Cadillac Desert (95 page)

CHAPTERS FOUR AND EIGHT: An American Nile (I) and (II)

These chapters (and the subsequent ones in the book) are drawn mostly from interviews, hitherto unseen files from the Bureau of Reclamation, and articles and reports. Anyone wishing to consult a single source for more background on the Colorado River and the conflicts over its use should read Philip Fradkin’s
A River No More.

Empires in the Sun,
by Robert Gottlieb and Peter Wiley, contains an interesting account of how Kaiser, Bechtel, Morrison-Knudsen, and other firms that built Hoover Dam became instant giants through its construction. A detailed account of the actual construction work is in the Bureau of Reclamation’s “Hoover Dam.”

Helen Ingram’s book,
Patterns of Politics in Water Resource Development,
is the best account I have seen of the political jockeying and compromising that led to passage of the Colorado River Basin Project Act. Dean Mann’s
The Politics of Water in Arizona
is also helpful.

The Congressional debates over the Colorado River Storage Project (the 1956 act), especially those involving the late Senator Paul Douglas, one of the brainiest, wittiest, and most eloquent Senators we have ever had, are well worth reading. Economists were some of the earliest critics of water projects, but Douglas was even ahead of most economists.

Anyone who wishes to see how desperately Arizona wanted the Central Arizona Project built should review articles and editorials in the
Arizona Republic
and other state newspapers, particularly from the mid-1960s (prior to passage of the CAP legislation) and the late 1970s (the dread Carter years). Frank Welsh’s
How to Create a Water Crisis
is a slightly dry but devastating dissection of the CAP and Arizona’s perceived shortage of water, written by a former engineer with the Corps of Engineers and past president of the Phoenix chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

David Brower’s interviews for the Bancroft Library’s Oral History Program (University of California, Berkeley) contain a lot of interesting anecdotal material about the battles over Echo Park, Glen Canyon, Marble Gorge, and Bridge Canyon dams. The Dominy archives at the University of Wyoming reveal what a pest Brower was to the water developers and make for an interesting dig.

In the 1980s it is striking to read the matter-of-fact tone with which the Pacific Southwest Water Plan and United Western Investigation propose monumental engineering works with staggering environmental consequences, and for what reasons. Both are in the author’s files; they have become extremely difficult to find, though the Interior Department Library in Washington, D.C., ought to have them.

George Sibley’s “The Desert Empire” is the best magazine article on the Southwest since Bernard De Voto’s earlier essays in
Harper’s.

Important interviews for this chapter:
Helen Ingram, John Leshy, Wesley Steiner, Daniel Dreyfus, David Brower, Jeffrey Ingram, Robert Young, William Martin, C. J. Kuiper, Stanford P. McCasland, William Warne, Myron Holburt, William Gookin, Daniel Beard, Nancy Laney, Robert Witzeman, Frank Welsh, Sam Steiger, Floyd Dominy, Tom Graff, Steven Reynolds, Patrick Dugan, Donald Maughan, Stewart Udall, Wayne Aspinall, Arleigh West.

BOOKS

Brower, David.
David R. Brower—Environmental Activist, Publicist, and Prophet.
Berkeley: Bancroft Library Oral History Program, University of California, 1980.

Fradkin, Philip L.
A River No More.
New York: Knopf, 1981.

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

Hollon, W. Eugene.
The Great American Desert, Then and Now.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.

Holmes, Beatrice Hort.
History of Federal Water Resources Programs and Policies, 1961—70.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture Publication 1379, 1979.

Howe, Charles W., and K. W. Easter.
Interbasin Transfers of Water.
Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971.

Ingram, Helen M.
Patterns of Politics in Water Resource Development.
Tucson: University of New Mexico Press, 1969.

Mann, Dean.
The Politics of Water in Arizona.
Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1963.

Ten Rivers in America’s Future.
Washington, D.C.: The President’s Water Resources Policy Commission, 1950.

