Damming the Colorado: The Rise of the Lower Colorado River Authority, 1933-1939 (CENTENNIAL SERIES OF THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS, TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY) - Hardcover

Adams, John A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0890964262 ISBN 13: 9780890964262

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press, 1990

Synopsis

Before there was a Lower Colorado River Authority, the Colorado River cut across Central Texas free and unfettered by artificial structures. But the river could be unpredictable and dangerous. In the early years of the twentieth century there were numerous attempts to harness and develop the river. Some Texans desperately wanted private enterprise to achieve that goal, but the job proved to be larger than the resources of the private sector. What emerged in the mid-1930s was a cooperative federal-state approach that created controversy yet results.

John Adams details the dynamics in the struggle of private interests and public institutions to cooperate in the taming of the Colorado. The Great Depression further constricted private capital available for large-scale reclamation projects, but the New Deal entered into the effort. With seasoned Texas politicians in Washington, millions of dollars in federal funds were channeled into the Lower Colorado River Authority. The Lower Colorado River Authority resulted in a system of dams, reservoirs, and hydroelectric power stations.

Intensive research in primary documents, including four sets of presidential papers, and in state and national archives has enabled Adams to trace the development of the accord and relationships between private utility interests, conservationists, and politicians that finally dammed the Colorado and further cemented the precedent for federally funded water and reclamation projects in the West.

About this title

About the Author

For ten years, JOHN A. ADAMS, JR., lived and worked in Laredo, where he served as executive director and CEO of the Laredo Development Foundation. He now resides in Florida. He earned a Ph.D. in history from Texas A&M University.

Reviews

Known as "Texas's little TVA," the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) of central Texas attempted to tame the oft-flooding Colorado River by building dams throughout the 1930s. The LCRA's efforts were shaped by Texas politics, rural and urban residents, and New Deal federal bureaucrats. As evidenced by his book's extensive bibliography, Adams has conducted in-depth research in order to detail the dams' construction. His writing is dry and unappealing, however, and he makes no attempt to generalize the experiences of the LCRA to other federal water projects. Recommended for area studies and special subject collections only.
- Gwen Gregory, U.S. Courts Lib., Phoenix
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0890964262
• ISBN 13: 9780890964262
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 161