Additional Resources
This page is dedicated to any additional Colorado River resources including historic literature, narratives, and essays. Visit the Colorado River Resources pages for additional information broken down by major themes and topics.
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West - Wallace Stegner
Cadillac Desert – Marc Reisner
The story of the American West is the story of the relentless quest to control and allocate nature's most common, and the West's most precious, resource: water. CADILLAC DESERT recounts this dramatic saga.
The Colorado River Compact - R.L. Olson (1926) PhD dissertation from Cambridge, MA: Harvard
The Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon: Natural History and Human Change - S.W. Carothers and B.T. Brown (1991)
Command of the Waters - Dan McCool
Much has been written about legal questions surrounding Indian water rights; this book now places them in the political framework that also includes water development. McCool examines the way federal and BIA water development programs have reacted to conflict, competition, and opportunity from the turn of the century to the 1980s and updates the situation in an introduction written for this edition.
The Discovery of Global Warming - Spencer R. Weart A thoughtful look at the 100+ year history of global warming science.
Dividing the Waters: A Century of Conflict Between the United States and Mexico - Norris Hundley, Jr.
Incudes discussion of the Mexican Water Treaty of 1944.
Global Warming: The Complete Briefing - John T. Houghton A concise, scientifically oriented look at the entrire third IPCC assessment report by its main author.
Book Description, courtesy of amazon.com
Global warming and the resulting climate change is one of the most serious environmental problems facing the world community. Global Warming: the Complete Briefing is the most comprehensive guide available to the subject. A world-renowned expert, Sir John Houghton explores the scientific basis of global warming and the likely impacts of climate change on human society, before addressing the action that could be taken by governments, by industry and by individuals to mitigate the effects. The first edition received excellent reviews, and this completely updated new edition (taking account of the latest IPCC Assessments, and now including questions at the end of chapters) will prove to be the best briefing the student or interested general reader could wish for.
The Great Thirst: Californians and Water--A History-Norris Hundley, Jr.
The obsession with water has shaped California to a remarkable extent, literally as well as politically and culturally. Hundley tells how aboriginal Americans and then early Spanish and Mexican immigrants contrived to use and share the available water and how American settlers, arriving in ever-increasing numbers after the Gold Rush, transformed California into the home of the nation's preeminent water seekers. The desire to use, profit from, manipulate, and control water drives the people and events in this fascinating narrative until, by the end of the twentieth century, a large, colorful cast of characters and communities has wheeled and dealed, built, diverted, and connived its way to an entirely different statewide waterscape.
Hoover Dam: An American Adventure - Joseph E. Stevens
This fine monograph about the building of Hoover Dam tells the story from design through construction and opening of the massive structure. Stevens successfully integrates the engineering history with the social history of the work force, persuasively arguing for the importance of the dam in transforming the Southwest and Southern California. Thorough research and brisk writing keep the narrative well-paced and interesting to general readers. Photos are incorporated within the text. (Summary by James W. Oberly, Univ. of Wisconsin, Eau Claire at Amazon.com)
Indian Reserved Water Rights: The Winters Doctrine in Its Social and Legal Context - John Shurts
In its 1908 decision for "Winters v United States," the Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling guaranteeing the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Indian tribes reserved water rights in the Milk River. Based on the same 1888 treaty that had created the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, the Winters decision has with some controversy influenced American Indian water rights and western water development as a whole ever since.
"Indian Reserved Water Rights" by John Shurts is the first book-length historical study of the Winters case and its early effects. In contrast to previous explanations of the decision, Shurts demonstrates how the litigation and its outcome fit well within the existing legal context and ongoing water development in the Milk River Valley. He also analyzes the Winters doctrine during its earliest years, primarily through an examination of water-rights litigation on the Uintah Reservation in Utah, showing that it had a lively existence in those years contrary to what has been understood. (book description from Amazon.com)
Last Water Hole in the West – Daniel Tyler
A detailed exploration of a single water management agency (the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District) and its response to changing regional and national events; and the first history of a (New Deal) Bureau of Reclamation water project from conception to maturity the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. (summary from amazon.com)
Native Waters - Dan McCool
Since the beginning of the reservation era, the bitter conflict between Indians and non-Indians over water rights was largely confined to the courtroom. But in the 1980s the federal government began to emphasize negotiated settlements over lawsuits, and the settlements are changing water rights in fundamental ways--not only for tribes but also for non-Indian communities that share scarce water resources with Indians.
