Download or read book An American River written by Mary Bruno and published by . This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We were afraid of its impenetrable darkness. Afraid of its industrial smell. We were afraid of the things that lived beneath its surface and the things that had died there. We were afraid of spotting a hand or a head bobbing in the rafts of garbage that floated by. We were afraid of submerged intake valves that sucked water into the factories along the banks. We were afraid of the river's filth. It wasn't the kind of filth that came from playing with your friends. It was grownup filth. The kind that scared the blue out of water and coated the riverbank with oily black goo. It was the kind of filth you could taste, the kind that could make you sick, maybe even kill you. We were afraid of getting splashed with river water or of touching river rocks. We were afraid of falling in or-God forbid-going under. We were afraid of the river's anger at being so befouled, and afraid, most of all, of the revenge we felt certain the river would exact." New Jersey's Passaic River rises in a pristine wetland and ends in a federal Superfund site. In "An American River," author and New Jersey native Mary Bruno kayaks its length in an effort to discover what happened to her hometown river. The Passaic's wildly convoluted course invites detours into the river's flood-prone natural history, New Jersey's unique geology, the corrupt practices of the Newark chemical plant that produced Agent Orange and poisoned the river with dioxin, and into the lives of an unforgettable cast of characters who have lived and worked along the Passaic and who are trying, even now, to save it. Part natural history, part personal history, part rollicking adventure, the book is a narrative meditation on the wonder of nature, the enduring ties of family, and the power of water and loss. "My great grandmother liked to say, 'Don't shit in the nest, '" writes Bruno. "The Passaic River is an object lesson in what can happen when we ignore that simple, salty advice." ""An American River" is an intricate and satisfying braid of memoir, history, science, nature writing, and acute social observation. This is an invigorating and hopeful book, and its sense of wonder is infectious. It's not, I think, too great a stretch to say that it holds its own on the shelf alongside "Walden," "Silent Spring" and "A Sand County Almanac."" Jonathan Raban Author of "Driving Home: An American Journey"
Download or read book Gold Gold from the American River written by Don Brown and published by Flash Point. This book was released on 2011-02-15 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When James Marshall found a small, soft shiny stone in a California stream, he knew it could only be one thing: Gold! His cry of discovery would be heard around the world. In the third installment of Don Brown's Actual Times series, Gold! Gold from the American River! is the story of the California gold rush--the uncharted journey across hostile land, the laborious process of panning for gold, the success of savvy entrepreneurs, and the fortunes of the marginalized, from slaves and American Indians to women and foreigners.
Download or read book Gila written by Gregory McNamee and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2012-10-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For sixty million years, the Gila River, longer than the Hudson and the Delaware combined, has shaped the ecology of the Southwest from its source in New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River in Arizona. Today, for at least half its length, the Gila is dead, like so many of the West’s great rivers, owing to overgrazing, damming, and other practices. This richly documented cautionary tale narrates the Gila’s natural and human history. Now updated, McNamee’s study traces recent efforts to resuscitate portions of this important riparian corridor.
Download or read book The Hudson written by Frances F. Dunwell and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008-05-12 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frances F. Dunwell presents a rich portrait of the Hudson and of the visionary people whose deep relationship with the river inspires changes in American history and culture. Lavishly illustrated with color plates of Hudson River School paintings, period engravings, and glass plate photography, The Hudson captures the spirit of the river through the eyes of its many admirers. It shows the crucial role of the Hudson in the shaping of Manhattan, the rise of the Empire State, and the trajectory of world trade and global politics, as well as the river's influence on art and architecture, engineering, and conservation.
