When was the last dam?
Last Monday many newspapers carried a story about the potential for new dams across the West. It’s a newsworthy story because the urge to build new dams is coming at the same time to tear down old ones. It could be one of the more interesting environmental topics of the coming decade.
But one note in the article struck me as wrong:
It seems to me that the dam-building era did not end in 1964 with Glen Canyon but a decade later with Idaho’s Teton Dam. What do others think?
I'm always interested in feedback, via comments below or info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
But one note in the article struck me as wrong:
the era of giant dams essentially ended with the Glen Canyon Dam, just upstream from the Grand Canyon on the Arizona-Utah state line, which galvanized the environmental movement because its Lake Powell inundated a huge swath of scenic land, archaeological sites and places important to native Americans.
It seems to me that the dam-building era did not end in 1964 with Glen Canyon but a decade later with Idaho’s Teton Dam. What do others think?
I'm always interested in feedback, via comments below or info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
