Defense Fund, July 19, 1977.

Robie, Ronald B. Letter to Michael Storper (undated; circa May 1979).

Staats, Elmer. Letter to Lee C. White, The White House, “The Westlands Distribution System,” September 19, 1964.

Stamm, Gilbert. Memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Excess Land Problem of the Imperial Irrigation District,” October 1, 1965.

West, Arleigh. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Excess Lands—Imperial Irrigation District—Boulder Canyon Project, California,” April 15, 1965.

—. CONFIDENTIAL. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner Dominy, Bureau of Reclamation, “Excess land survey in areas served by Metropolitan Water District, Southern California,” December 30, 1964.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Those Who Refuse to Learn ...

The main sources for the Fontenelle story were H. P. Dugan, Barney Bellport, Floyd Dominy, and a series of blue envelope memoranda discussing the near-disaster.

The chronicle of the Teton disaster was put together largely from excellent reporting by the
Idaho Statesman.
Coverage in the
Los Angeles Times
was also exceptionally good. John Erlichman, Pete van Gytenbeek, and Nathaniel Reed provided much of the political background.

Major sources for the Colorado and Narrows Dam section of the chapter were C. J. Kuiper, Don and Karen Christenson, Glenn Saunders, Felix Sparks, Guy Martin, Robert Weaver, Gary Friehauff, Daniel Beard, Alan Merson, Sandy White, and Wayne Aspinall.

BOOKS

Athearn, Robert G.
High Country Empire.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1960.

Gottlieb, Robert, and Peter Wiley.
Empires in the Sun.
New York: Putnam, 1982.

McPhee, John.
Basin and Range.
New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1981.

Thomas, Janet, et al., eds.
That Day in June.
Rexburg, Idaho: Ricks College Press, 1977.

ARTICLES AND REPORTS

Actions Needed to Increase the Safety of Dams Built by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers.
Government Accounting Office, Washington, D.C., June 3, 1977.

“Analyst: Narrows benefit distorted.”
Rocky Mountain News
(undated).

Arthur, Harold.
Preliminary Report on Failure of Teton Dam,
Denver, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, June 7, 1976.

“Avid Environmentalists Castigated for Tactics.”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
June 4, 1972.

“B of R Eyed, Rejected Aerial Survey of Leaks.”
Idaho Statesman,
July 29, 1976.

“B of R Left Fissure Unfilled to Avoid Delay of Dam Work.”
Idaho Statesman
(undated).

Brown, Russell. Testimony, Teton Dam Hearing, Senate Interior Committee, Idaho Falls, Idaho, February 21, 1977.

“Bruised Teton Dam Wins Another Political Fight.”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
October 20, 1971.

Bureau of Reclamation.
The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project,
June 1977.

“Bureau of Reclamation Won’t Fight Teton Report Criticizing Agency.”
Idaho Statesman,
January 7, 1977.

“Bureaucratic Gamble Ended in Disaster.”
Idaho Statesman,
September 6, 1976.

“Charge of Scapegoating.”
Idaho Statesman,
May 20, 1977.

“Colorado, Carter, and the Dams.”
Rocky Mountain News,
February 23, 1977.

“Colorado Water Projects—Impacts and Alternatives.”
Denver Post,
April 17, 1977.

Committee on Government Operations.
Teton Dam Disaster,
Washington, D.C., 1976.

“Currents of Argument Swirl over Poudre River.”
Denver Post,
May 24, 1981.

“Dam Opposition Said Obstructionism.”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
October 10, 1971.

“Dam Safety: No National Answer.” ENR News, May 8, 1980.

“Devastation in Eastern Idaho Boggles Mind.”
Idaho Statesman,
June 8, 1976.

“Environment Aims Cloud Idaho Industrial Role.”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
October 10, 1971.

“Fissures Made Teton Difficult.”
Idaho Statesman,
July 9, 1976.

“Groundwater Rise Preceded Collapse.”
Idaho Statesman,
July 9, 1976.

“Grout Curtain Failure May Have Triggered Teton Dam Collapse.” Engineering News Review, June 10, 1978.

“He Protests Too Loudly.”
Rexburg Standard,
September 14, 1971.

“Idaho Dam Disaster—New Blame.”
San Francisco Chronicle,
December 27, 1979.

Idaho Environmental Council.
The Fraud of Teton Dam,
1972.

Idaho Environmental Council. The
Teton Dam Symposium,
June 4, 1972.

“Impossible Dam Failure Spurs Study of Liability,”
Idaho Statesman,
June 10, 1976.

“Lamm Reaffirms Narrows Support.”
Denver Post,
August 4, 1976.

“Looters Hit Chaotic Rexburg,”
Idaho Statesman,
June 9, 1976.

“Memos Tell of Teton Project Deficit.”
Idaho Statesman,
July 13, 1976.

“More state water projects likely.”
Rocky Mountain News,
July 23, 1979.

“Narrows Dam Gets ‘Clean Bill of Health.’ ”
Denver Post,
August 17, 1968.

The Narrows Unit, Colorado.
Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, Sterling, Colorado.

Narrows Unit, Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Project.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Water Projects Review, April 1977.

“New Dangers confront victims of Idaho flood.”
Deseret News,
June 8, 1976.

Odell, Rice. “Silt, Cracks, Floods, and Other Dam Foolishness.”
Audubon,
September 1975.

“Officials Dispute Time of First BOR Warning.”
Idaho Statesman,
June 9, 1976.

“Opposition to Teton Dam Hurts Environmentalists,”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
June 6, 1971.

Regional Landowners Group.
Narrows Fact Sheet,
March 1978.