Trimble, M.
Arizona: A Panoramic History of a Frontier State.
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Critical Water Problems Facing the Eleven Western States.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1975.

U.S. Water Resources Council.
The Nation’s Water Resources.
Washington, D.C., 1968.

Welsh, Frank.
How to Create a Water Crisis.
Boulder, Colo.: Johnson, 1985.

ARTICLES

“Agency Mismanagement Responsible for Colorado River Flooding.” Friends of the Earth, June 18, 1983.

“Alarm Over Deep ‘Cracks’ in Arizona.”
San Francisco Chronicle,
July 4, 1982.

“All You Ever Wanted to Know About the CAP.” Citizens Concerned About the Project (undated).

“Alternative to Orme Could Save Millions.”
Phoenix Gazette,
June 2, 1979.

Animas-La Plata Project
(feasibility data). U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 1961.

“Arizonans Pushed Sierra Club Probe.”
Phoenix Gazette,
July 1, 1966.

“Aspinall Raps Opposition to Project” and “Solon Blasts Detractors.”
Albuquerque Journal,
November 11, 1966.

“Babbitt Appoints Water ‘Czar.’ ”
Arizona Republic,
September 16, 1980.

“Battle Against Central Arizona Project Grows.”
Rocky Mountain News,
March 30, 1966.

Boslough, John. “Rationing a River,”
Science 81,
June 1981.

Bradley, Richard C. “Attack on Grand Canyon.”
The Living Wilderness,
Winter 1964—65.

Brooks, Donald. “Testimony of Donald Brooks, Director of Planning, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California” (undated).

Brown, Howard. Memorandum to Senator Paul Fannin, “Wellton-Mohawk,” May 5, 1975.

—. “The Central Arizona Project.” Congressional Research Service, April 20, 1976.

“Build Orme Dam!”
Arizona Republic,
February 28, 1980.

“CAP Allocation Plan Criticized from All Sides.”
Scottsdale Daily Progress,
October 28, 1980.

“Captured Flood Water Seen Aiding City Supply.”
Phoeniz Gazette,
December 16, 1978.

Casserly, J. J. “Andrus Is Maneuvering to Cement His Anti-West Water Policy.”
Arizona Republic
(undated).

Central Arizona Project, Environmental Statement (Final).
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Washington, D.C. (undated).

“Colorado River, Vital to Southwest, Travels Ever Rockier Course.”
Wall Street Journal
(undated).

Congressional Record,
April 18, 1955. Senate debate on Colorado River Storage Project Act.

Dallas Creek Project
(feasibility data). U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (undated).

Dallas Creek Project.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Water Projects Review, April 1977.

Dams in Grand Canyon—A Necessary Evil?
Sierra Club, August 1965.

“Debate Roils over Utah’s Troubled Waters.”
High Country News,
April 4, 1980.

“Dr. Strangelove Builds in the Desert.” Maricopa Audubon Society, 1976.

“Dolores Project.” Private papers of Roger Morrison.

Dolores Project (feasibility data). U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (undated).

“The Echo of Echo Park.” Colorado River Water Conservation District, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, July 1981.

Etter, Alfred B. “Reservoir of the Unknown.”
Defenders of Wildlife News,
April 1965.

—. “The Reclamation Machine.”
Defenders of Wildlife News,
1967.

“Excerpts from Memoirs of E. W. McFarland.” Arizona Water Commission hearings, February 22, 1977.

Facts About the Proposed Grand Canyon Dams and the Threat to Grand
Canyon. Colorado Open Space Coordinating Council, March 15, 1967.

“Farm Interests Lose Battle over Ground Water.”
Arizona Republic,
May 22, 1979.

“Farmers Face Dilemma on Water Usage.”
Desert News
(undated).

“Farmers See Little Help in CAP.”
Phoenix Gazette,
October 28, 1980.

“Farms Called Big Losers in Water Battle.”
Arizona Republic,
October 19, 1980.

