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Reviews
BIG DAMS OF THE NEW DEAL ERA: A CONFLUENCE OF ENGINEERING AND POLITICS
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by David P. Billington and Donald C. Jackson
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| University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2006. Illustrations, photographs, notes, bibliography, index. 416 pages. $36.95 cloth. |
| Big Dams of the New Deal Era, by David P. Billington and Donald C. Jackson, is unique in its approach and geographic scope, because the authors examine the intersection — "the confluence" — of politics and engineering that led to the building of many of America's largest dams (p. 4). Those dams include Hoover, Bonneville, Grand Coulee, Shasta, Friant, Fort Peck, and Garrison, although the authors also look at others. |
1
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Geographically, the authors examine four important and different watersheds: the Columbia, Colorado, Missouri, and Sacramento/San Joaquin. This allows them to compare dam projects across regions and watersheds. Differences are not limited to physical landscapes, although those are critical. The Columbia River has an average annual flow of some 275,000 cubic feet per second, about ten times more than the Colorado. Differences also include the political climates in each region and the demands from backers of navigation, irrigation, flood control, urban water supply, and hydroelectric power. Within each watershed, these varying demands led to conflicts between upstream and downstream states, the principal federal agencies, private and public interests, and states and the federal government. |
2
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Chapters 1 and 2 set up the book. In those chapters, the authors introduce readers to the agencies that built the big dams: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau Reclamation. They begin with the Bureau in Chapter 1. Congress established the Bureau in 1902 to undertake irrigation projects in the West. The Corps dates back to the nation's founding and had long been in charge of navigation improvements. On the eve of the New Deal, however, neither agency had much experience in constructing large dams that served multiple purposes. |
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In the early chapters, Billington and Jackson also introduce readers to the history of dam design and construction. They examine the "Massive Tradition," represented by gravity dams, and the "Structural Tradition," represented by thin arch dams. Gravity dams rely on their mass to resist water pressure and thin arch dams rely on physics. Thin arch dams offer as much stability — maybe more — and need less material to build than gravity dams. Still, the Corps and the Bureau usually chose gravity dams, because the public interpreted the bulkier appearance as meaning greater stability and, therefore, greater safety. At times, the authors present complex equations and engineering drawings that average readers may find difficult. Overall, however, they present the data in clear, simple, and interesting terms. |
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In chapters 3 through 6, the authors focus on select dams built in each of the major watersheds. They look at the arguments behind building the dams, the design issues, and the construction processes. How much time they spend on each depends on the project. While they provide some background on the economic and political origins of each dam, they are strongest when discussing the origins of projects on the Colorado River and in the Central Valley of California. And they spend extra time on the engineering of the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River in Montana. |
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In September 1938, a large section of the Fort Peck earthen dam slid out, killing eight workers. The Corps had nearly finished hydraulically building up the dam. That is, they had been pumping a mixture of earth and water onto the dam. As the water flowed away, the sediment remained. The slide influenced the method used for other Missouri River earthen dams, so the authors thoroughly examine the engineering debates that came before and after it. |
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From the outset, Billington and Jackson challenge the common public misperception that, since the Bureau and the Corps built the big dams during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Congress only authorized them to put people to work. The authors show that pressure for the big dams had begun before the Depression. The Depression did influence each project in important ways. The need to put people to work often rushed construction and ensured that designs were not too innovative. All the dams adhered to the "Massive Tradition," regardless of whether they were built of concrete or earth, or were curved or straight. |
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One of the most important outcomes of big dams built or approved during the New Deal was the extent to which they inserted the federal government into the business of hydroelectric power generation. Prior to the New Deal, the Corps and the Bureau generally rejected a direct role in hydroelectric development. Dam projects in all the basins forced the agencies to reconsider their roles and forced the public to decide who they wanted delivering electricity to them. On both the Columbia and Missouri rivers, the agencies and the public resisted efforts by private corporations and independent regional authorities to take over the management of hydroelectric production and distribution. By the 1950s, the federal government had become one of the dominant hydroelectric power organizations in the country. |
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For some reason, the authors do not discuss the environmental impacts of large dams. Granted, their focus is politics and engineering. Yet, the profound environmental impacts caused by large dams is a current and controversial issue, and some discussion would have been useful. |
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Big Dams of the New Deal Era is well written and thoroughly researched. For the general public and for those interested in the history of water resource management, this book offers a marvelous introduction to the basics of dam design and construction during the early twentieth century. It also provides important insights into the political complexities of river basin development during that era and how that development defines the federal government's role in water resource management today. |
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| John O. Anfinson
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| National Park Service, St. Paul |
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