Download or read book The Battle over Hetch Hetchy written by Robert W. Righter and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-03-17 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 source of 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.
Download or read book San Francisco and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Public Lands and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transcript of hearings on a Joint Resolution to allow the city and county of San Francisco to exchange land in Yosemite National Park and adjacent national forest for portions of the Hetch Hetchy and Lake Eleanor Reservoir sites for the purpose of a municipal water supply. Includes letters and testimony from state and federal politicians and San Francisco officials.
Download or read book San Francisco and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Public Lands and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book San Francisco and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir written by and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hetch Hetchy A History in Documents written by Char Miller and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation approving the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam to inundate the Hetch Hetchy Valley inside Yosemite National Park. This decision concluded a decade-long, highly contentious debate over the dam-and-reservoir complex to supply water to post-earthquake San Francisco, a battle that was dramatic, unsettling, and consequential. Hetch Hetchy: A History in Documents captures the tensions animating the long-running controversy and places them in their historical context. Key to understanding the debate is the prior and violent dispossession of Indigenous Nations from the valley they had stewarded for thousands of years. Their removal by the mid-nineteenth century enabled white elite tourism to take over, setting the stage for the subsequent debate for and against the dam in the early twentieth century. That debate contained a Faustian bargain: to secure an essential water supply for San Francisco meant the destruction of the valley that John Muir and others praised so highly. This contentious situation continues to reverberate, as interest groups now battle over whether to tear down the dam and restore the valley. Hetch Hetchy remains a dramatic flashpoint in American environmental culture.
Download or read book San Francisco and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Hearings on H J Res 223 Jan 9 12 1909 written by United States. Congress. House. Public lands and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Yosemite written by John Muir and published by Binker North. This book was released on 1912 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the classic nature work, The Yosemite, the great American naturalist, John Muir, describes the Yosemite valley's geography and the myriad types of trees, flowers, birds, and other animals that can be found there. The Yosemite is among the finest examples of John Muir nature writings.The Yosemite is a classic nature/outdoor adventure text and a fine example of John Muir nature writings. In this volume, Muir describes the Yosemite valley's geography and the various types of trees, flowers and animals that can be found there. John Muir (April 21, 1838 - December 24, 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor.[2] Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130 mile long distance route, was named in honor of him. In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite National Park. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas. He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life. Muir has been considered 'an inspiration to both Scots and Americans'. Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth", [ while biographer Donald Worster says he believed his mission was "...saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism." 403 On April 21, 2013, the first ever John Muir Day was celebrated in Scotland, which marked the 175th anniversary of his birth, paying homage to the conservationist. Muir was born in the small house at left. His father bought the adjacent building in 1842, and made it the family home.
Download or read book Decisions of the Department of the Interior written by United States. Department of the Interior and published by . This book was released on 1934 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Proceedings written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 1964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Power written by and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 1108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Berkeley Civic Bulletin written by and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Water Chronicle written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Congressional Record written by United States. Congress and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 1452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)
Download or read book Hearings written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 1636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tuolumne River Power Development written by United States. Congress. House. Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Jahrbuch der K niglich Preussischen Geologischen Landesanstalt und Bergakademie zu Berlin f r das Jahr written by Commonwealth Club of California and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Transactions written by Commonwealth Club of California and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