Download or read book Rivers of North America written by Michael D. Delong and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2023-04-20 with total page 1109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers of North America, Second Edition features new updates on rivers included in the first edition, as well as brand new information on additional rivers. This new edition expands the knowledge base, providing readers with a broader comparative approach to understand both the common and distinct attributes of river networks. The first edition addressed the three primary disciplines of river science: hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. This new edition expands upon the interactive nature of these disciplines, showing how they define the organization of a riverine landscape and its processes. An essential resource for river scientists working in ecology, hydrology, and geomorphology. Provides a single source of information on North America’s major rivers Features authoritative information on more than 200 rivers from regional specialists Includes full-color photographs and topographical maps to illustrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system Offers one-page summaries help readers quickly find key statistics and make comparisons among rivers
Download or read book The American River Insiders Guide to the North Middle and South Forks written by Protect American River Canyons and published by . This book was released on 2013-12-25 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lower American River written by Sacramento Public Library Authority and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2021 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flowing through Sacramento County, the American River has long been a dynamic neighbor to those living along its waters. As the American River flooded, its banks were leveed, and its course was corrected to allow for further settlement and industry. Sacramento, in a feat of civic engagement, raised its business district above the floodplain, echoing the earthen mounds the Nisenan people used to raise their homes. Massive dredgers tore the riverbed in search of California's famous mineral. Railroad tracks, and later roads, were built to accommodate for more and more people living along its banks. The American River pressed those banks, but the residents of the Sacramento Valley persisted and created a vibrant capital for one of the world's largest economies.
Download or read book America s Great River Journeys written by Tim Palmer and published by Rizzoli Publications. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspirational bucket list for anyone interested in rafting, kayaking, or canoeing—from armchair traveler to recreational paddler to hard-core white-water enthusiast. From the Penobscot to the Potomac, the New to the Suwannee, the Colorado to the Snake, America’s Great River Journeys entices people to experience America from its free-flowing waterways. Vivid descriptions of our nation’s fifty finest river trips are complete with stunning photos of each leg of each journey, an engaging narrative, and practical tips about the length of trips, seasonal preferences, difficulty of white water, joys of camping along the shores, availability of professional outfitters, and other details. Through beautiful photography and compelling writing, America’s Great River Journeys is a celebration of the best rivers for canoeing, kayaking, and rafting—from Alaska to Florida—along 7,000 miles of our nation’s spectacular waterways in twenty-eight states.
Download or read book American River Canyon Hikes written by Jim Ferris and published by . This book was released on 2005-12-01 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Produced by the California State Park volunteer group, Auburn State Recreation Area Canyon Keepers (ASRACK), for trails in the Auburn State Recreation Area (ASRA) in the Northern California Sierra foothills.
Download or read book Water Gold Soil written by Sayler/Morris (Artist group) and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water Gold Soil: The American River tells the story of a single flow of water in present-day California from origin to end use. Beginning at the river's headwaters in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the book follows the water through pipes and dams, past Sutter's Mill and the birthplace of the Gold Rush, to the corporate agricultural fields until it eventually disappears into the ground, finding veins in the soil. Including a short essay by Elizabeth Kolbert, the book brings together a series of narrative text, photographs, and archival images that represent the history of extraction in California and testify to the social and ecological consequences of watershed colonialism.
Download or read book River City and Valley Life written by Christopher J. Castaneda and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2013-12-09 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often referred to as “the Big Tomato,” Sacramento is a city whose makeup is significantly more complex than its agriculture-based sobriquet implies. In River City and Valley Life, seventeen contributors reveal the major transformations to the natural and built environment that have shaped Sacramento and its suburbs, residents, politics, and economics throughout its history. The site that would become Sacramento was settled in 1839, when Johann Augustus Sutter attempted to convert his Mexican land grant into New Helvetia (or “New Switzerland”). It was at Sutter’s sawmill fifty miles to the east that gold was first discovered, leading to the California Gold Rush of 1849. Nearly overnight, Sacramento became a boomtown, and cityhood followed in 1850. Ideally situated at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers, the city was connected by waterway to San Francisco and the surrounding region. Combined with the area’s warm and sunny climate, the rivers provided the necessary water supply for agriculture to flourish. The devastation wrought by floods and cholera, however, took a huge toll on early populations and led to the construction of an extensive levee system that raised the downtown street level to combat flooding. Great fortune came when local entrepreneurs built the Central Pacific Railroad, and in 1869 it connected with the Union Pacific Railroad to form the first transcontinental passage. Sacramento soon became an industrial hub and major food-processing center. By 1879, it was named the state capital and seat of government. In the twentieth century, the Sacramento area benefitted from the federal government’s major investment in the construction and operation of three military bases and other regional public works projects. Rapid suburbanization followed along with the building of highways, bridges, schools, parks, hydroelectric dams, and the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant, which activists would later shut down. Today, several tribal gaming resorts attract patrons to the area, while “Old Sacramento” revitalizes the original downtown as it celebrates Sacramento’s pioneering past. This environmental history of Sacramento provides a compelling case study of urban and suburban development in California and the American West. As the contributors show, Sacramento has seen its landscape both ravaged and reborn. As blighted areas, rail yards, and riverfronts have been reclaimed, and parks and green spaces created and expanded, Sacramento’s identity continues to evolve. As it moves beyond its Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad, and government-town heritage, Sacramento remains a city and region deeply rooted in its natural environment.