In Native Waters, Daniel McCool describes the dramatic impact these settlements are having both on Indian country and on the American West as a whole. Viewing the settlements as a second treaty era, he considers whether they will guarantee the water future of reservations--or, like treaties of old, will require tribes to surrender vast resources in order to retain a small part of their traditional homelands. As one tribal official observed, "It's like your neighbors have been stealing your horses for many years, and now we have to sit down and decide how many of those horses they get to keep."
Unlike technical studies of water policy, McCool's book is a readable account that shows us real people attempting to end real disputes that have been going on for decades. He discusses specific water settlements using a combination of approaches--from personal testimony to traditional social science methodology--to capture the richness, complexity, and human texture of the water rights conflict. By explaining the processes and outcomes in plain language and grounding his presentation in relevant explanations of Indian culture, he conveys the complexity of the settlements for readers from a wide range of disciplines.
Native Waters illustrates how America is coming to grips with an issue that has long been characterized by injustice and conflict, seeking to enhance our understanding of the settlements in the hope that this understanding will lead to better settlements for all parties. As one of the first assessments of a policy that will have a pervasive impact for centuries to come, it shows that how we resolve Indian water claims tells us a great deal about who we are as a nation and how we confront difficult issues involving race, culture, and the environment.
(summary from University of Arizona Press)
Negotiating Tribal Water Rights: Fulfilling Promises in the Arid West - B. Colby, J.E. Thorson and S. Britton
Negotiations and litigation over tribal water rights shape the future of both Indian and non-Indian communities throughout the West, and intense competition for limited water supplies have increased pressure to address tribal water claims. By providing a comprehensive synthesis of western water issues, tribal water disputes, and alternative approaches to dispute resolution, this book offers a valuable source for all--tribal councils, legislators, water professionals, attorneys--who need a basic understanding of the complexities of the situation.
New Courses for the Colorado River - G. Weatherford and F.L. Brown (eds.)
New Courses for the Colorado River: Major Issues for the Next Century is forwarded by Governor Bruce Babbitt of Arizona. This work is an examination of the history and persistent issues surrounding the Colorado River which have erupted periodically in litigation and worse. The authors offer an assessment of the issues which those managing the Colorado River will likely be presented with in the coming century.
New Courses for the Colorado River: Major Issues for the Next Century is a careful and extensive examination of the historical difficulties surrounding the allocation and use of the water in the Colorado River. It is also a thoughtful, if rather sobering, assessment of the probable issues which will arise in the near future for those who concern themselves with the Colorado River. (Summary from University of Colorado site)
Overtapped Oasis- M. Reisner and S. Bates
Overtapped Oasis analyzes the West's water allocation system from top to bottom and offers dozens of revolutionary proposals for increased efficiency and policy reform. Marc Reisner and Sarah Bates argue that the West's underlying problem is not a shortage of water but the inefficient use of it, a problem caused by a bewildering tangle of federal subsidy programs, restrictive state water codes, anachronistic irrigation practices and - perhaps most important - resistance to reform. (Summary from Amazon.com)
Phil Swing and Boulder Dam - Beverley B. Moeller
This book is about Congressman Phil Swing's contribution to the building of the Boulder Dam. (1971)
Red Delta: Fighting for Life at the End of the Colorado River - Charles Bergman
The Mexican delta of the Colorado River is becoming one of the most remarkable environmental stories on the continent. Red Delta combines the powerful story of the delta's restored natural diversity with clear information on the "river of law" that governs water allotments to it (U.S.-90 percent, Mexico-10 percent), presenting a story of hope and recovery. Whether in search of a rare and endangered bird, sifting through the sands of the delta's badlands for fossils, or visiting a village of the delta's impoverished Cucapa people, Bergman helps us see the variety and abundance of life in this once-forgotten place.
