Description
Book SynopsisTraces the emergence of the mammoth US flood management system, which is overseen by the federal government but implemented in conjunction with state governments and local contractors and levee districts. This book shows how the system initially developed as a response to the demands of farmers and business elite in outlying territories.
Trade Review“Bold in its interpretation, sweeping in its scope, and judicious in its style,
Rivers by Design argues convincingly that federal flood control policy, which culminated in the Flood Control Act of 1936, ended comprehensive resource planning at the federal level. This is an exciting and original study.”—Donald J. Pisani, author of
Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902–1935“Karen M. O’Neill has produced a tour de force—a carefully researched and clearly written analysis of the tangled emergence of the U.S. flood-control system. Her powerful wake-up call to us all is how the federal government, through the Army Corps of Engineers, reengineered the nation’s rivers to promote local economic development at the expense of—rather than with a sensitivity to—environmental values.”—Norris Hundley Jr., author of
The Great Thirst: Californians and Water–A History“Masterfully weaving historical details, Karen M. O’Neill traces the unanticipated expansion of the federal government’s role in ‘controlling’ the Mississippi and Sacramento rivers. In this era of rising hurricane-induced floodwaters, she offers deep insight into the tensions between local and national agencies, and between the state and private interests.”—Allan Schnaiberg, coauthor of
Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community DevelopmentTable of ContentsTables and Maps ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xxi
I. Rivers and State Authority 1
1. Infrastructure Builds the State 3
2. The Founding Principles of River Development 13
II. Regional Competition and the Rise of the Flood Control Campaign 27
3. The Mississippi River:
Becoming the Nation’s River 31
4. The Mississippi River:
Resentment Leading to Civil War 43
5. The Mississippi River:
Postwar Reunification, Postwar Aid 56
6. The Sacramento River:
Miners versus Farmers 68
7. The Sacramento River:
Capitalists Unify for Development 80
III. Redesigning Rivers in the National Interest 97
8. Federal Aid for the Mississippi and Sacramento Rivers 99
9. The Fully Designed River 128
10. A Nationwide Program for Flood Control 150
11. Rivers by Design 179
Appendix 1. Mississippi Valley River Improvement Conventions 187
Appendix 2. Mississippi River Levee Association, Executive Committee 197
Notes 199
Bibliography 243
Index 265