Download or read book Anacostia written by John R. Wennersten and published by Publishing Concepts (Baltimore, MD). This book was released on 2008 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Unspoiled Waterway teeming with fish, its shores a virtual paradise, the Anacostia River figured prominently in the original plans for the new nation's elegant, bustling capital. Instead it quickly became a poster child for America's tragically neglected and abused urban waterways. With a clear eye and sharp pen, accomplished environmental historian John R. Wennersten takes an unsparing look at the historic forces and misguided policies that all but ruined a beautiful river while imposing the burden of pollution unequally on Washington's poorer citizens. Anacostia offers a much needed corrective to the uncritical assumptions of growth for its own sake and the cost it imposes on our waters, our natural resources, and the health of our citizenry. It also demonstrates how thoughtless destruction can be stopped, and rivers restored. Book jacket.
Download or read book Shantyboat written by Harlan Hubbard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 1977-01-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shantyboat is the story of a leisurely journey down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. For most people such a journey is the stuff that dreams are made of, but for Harlan and Anna Hubbard, it became a cherished reality. In their small river craft, the Hubbards became one with the flowing river and its changing weathers. This book mirrors a life that is simple and independent, strenuous at times, but joyous, with leisure for painting and music, for observation and contemplation.
Download or read book River Republic written by Daniel McCool and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel McCool chronicles the surging grassroots movement to bring America's rivers back to life and ensure they remain pristine for future generations. This book confirms the surprising news that America's rivers are indeed returning to a healthier, free-flowing condition. Through passion and dedication, ordinary people are reclaiming the American landscape, forming a nation-wide "river republic" of concerned citizens from all backgrounds and sectors of society. McCool profiles the individuals he calls "instigators," who initiated the fight for these waterways and have succeeded in the near-impossible task of challenging and changing the status quo. He ties the history, culture, and fate of America to its rivers and presents their restoration as a microcosm mirroring American beliefs, livelihoods, and an increasing awareness of our shared environmental fate.
Download or read book Nature Noir written by Jordan Fisher Smith and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2006-05-03 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A nature book unlike any other…peppered with gritty, anti-romantic, all-too-real tales of cops ’n’ bad guys in the great outdoors.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune Jordan Fisher Smith’s startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beat—a stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be flooded—brings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he both portrays the breathtaking natural world around him and reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands. “Gloriously unlike anything I’ve ever read before…gives entree into a strange, dark, and mesmerizing outdoor world that's absolutely unforgettable.”—The Boston Globe “By turns funny, poignant and surprising…an intimate memoir of the career of a state-park ranger. Not just any ranger, but one with a wicked pen, patrolling a doomed landscape.”—Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer “Compelling…refreshingly unsentimental.”—Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams “Smith offers a fresh perspective on our threatened environment…Nature Noir reflects the spirit of an era as did Desert Solitaire.”—Charlotte Observer
Download or read book North American River Otter written by Ellen Lawrence and published by Swamp Things: Animal Life in a. This book was released on 2020 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Splash! Three playful creatures slide down a muddy slope and fall into a pond. Twisting and turning in the water, the river otter family continues its game. It's not all play, though, and soon the animals begin to hunt for fish in the murky water of their swamp home. Filled with information perfectly suited to the abilities and interests of its primary-grade audience, this colorful, fact-filled book gives readers a chance not only to learn all about river otters and the swamp habitat in which they live, but also to develop their powers of observation and critical thinking. Built-in activities, such as investigating the ways an otter's body is adapted to a life in water and guessing why mother otters push their little pups into the water, give readers a chance to gain insights beyond the facts and figures.
Download or read book Mythical River written by Melissa L. Sevigny and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As population growth and climate upheaval strain the Southwest's water resources, Mythical River uncovers the folly of modern water policies and illuminates a way forward: recognizing the rights of ecosystems"--Provided by publisher.