(summary from Fulcrum Publishing)
River No More – Phillip Fradkin
Here is the definitive history of the development of the Colorado River and the claims made on its waters, from its source in the Wyoming Rockies to the California and Arizona borders where, so saline it kills plants, it peters out just short of the Gulf of California. Ever increasing demands on the river to supply cities in the desert render this new edition all too timely. (summary from amazon.com)
Rivers of Empire: Water Aridity, and the Growth of the American West - Donald Worster
John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) is best remembered for leading the first expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869. However, he should more accurately be recalled for directing the survey that mapped the region around the canyon and for establishing and directing the Bureau of American Ethnology in the Smithsonian Institution, which put the study of Native Americans on a scientific footing. Drawing on a large number of archival and published sources, Worster (history, Univ. of Kansas; Dust Bowl) traces Powell's life from his frontier childhood through his years in Washington directing both the Bureau and the Geological Survey. The author delineates the influences that led Powell to the West in the first place and shows how he fit into the intellectual milieu of the late 19th century.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. from amazon.com
Silver Fox of the Rockies – Daniel Tyler
A Story that Stands Like a Dam – Russell Martin
In this classic narrative history of the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in the 1950s and 1960s, Russell Martin has captured the individual, cultural, political, and environmental dramas that brought into being the environmental movement we know today.
Across the West, calls for the removal of hydroelectric dams constructed during the Bureau of Reclamation's grand century of dam-building are being heard. More than thirty years later Glen Canyon Dam is still at the vortex of controversy, both because of its impact on ecological processes downstream and its drowning of natural landscapes behind its headwall. A STORY THAT STANDS LIKE A DAM is as compelling and relevant today as it was when it was first published. (summary from amazon.com)
Two-Mile Time Machine - Richard B. Alley A very good overview of the Earth's climate system by a well-known paleoclimatologist at Penn State His data comes from the 100,000-year record in Greenland's ice cores
Editorial review from Publishers Weekly, courtesy of amazon.com
Recent news reports about large holes in the ice and open waters at the Arctic Circle have prompted renewed concerns about the effects of global warming. In measured tones, however, geoscientist Alley reminds us that during the last 100,000 years or so the earth has experienced a wildly varied climate pattern. Using readings of ice cores taken from Greenland, where he participated for several years in the '90s in far-reaching research projects, Alley demonstrates that periods of slow cooling and centuries of cold have been punctuated by periods of sudden warming. In fact, he notes, climatic stability is the exception rather than the rule, and he contends that the unusually warm, stable climate we have experienced for the past 10,000 years is an anomaly. Through his study of the two-mile-long ice cores, Alley reveals a number of elements that contribute to global climatic changes: wind patterns, drifting continents and ocean currents. In lively prose, he illustrates that climate can be stable, but when pushed to changeAby either human or natural forcesAsuch change can occur more dramatically and at a faster rate than our industrial society has ever witnessed. Yet Alley is no alarmist in predicting the ways that human activities will affect climate and climatic changes will affect humans. Although not all scientists will agree with Alley's conclusions, his engaging bookAa brilliant combination of scientific thriller, memoir and environmental scienceAprovides instructive glimpses into our climatic past and global future that will appeal to readers interested in how our environment affects us. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West – Norris Hundley
War for the Colorado River - Vol 1: The California-Arizona Controversy, and Vol 2: Above Lee's Ferry - The Upper Basin - John Upton Terrell
Terrell served for a decade as the Washington, DC, public relations representative of the Colorado River Association, and his close acquaintance with events from that service adds an insider's dimension to this history. "Its importance is enduring, as population in the Southwest increases and demand for water soars." [Clark and Brunet II:277]. (description from Siegelbooks.com)
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