Regional Landowners Group.
“The Narrows and Its Alternatives—A Benefit-Cost Comparison,”
March 1978.

Regional Landowners Group.
Response to the Bureau of Reclamation’s “Special Report
—
Narrows Unit,”
February 1978.

Reed, Scott. Untitled monograph for Snake River Regional Studies Center Conference, April 1, 1977.

“Safety questions scarcely raised by opponents of ill-fated dam.”
Denver Post,
June 8, 1976.

Saunders, Glenn.
Colorado Water Rights
—
A Briefing Paper
(undated).

“State Engineer on Narrows” (three-part series).
Fort Morgan Times,
April 5, 6, and 7, 1978.

“Sunset for the Narrows.”
Empire Magazine (Denver Post),
January 11, 1976.

“Team Says Teton Dam Eaten Away from Within.”
Rocky Mountain News,
July 16, 1976.

“Teton: Background of the Dispute.”
Intermountain Observer,
June 10, 1972.

“Teton Dam: The Sorry Lesson.”
High Country News,
June 18, 1976.

“Teton Dam Collapse: How Disaster Struck.”
Los Angeles Times,
July 18, 1976.

“Teton Dam Designers Called ‘Stale.’ ”
Idaho Statesman, February 22, 1977.

“Teton Meets Economic Test, Asserts Walker.” Idaho
Falls
Post-Register, October 17, 1971.

“Teton Project Impresses Andrus, Safeguards Eyed.”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
May 17, 1971.

“Teton River Dam Stirs Controversy.”
High Country News,
June 11, 1971.

“Teton Served as Battleground.”
Idaho Statesman,
September 8, 1976.

“Teton Dam Termed Non-Political Issue.”
Idaho Falls Post-Register,
October 20, 1971.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Statement Before the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Natural Resources of the Committee on Government Operations, August 6, 1976.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “Teton Dam Failure,” press release, June 9, 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, Water Projects Review.
Fruitland Mesa Project, CRSP,
April 1977.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Comments of the Fish and Wildlife Service on the Bureau of Reclamation’s Special Report, Narrows Unit, February 1978
(undated).

U.S. Water Resources Council.
Manual of Procedures for Evaluating Benefits and Costs of Federal Water Resources Projects,
Washington, D.C., February 9, 1979.

“USGS Response to Queries About Teton Dam.” U.S. Geologic Survey, Reston, Virginia, June 15, 1976.

“Warm, Lazy day in Rexburg, then crash.”
Deseret News,
June 7, 1976.

“Water Project ‘Hit List’: A View from the West.” Denver Post, March 27, 1977.

“Water Projects’ Need Debated.”
Denver Post
(undated).

“Water Users Support Rebuilding Teton.”
Idaho Statesman,
December 11, 1976.

“Water Won’t Stretch for Western Cities’ Growth.”
High Country News,
October 7, 1977.

“Welcome to Wrecksburg.”
Sundowner,
Winter 1977.

Williams, Philip. “Dam Design: Is the Technology Faulty?”
New Scientist,
February 2, 1978.

LETTERS, MEMORANDA, MISCELLANEOUS

Acting Chief Geologist, Bureau of Reclamation. Memorandum to D. J. Duck, “Seismic Monitoring Program—Teton Dam and Reservoir,” June 20, 1973.

Bellport, Barney. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Fontenelle Dam and Reservoir—Seedskadee Project, Wyoming,” May 11, 1965.

—. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, “Replacement of American Falls Dam,” May 24, 1967.

Crandall, David. Blue envelope letter to Chief Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation, “Fontenelle Dam,” September 30, 1965 (with response undated).

Curry, Robert. Letter to V. E. McKelvey, U.S. Geologic Survey, July 6, 1976.

Green, John, Regional Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency. Letter to Keith Higginson, Commissioner of Reclamation, July 13, 1977.

Kosman, Jacob, Irrigationists’ Association of Water District No. 1. Letter to President Jimmy Carter, et al., April 1, 1978.

Kuiper, C. J. Personal correspondence, November 21, 1979.

Kyncl, George. “A New Look at the Narrows,” January 15, 1977.

McCabe, Joseph, Environmental Protection Agency. Letter to Daniel Beard, U.S. Department of the Interior, February 23, 1978.

McDonald, William, Colorado Conservation Board. Letter to Frank M. Scott, Harza Engineering Company, May 15, 1980.

McKelvey, V. E. Letter to Robert Curry, Department of Geology, University of Montana, July 21, 1976.

—. Letter to Senator Henry Jackson, June 11, 1976.

Nelson, Harold. Blue envelope letter to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Expedited processing of interim reports—Fremont Dam, Lower Teton Division: Ririe Dam; and raising Blackfoot Reservoir,” February 24, 1962.

Oriel, Steven, et al. Unaddressed memorandum, “Preliminary Report on Geologic Investigations, Eastern Snake River Plain and Adjoining Mountains,” June 1973.

Parenteau, Patrick A., National Wildlife Federation. Letter to Cecil D. Andrus, February 23, 1977,

Phipps, E. Personal correspondence, September 25, 1979.

Schleicher, David. Unaddressed memorandum, “Some geologic concerns about the Teton Basin Project,” December 26, 1972.

Sparks, Felix. Memorandum to Colorado Water Conservation Board, “Consideration of FY 1980 Funding Requirements for Colorado Reclamation Projects,” March 6, 1979.

CHAPTER TWELVE: Things Fall Apart

Most of the background on the Texas Water Plan comes from coverage in the
Texas Observer
and from “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” in
The Water Hustlers.