“Fed Up? Here’s a Way to Tell Washington.”
Arizona Republic,
February 27, 1980.

“Flow Figures Suggest Orme as Inadequate.”
Phoenix Gazette,
September 23, 1980.

“GAO: Colorado Basin in Trouble.”
Rocky Mountain News,
May 22, 1979.

“GAO Glum on River Yield.”
Denver Post,
May 22, 1979.

“Groundwater Balance Sought Early.”
Arizona Daily Star,
March 20, 1982.

Hanson, Dennis. “Pumping Billions into the Desert.”
Audubon
(undated).

Holburt, Myron. “California’s Stake in the Colorado River.” Colorado River Board of California, August 1979.

Ingram, Helen, et al. “Central Arizona Project: Politics and Economics in Irrigated Agriculture.” John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, August 1980.

Ingram, Helen, et al. “Water Scarcity and the Politics of Plenty in the Four Corners States.”
The Western Political Quarterly,
September 1979.

“Interior Studying CUP Survival.”
Desert News,
February 23, 1977.

“Irrigation Costs in Upper Colorado Basin.” Private papers of Roger Morrison.

Kennedy, John F. “Special Message to Congress on Natural Resources,” February 23, 1961.
Public Papers of the Presidents.

Khera, Sigrid. “The Yavapia: Who They Are and from Where They Come.”

Lichtenstein, Grace. “The Battle over the Mighty Colorado.”
New York Times Magazine,
July 31, 1977.

McCasland, S. P.
United Western Investigation: Interim Report on Reconnaissance.
Bureau of Reclamation, Salt Lake City, January 1951.

—. “Water from the Pacific Northwest for Deserts of Southwest.”
Civil Engineering,
February 1952.

McCaull, Julian. “Wringing Out the West.” Environment, September 1974.

“New Colorado Water Fight.”
Arizona Republic,
March 31, 1966.

“North Water Plan Detailed.”
Sacramento Union,
March 17, 1965.

Ognibene, Peter. “Water Wasteland.”
Washington Post,
May 3, 1978.

“The 160-Acre Limit and the 1902 Reclamation Act.” Citizens Concerned About the Project, November 1977.

“Orme Still Needed.”
Arizona Republic,
March 4, 1978.

“Panel Urges Land to Be Set Aside to Conserve Water.”
Arizona Gazette,
December 14, 1978.

“Proposed Arizona Water Commission Staff Allocations of CAP Water.” Arizona Water Commission (undated).

“Rio Salado, Not Orme.”
Scottsdale Daily Progress,
March 8, 1978.

Riter, J. R. “Colorado River Basin Project,” Memorandum to Chief Engineer, Bureau of Reclamation, February 13, 1967.

“River Plan Introduced, by Kuchel.”
Denver Post,
April 23, 1964.

Salisbury, David. “Managing Arid Lands.”
Christian Science Monitor,
February 28, 1979.

San Miguel Project
(feasibility data). U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, January 1966.

“Senate OKs Funds for CAP.”
Arizona Republic,
September 11, 1980.

“Sen. Jackson Seeks More Congressional Authority over Bureau of Reclamation.”
Medford Mail Tribune,
July 1, 1965.

Sibley, George. “The Desert Empire.”
Harper’s,
October 1977.

“Suit Seeks to Block CAP Dam.”
Phoenix Gazette,
June 11, 1975.

“Thirsty Tucsonans Soaking the City Dry.”
Arizona Daily Star,
February 7, 1982.

“Two Solons Decry Signing Reclamation Opponent.”
Salt Lake Tribune,
October 23, 1966.

Udall, Morris. “Arizona and Water,” February 1982.

“Udall Infuriated at Meet.”
Arizona Republic,
March 31, 1966.

“Udall’s Water Plan Shaky.” Arizona Republic, January 24, 1964.

U.S. Department of the Interior. “Colorado River Storage Project.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964.