Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water"The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to transform the West." -- back cover. |
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acre-feet acre-foot acres agricultural Angeles aqueduct aquifer Basin began bill Blue envelope letter Blue envelope memorandum Brown build built Bureau of Reclamation Canal Canyon Dam Carter Central Arizona Project Central Valley Project Colorado River Columbia Committee Congress Congressman Conservation Corps of Engineers cost crops Denver Department of Water desert diversion dollars Dominy's drought economic Environmental farm farmers federal feet fish flood flow Floyd Dominy going groundwater growers Hoover Hoover Dam huge hundred Idaho Interior irrigation knew Kuiper Lake land later Los Angeles memorandum to Commissioner miles million acre-feet Mulholland National never North Owens River Owens Valley Pacific Pat Brown percent plains Powell pumping region reservoir Sacramento salmon Salt San Francisco San Joaquin Valley says Senator Sierra silt South southern California Straus subsidized Teton Dam Texas thing thousand Udall wanted Washington Water District Water Plan Water Project Water Resources western