Historic Figures in Western Water Development
John Wesley Powell (1834 – 1902). From 1867 he led a series of expeditions into the Rocky Mountains and around the Green and Colorado rivers. In 1869 he set out to explore the Colorado and the Grand Canyon. He gathered nine men, four boats and food for ten months and set out from Green River, Wyoming on May 24. Passing through dangerous rapids, the group passed down the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado River (then also known as the Grand River upriver from the junction), near present-day Moab, Utah. The expedition's route traveled through the Utah canyons of the Colorado River, which Powell described in his published diary as having …wonderful features—carved walls, royal arches, glens, alcove gulches, mounds and monuments. From which of these features shall we select a name? We decide to call it Glen Canyon. One man (Goodman) quit after the first month and another three (Dunn and the Howland brothers) left at Separation Rapid in the third, only two days before the group reached the mouth of the Virgin River on August 30, after traversing almost 1,500 km. The three who left the group late in the trip were later killed—probably by Indians. However, exactly how and why they died remains a mystery debated by Powell biographers; some, including Jon Krakauer in his Under the Banner of Heaven, have raised the possibility of a Jack Mormon ambush. The song "Mr. Powell" by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils recounts Powell's trip down the Colorado River…for full article go to: John Wesley Powell [Wikipedia]
The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
History of the Expedition: The roots of the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were already lengthy by the time of the Louisiana Purchase in April 1803. Thomas Jefferson's curiosity about the West was lifelong, sustained by his broad scientific interests and his hopes and dreams for the future of the United States. For at least twenty years before he launched Lewis and Clark across two thousand miles into immortality, Jefferson had planned for a transcontinental expedition starting up the Missouri River. In 1783, while serving in Congress, he asked the frontier Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark (the older brother of William) to consider leading a privately sponsored expedition to explore the West. Then, as later, he feared that Britain might secure a foothold west of the Mississippi (then the western boundary of the United States) and forestall American expansion. George Rogers Clark declined the offer…more go to The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
John Muir (1838-1914) led the nation toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural environment and its value as both a material and spiritual resource. His most important national contribution grew out of his political activism. Recognized as one of the driving forces behind the National Park system, Muir was instrumental in the establishment of Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Mt. Rainier, and other parks. As founder and first president of the Sierra Club in 1892, he established the most influential organization in the conservation field…more, go to the Holt-Atherton Special Collections website, The John Muir Papers
Wayne Aspinall (1896-1983; Congressman, 1949-1973) During the 1950s and 1960s Wayne Aspinall was one of the most powerful national politicians shaping federal reclamation policy. Born in Ohio, Aspinall’s family moved to Palisades, Colorado in 1904. Following military service in World War I, Aspinall completed his undergraduate education at the University of Denver, where he subsequently received a law degree in 1925. Aspinall served in the Colorado State House of Representatives from 1930 to 1938 and in the Colorado State Senate from 1939 to 1948.
Elected in 1948 to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat representing Colorado’s Western Slope, Aspinall held strong pro-development views concerning natural resources. These views reflected the economic realities of his rural district and its dependence upon irrigation. A member of the House Interior Committee, Aspinall quickly rose through the ranks to become chair in 1959, a position he held for the next 14 years. His tenure as chair was noted for its tight discipline and high productivity. He had a good working relationship with the ranking minority committee member, Representative John Saylor (R-PA), even though they held opposing views on the environment with Saylor being a strong advocate for greater protection. Other committee members were more critical of Aspinall’s autocratic style and his ability, under House rules at the time, to block any legislation he opposed.
While Aspinall played an active role in helping to pass numerous pieces of legislation during his career, two specific reclamation acts stand out as being particularly significant: the Colorado River Storage Project in 1956, and the Colorado River Basin Project in 1968. The Storage Project included Glen Canyon Dam and the defeated Echo Park Dam (which Aspinall supported). The Basin Project authorized the construction of the Central Arizona Project. His battles with environmentalists and water interests in other states, such as California and Arizona, over these bills were at times extremely combative and confrontational.
Aspinall’s handling of the Basin Project bill became particularly notorious when he demanded the inclusion of five reclamation projects for his district, which even his own supporters claimed had dubious financial merit. (Of the five only two were completed, and a third one was delayed for more than three decades.) His further attempts to hold the bill hostage were defeated when U.S. Senator Carl Hayden of Arizona initiated a legislative end-run that would have removed the bill from the oversight of Aspinall’s committee. At that point Aspinall backed down and submitted the bill for a vote by the House of Representatives.
Although Aspinall served in Congress for 24 years and achieved national stature, his margin of victory in elections actually peaked in 1960 and steadily declined after that point. In 1964 and 1972 the Republican-controlled state legislature shifted the boundaries of Aspinall’s district so that he no longer represented the entire Western Slope (and included part of the Denver suburbs instead), further eroding his political base. In 1972 Aspinall’s opponent in the Democratic primary election was Alan Merson, a pro-environmental law professor at the University of Denver who received substantial financial support from environmental groups. Merson defeated Aspinall with 53 percent of the vote in the September primary. Following his involuntary retirement, Aspinall returned to Palisade, Colorado, and served for the last 10 years of his life as a part-time lobbyist for the extractive industries, as well as a vocal public supporter of various oil shale development projects. [By Stephen C. Sturgeon, Utah State University]
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