The Whole Dam Story: The Drowning and Rising of a River City in the West - Softcover

Rast, Ella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1403337322 ISBN 13: 9781403337320

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2004

Synopsis

The primary focus of the book is the happenings during the past two hundred years at the water fall on the Snake River, the American Falls. This includes the European influence on the natural Western wilderness by explorers, fur trappers, gold miners, pioneers, cattle barons, sheep men, farmers, engineers and politicians.Southern Idaho's story is about mountains, rivers, the Snake River Plain and the harsh reality of drought in the desert. The natives had learned it was essential to preserve the fragile environment for their own survival. The newcomers lacked this awareness.Speculators and promoters found no value in the sagebrush forest. However, the soil was exceptionally fertile; all it needed was water. Water represented economic potential and that possibility encouraged entrepreneurs to descend with irrigation schemes. Few succeeded. Settlers found themselves caught in a web of broken promises, promoters, speculators, and failed banks.Probably the most publicized town in the nation in the twenties is American Falls! This is the story of hydroelectricity, railroad, a city, a dam and includes greed, power, intrigue, determination and commitment. It is a story our nation should know and not forget.

About this title

About the Author:

I am a member of the Idaho Writer's league, participate in writing groups through Idaho State University and hold membership in the Power County Historical Society.My writing instructor, Dee Lopez of Portland, Oregon, taught at Mt. Hood Community College. Without her stern encouragement and insistence that I keep writing, I might not have finished my father's story and my first book, I Remember That Good Yet . . ., how a 1922 Russian immigrant to Idaho who found life on the desert harder than in Russia.I attended a one-room country school, Mt. Hope School, where we were taught learning skills. It was stressed that 'graduation is not the end of your education, it means you are finally ready to begin learning for the rest of your life'.After graduation from American Falls High School, I entered Emanuel Nursing School in Portland, Oregon. Some years later, a B.S. Degree was granted by Linfield College. I continued to pursue a career in nursing until 1993. With my children grown, I left Oregon to retire in Idaho with time to write and paint.

Synopsis:

The fetile desert of the Snake River Plain needed water to achieve its potential as the "Nile of Idaho". Fifty years of political clashes ended with a dam at American Falls in 1925. 200 years of negative and positive European influences impacted the Idaho enviornment.

About this edition

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1403337322
• ISBN 13: 9781403337320
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192