California is obsessed with water. The need for it - to use and profit from it, to control and manipulate it - has shaped Californian history to a remarkable extent. Not surprisingly, the story of Californians and water is filled with intrigue and plot twists. The author tells that story from before the arrival of Europeans to the drought that ushered in the 1990s. He describes the waterscape in its natural state: a scene of incredibly varied terrain and watercourse and wildly fluctuating rainfall. The aboriginal Californians did little to alter this natural state. Aside from limited diversions of streams for irrigation or fish harvesting, they simply took what water they needed from places they found it. Early Spanish and Mexican immigrants, although they exploited water supplies on a large scale for the settlements, considered water primarily a community resource, not to be monopolized by anyone. It was the Americans, arriving in ever-increasing numbers after the Gold Rush, who transformed California into a collection of the nation's pre-eminent water seekers. By the later 20th century, a large, colourful cast of characters and communities had wheeled and dealed, built, diverted and conived its way to an entirely different California waterscape. The author demolishes the image of monolithic "water empire" managed by a homogeneous elite. There were always competing individuals and interests in every question of water use, and the mammoth projects - dams, aquaducts and irrigation districts - all came about through uneasy, constantly shifting political alliances. The story is still being written and it revolves, as it always has, around the consequences of human values for the waterscape.

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water, 1770s–1990s

Business & Money

Hundley Jr., Norris

Economics

University of California Press

The story of "the great thirst" is brought up to date in this revised edition of Norris Hundley's outstanding history, with additional photographs and incisive descriptions of the major water-policy issues facing California now: accelerating urbanization of farmland and open spaces, persisting despoliation of water supplies, and demands for equity in water allocation for an exploding population. People the world over confront these problems, and Hundley examines them with clarity and eloquence in the unruly laboratory of California. The obsession with water has shaped California to a remarkable extent, literally as well as politically and culturally. Hundley tells how aboriginal Americans and then early Spanish and Mexican immigrants contrived to use and share the available water and how American settlers, arriving in ever-increasing numbers after the Gold Rush, transformed California into the home of the nation's preeminent water seekers. The desire to use, profit from, manipulate, and control water drives the people and events in this fascinating narrative until, by the end of the twentieth century, a large, colorful cast of characters and communities has wheeled and dealed, built, diverted, and connived its way to an entirely different statewide waterscape.

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History, Revised Edition

Hundley, Norris

The story of "the great thirst" is brought up to date in this revised edition of Norris Hundley's outstanding history, with additional photographs and incisive descriptions of the major water-policy issues facing California now: accelerating urbanization of farmland and open spaces, persisting despoliation of water supplies, and demands for equity in water allocation for an exploding population. People the world over confront these problems, and Hundley examines them with clarity and eloquence in the unruly laboratory of California. The obsession with water has shaped California to a remarkable extent, literally as well as politically and culturally. Hundley tells how aboriginal Americans and then early Spanish and Mexican immigrants contrived to use and share the available water and how American settlers, arriving in ever-increasing numbers after the Gold Rush, transformed California into the home of the nation's preeminent water seekers. The desire to use, profit from, manipulate, and control water drives the people and events in this fascinating narrative until, by the end of the twentieth century, a large, colorful cast of characters and communities has wheeled and dealed, built, diverted, and connived its way to an entirely different statewide waterscape.

Back in print for the first time in over ten years, this classic account of the numerous struggles—national, state, and local—that have occurred over western American water rights since the late 1800s is thoroughly expanded and updated to trace the continuing battles raging over the West's most valuable, and contentious, resource.

Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West

History

Americas

Back in print for the first time in over ten years, this classic account of the numerous struggles―national, state, and local―that have occurred over western American water rights since the late 1800s is thoroughly expanded and updated to trace the continuing battles raging over the West's most valuable, and contentious, resource.

Minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending more than 12 billion gallons of water surging through California’s Santa Clara Valley and killing some 400 people, causing the greatest civil engineering disaster in twentieth-century American history. This extensively illustrated volume gives an account of how the St. Francis Dam came to be built, the reasons for its collapse, the terror and heartbreak brought by the flood, the efforts to restore the Santa Clara Valley, the political factors influencing investigations of the failure, and the effect of the disaster on dam safety regulation. Underlying all is a consideration of how the dam—and the disaster—were inextricably intertwined with the life and career of William Mulholland.

Heavy Ground: William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster (Volume 8) (Western Histories)

Jackson, Donald C.

Minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending more than twelve billion gallons of water surging through Southern California’s Santa Clara Valley, killing some four hundred people and causing the greatest civil engineering disaster in twentieth-century American history. In this carefully researched work, Norris Hundley jr. and Donald C. Jackson provide a riveting narrative exploring the history of the ill-fated dam and the person directly responsible for its flawed design—William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer of the Los Angeles municipal water system.\nEmploying copious illustrations and intensive research, Heavy Ground traces the interwoven roles of politics and engineering in explaining how the St. Francis Dam came to be built and the reasons for its collapse. Hundley and Jackson also detail the terror and heartbreak brought by the flood, legal claims against the City of Los Angeles, efforts to restore the Santa Clara Valley, political factors influencing investigations of the failure, and the effect of the disaster on congressional approval of the future Hoover Dam. Underlying it all is a consideration of how the dam—and the disaster—were inextricably intertwined with the life and career of William Mulholland. Ultimately, this thoughtful and nuanced account of the dam’s failure reveals how individual and bureaucratic conceit fed Los Angeles’s desire to control vital water supplies in the booming metropolis of Southern California.

Heavy Ground: William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster

University of Nevada Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hundley Jr., Norris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hundley Jr., Norris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hundley Jr., Norris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water, 1770s–1990s

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History, Revised Edition

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History, Revised Edition

Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West

Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West

Heavy Ground: William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster (Volume 8) (Western Histories)

Heavy Ground: William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster