Brief History

Bureau of Reclamation

Glen Canyon Dam During Construction

Colorado River Storage Project, April 9, 1963
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 Bureau of Reclamation History Program

THE MOVEMENT FOR RECLAMATION

Less than 1 percent of water on Planet Earth is suitable for people to use, and that small

percentage must be shared with nature. The other 99+ percent is either too salty or brackish, or it is

unavailable in icecaps, glaciers, the atmosphere, and groundwater. Since the American West is

generally arid, water has always been a major concern of Native Americans and settlers who relied

upon the relatively meager supply for agriculture, settlement, and industry.

As settlers moved into the West, they had to watch the gush of spring and early summer

runoff flow away from their towns and crops. They knew they had lost water that would not be

available in the dry days of late summer when water shortages are common in the West. Settlers

responded by developing relatively simple and inexpensive water projects and creating complicated

water law systems in the West. Varied in details, western water law systems generally permanently

allocated the right to use water based on the concept of prior appropriation (Appropriation Doctrine)

(first in time, first in right) for beneficial use.

At first, water development projects were simple. Settlers diverted water from a stream or

river and used it nearby; but, in many areas, the demand for water outstripped the supply. As

demands for water increased, settlers wanted to store runoff, which they considered "wasted," for

later use. Storage projects would help maximize water use and make more water available for use

when needed. Unfortunately, private and state-sponsored irrigation ventures often failed because of

lack of money and/or lack of engineering skill. This resulted in mounting pressure for the Federal

Government to develop water resources.

In the jargon of the day, advocates called irrigation projects "reclamation projects.” The

concept was that irrigation would "reclaim" or “subjugate” western arid lands for human use. Many

pressures contributed to the discussions that influenced American public opinion, Congress, and the

executive branch to support of “reclamation.” Among them were:

• John Wesley Powell's explorations in the West and his published articles and reports;

• Private pressures through publications, irrigation organizations, and irrigation "congresses;"

• Nonpartisan political pressures in the West; and,

• Federal Government studies conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. 

Geological Survey (USGS).

Before 1900, the United States Congress had already invested heavily in America's

infrastructure. Roads, river navigation, harbors, canals, and railroads had all received major

subsidies. A tradition of government subsidization of settlement of the “West” was long-standing

when the Congress in 1866 passed “An Act Granting the Right-of-Way to Ditch and Canal Owners

over the Public Lands, and for other Purposes.” A sampling of subsequent congressional actions

promoting irrigation includes passage of the Desert Land Act in 1877 and the Carey Act in

1894–both intended to encourage irrigation projects in the West. In addition, beginning in 1888,

Congress appropriated money to the USGS to study irrigation potential in the West. Then, in 1890

and 1891, while that irrigation study continued, the Congress passed legislation reserving rights-ofway for reservoirs, canals, and ditches on lands then in the public domain. However, westerners
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Brief History of the Bureau of Reclamation 

wanted more; they wanted the Federal Government to invest directly in irrigation projects. The

"reclamation" movement demonstrated its strength when pro-irrigation planks found their way into

both Democratic and Republican platforms in 1900. In 1901, "reclamation" gained a powerful and

aggressive supporter in Theodore Roosevelt when he became President after the assassination of

William McKinley.

RECLAMATION BECOMES A FEDERAL PROGRAM

President Roosevelt supported the "reclamation" movement because of his personal

experience in the West, and because of his “conservation” ethic. At that time, “conservation” meant

a movement for sustained exploitation of natural resources through careful management for the good

of the many. Roosevelt also believed “reclamation” would permit "homemaking" and support the

agrarian Jeffersonian Ideal. Reclamation supporters believed the program would make homes for

Americans on family farms. Passed in both Houses of the Congress by wide margins, President

Roosevelt signed the Reclamation Act on June 17, 1902.

In July of 1902, Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock established the United States

Reclamation Service (USRS) within the USGS. There Charles D. Walcott, director of the USGS and

the first “director” of the USRS, placed the new activity in the USRS’s Division of Hydrography. 

Frederick Newell became the first “Chief Engineer” while continuing his responsibilities as chief of

the Division of Hydrography.

The Reclamation Act required that:

Nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way

interfere with the laws of any State or Territory relating to the control, appropriation, use,

or distribution of water . . . or any vested right acquired thereunder, and the Secretary of

the Interior . . . shall proceed in conformity with such laws . . .

That meant implementation of the act required that Reclamation comply with numerous and

often widely varying state and territorial legal codes. Development and ratification over the years of

numerous interstate compacts governing the sharing of stream flows between states, as well as

several international treaties governing the sharing of streams by the United States with Mexico or

Canada, made Reclamation’s efforts to comply with U.S., state, and territorial water law even more

complex.

In its early years, the Reclamation Service relied heavily on the USGS Division of

Hydrography’s previous studies of potential projects in each western state or territory. As a result,

between 1903 and 1906, about 25 projects were authorized throughout the West. These projects

were funded by the “Reclamation Fund”into which Congress ordered the deposit of revenues from

public land sales in the West. Later, other revenue sources were also directed into the “Reclamation

Fund.” Because Texas had no Federal lands, it was not one of the original “reclamation” states. It

became a reclamation state only in 1906.

PRINCIPLES OF THE RECLAMATION PROGRAM

During its early years Reclamation, at the direction of the various administrations and the
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Congress, developed several basic principles for the reclamation program. The details have changed

over the years, but the general principles remain:

• Federal monies on reclamation water development projects would be repaid by the water

users who benefitted;

• Projects remain Federal property even when the water users repay their share of Federal

construction costs;

• Reclamation generally contracts with the private sector for construction work;

• Reclamation employees administer contracts and inspect construction to assure that

contractors' work meets Government specifications;

• In the absence of acceptable bids on a contact, Reclamation, especially in its early years,

would complete a project by “force account”(that is, would use Reclamation employees to do

the construction work); and,

• Hydroelectric power revenues could be used to repay project construction charges.

EARLY HISTORY OF RECLAMATION

In 1907, the USRS separated from the USGS to become an independent bureau within the

Department of the Interior. The Congress and the Executive Branch, including USRS, were then just

beginning a learning period during which the economic and technical needs of Reclamation projects

became clearer. Initially, overly optimistic about the ability of water users to repay construction

costs, Congress established a 10-year repayment period. Subsequently, Congress increased the

repayment period to 20 years, then to 40 years, and ultimately to an indefinite period based on

“ability to pay.” Other issues that arose included: soil science problems related both to construction

and to the ability of soils to grow crops; economic viability of projects (repayment potential)

including climatic limitations on the value of crops; waterlogging of irrigated lands on projects,

resulting in the need for expensive drainage projects; and the need for practical farming experience

for people successfully to take up project farms. Many projects were far behind their repayment

schedules, and settlers were vocally discontented.

The learning period for Reclamation and the Congress resulted in substantial changes when

the USRS was renamed the Bureau of Reclamation in 1923. Then, in 1924, the Fact Finder’s Act

began major adjustments to the basic Reclamation program. Those adjustments were suggested by

the Fact Finder’s Report which resulted from an in-depth study of the economic problems and settler

unrest on Reclamation’s 20-plus projects. Elwood Mead, one of the members of the Fact Finder’s

Commission, was appointed Commissioner of Reclamation in 1924 as the reshaping of Reclamation

continued. A signal of the changes came in 1928, for instance, when the Congress authorized the

Boulder Canyon Project (Hoover Dam), and, for the first time, large appropriations began to flow to

Reclamation from the general funds of the United States instead of from the Reclamation Fund or

loans to the Fund.

In 1928, the Boulder Canyon Act ratified the Colorado River Compact and authorized

construction of Hoover Dam and the All-American Canal–key elements in implementation of the

Compact. Subsequently, during the Great Depression, Congress authorized almost 40 projects for the

dual purposes of promoting infrastructure development and providing public works jobs. Among

these projects were the beginnings of the Central Valley Project in California, the Colorado-Big
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Brief History of the Bureau of Reclamation 

Thompson Project in Colorado, and the Columbia Basin Project in Washington.

Ultimately, of Reclamation’s more than 180 projects, about 70 were authorized before World

War II. The remainder were authorized during and after World War II in small and major

authorizations, such as the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program (1944), the Colorado River Storage

Project (1956), and the Third Powerplant at Grand Coulee Dam (1966). Reclamation’s last really big

project construction authorization occurred in 1968 when Congress approved the Colorado River

Basin Project Act which included, among others, the Central Arizona Project, the Dolores Project,

the Animas-La Plata Project, and parts of the Central Utah Project.

LABORATORIES

During construction, one problem confronted by Reclamation was laboratory testing of

special problems. Reclamation conducted model testing at various locations such as Montrose and

Estes Park, Colorado, Colorado State University, and various locations in downtown Denver. In

1946 Reclamation located its primary laboratory at the Denver Federal Center. A sampling of the

work of these research laboratories included model and design studies for hydraulic structures,

concrete technology, electrical problems, construction design innovations, groundwater, weed control

in canals and reservoirs, various environmental issues, water quality, ecology, drainage, control of

evaporation and other water losses, and other technical subjects.

WATER

Reclamation’s mission statement reads: “The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to

manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically

sound manner in the interest of the American public.” Under this mission statement, Reclamation’s

number one priority is always to deliver water, but that priority is often affected by the available

water supply and the constraints imposed by various laws, regulations, and court rulings. During an

average water year, more than 180 Reclamation projects deliver agricultural water that irrigates about

10,000,000 acres of land in the arid West–about one-third of the irrigated acreage in the West. 

Reclamation also delivers water used by about one third of the people in the West.

HYDROELECTRIC GENERATION

The second major product delivered to the American public by Reclamation is

hydroelectricity. Although the earliest hydroelectric plants on Reclamation projects went into

operation in 1908 and 1909, it was only during the 1930s that generation of hydroelectric power

became a principal benefit of Reclamation projects. Reclamation built the large hydroelectric

powerplants at Hoover, Grand Coulee, and Shasta dams only after a hard public debate about

whether the Federal Government should become involved in public power production or whether

private power production should be the rule. It was the Hoover Dam precedent which ultimately

allowed Reclamation to become a major hydroelectric producer. Once the issues received public

airing during discussions on approval of Hoover Dam, hydroelectric projects became a feature of

many additional Reclamation dams. Hydroelectric revenues have subsequently proven an important

source for funding repayment of Reclamation project costs. While the water available in a system
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determines how much power it is possible to generate, in 1993, for example, Reclamation had 56

powerplants online and generated 34.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. In 1999, revenues from

Grand Coulee hydroelectric generation equaled about two-thirds of Reclamation’s entire appropriated

budget.

RECLAMATION AND INTERSTATE WATERS

Commissioners representing Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and

Wyoming met in Santa Fe in 1922, with Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover moderating, to

address allocation of the water of the Colorado River. The commissioners developed and signed the

Colorado River Compact (Compact) to divide and allocate the waters of the Colorado River. The

Compact then had to be ratified by each state legislature before going to the Congress for ratification

by the United States. For Reclamation, this is the most complex and difficult of the interstate

compacts, and it was ratified by the Congress in 1928 without the concurrence of Arizona. California

and Arizona argued for years over how to calculate Arizona’s share of the waters of the lower

Colorado River. The Arizona legislature ratified the Compact only in 1944 and then later sued

California over how to interpret the Compact. The lawsuit lasted until 1964. Concern over the

Compact has only heightened over the years as it became increasingly apparent that there isn’t

consistently as much water in the Colorado River system as was presumed by the signers and

ratifiers. In addition, the Compact required the Upper and Lower basins to share the burden of

delivering 1.5 million acre-feet of water promised to Mexico in a later 1944 treaty. Reclamation is

deeply involved in these complicated Colorado River issues because Reclamation reservoirs largely

store and regulate the flow of the Colorado River. Reclamation dams in the Upper Colorado River

Basin deliver water to Glen Canyon Dam, which then stores the water in Lake Powell. From Lake

Powell, the water is delivered in accordance with the terms of the Colorado River Compact and

operating agreements among the Colorado River Basin states, to the Lower Colorado River Basin

states. Once delivered to the Lower Colorado River Basin the water is held until needed in Lake

Mead behind Hoover Dam.

All over the West, Reclamation is affected and guided by other compacts under the terms of

which states share the waters of interstate streams.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Reclamation’s traditional area of operation is the seventeen, arid, states of the American

West. Reclamation has, however, at times been assigned work outside that traditional operational

area. For instance, during the late 1920s, Reclamation studied “planned group settlement” in the

South in cut over areas and swamps. This project was supposed to create new farms, but it ultimately

died as impacts of the Depression on the farm economy were recognized. Other projects in the

eastern United States were also undertaken, and Reclamation’s photograph collection includes

hundreds of photographs from areas outside the arid West. Reclamation was also involved in the

technical issues and design of many of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s dams.

Beginning in the 1930s Reclamation studied possible projects in Hawaii, and in 1954 the

Congress authorized investigations on Oahu, Hawaii, and Molokai among the Hawaiian Islands. In
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Brief History of the Bureau of Reclamation 

the 1940s and 1950s Reclamation studied water development projects in Alaska and ultimately built

the Eklutna Project outside Anchorage. The Department of the Interior transferred the Eklutna

Project out of Reclamation in 1967.

Since 2000, Reclamation has supervised additional studies in Hawaii, and Commissioner Bob

Johnson was tasked to work with the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida over Atlanta’s water

supply, the flows of the Chattahoochee River, and affected endangered species.

NATIVE AMERICANS AND RECLAMATION

In the early years of its history, Reclamation was actively involved with the Indian Service, in

irrigation projects for Indian tribes including the San Carlos, Blackfeet, and Yuma. However, the

majority of Reclamation project water went to non-Indians. In the early years, Reclamation’s

mission to develop water supplies appeared to carry the potential for injuring the rights of tribes. If

non-Indians began using Reclamation-provided water, it was feared they would establish a senior

right under the Appropriation Doctrine, leaving little or no water for the tribes when they were ready

to develop their reservation lands. In the landmark 1908 decision, Winters v. United States, the

Supreme Court attempted to reconcile this potential conflict and laid out the principles that came to

be known as the “Winters Doctrine.” This case concerned the Milk River in Montana and delayed

development of Reclamation’s Milk River Project for several years. The Winters Doctrine

established the principle of reserved rights. Indian tribes with reservations have reserved water rights

in sufficient quantities to fulfill the purposes for which the reservation was established, and the date

of the reserved right is the date of the treaty or Executive Order setting aside the reservation. The

dates of reserved rights generally are very early in relation to non-Indian settlement and, thus,

establish very high priority for Indian water rights. Further, unlike appropriated water rights, a

reserved water right does not have to have been used to remain in effect–regardless of how many

years have passed. A congressionally authorized and funded Reclamation project could not take

precedence over senior or reserved water rights. However, for various reasons, some tribes have

encountered difficulties in attempting to develop their senior reserved water rights.

In recent years Reclamation has designed projects that include provisions for delivering water

to tribes. Among notable examples are the Central Arizona Project, the Dolores Project, and the

Animas-La Plata Project, as well as rural water distribution systems such as the Mni Wiconi and

Mid-Dakota in the Dakotas which provide rural culinary water supply in a large area that includes

several reservations. Reclamation staff members also often serve on negotiating teams or provide

technical expertise to negotiating teams working for the Secretary of the Interior to develop water

solutions for Native Americans.

RECLAMATION PROJECTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Conservation and environmental issues are not as new to Reclamation as many think. 

However, the nature of conservation and environmental issues and how they have affected

Reclamation has changed considerably. For instance, very early in Reclamation’s history between

1908 and 1912, for instance, there was a public outcry about conservation of Lake Tahoe’s natural

lake level and scenic beauty. Reclamation had proposed to build a dam both to increase storage
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capacity and to occasionally lower the existing lake level to benefit the Newlands Project. Due to

public opposition that project was not built. In a distinctly different direction, Reclamation’s Belle

Fourche Project in South Dakota was specifically designed to avoid mixing hazardous industrial

mining wastes in Whitewood Creek with canal irrigation water.

Subsequently, proposals for Reclamation projects raised public consciousness about major

dams and their impacts on various resources. By the mid-1930s, Reclamation was looking at fishery

issues as it addressed construction of Grand Coulee and other dams. On another front, in the mid- to

late-1930s, Coloradoans and their congressional representatives pushed Reclamation to build the

Colorado-Big Thompson Project which would require construction on the fringe of and under Rocky

Mountain National Park. The project was ultimately built because Rocky Mountain National Park

was created with a provision in the enabling law specifically authorizing a water development project

infringing on the national park. In the 1950s, the controversy over construction of Echo Park Dam in

Dinosaur National Monument heightened public awareness of issues surrounding construction of a

dam in a National Park Service-managed area. Ultimately, public opinion forced cancellation of

plans for Echo Park Dam and resulted in construction of an alternative, Glen Canyon Dam. By the

1960s, Marble Canyon and Bridge Canyon dams were proposed, but Secretary of the Interior Stewart

Udall canceled those dams because of public pressure to preserve parts of the Grand Canyon. 

Ironically, opposition was based at least partly on the public and environmentalists’ belief that

nuclear power generation was a viable alternative to meet growing electric power needs in the West.

During the 1960s, Reclamation’s work began to change substantially as public awareness

changed. Americans became increasingly concerned and proprietary about the use and protection of

natural resources. This change resulted, in part, from improved communication and, in part, from

improved science resulting in clearer understanding of the complex interactions of the communities

of nature with western water issues. Americans were beginning to better understand issues about the

West and to consider the West “mine” or “ours”–even though they lived elsewhere.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, helped build public support for more

environmentally sensitive project development. While even popular music expressed growing

environmental concerns, increased public consciousness and support manifested itself in political

action when the Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, amendments to the Fish and Wildlife

Coordination Act in 1965, the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966, the Wild and Scenic

Rivers Act of 1968, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Endangered Species

Act in 1973, and many other laws. Accompanying and buttressing these Federal laws were

presidential executive orders; Federal regulations; and state and local laws, orders, and regulations.

The specific effects of Reclamation projects were also better understood in this period. Dam

construction affected fish populations and often altered the flow characteristics and ecology of rivers

and streams. Land “reclamation” and construction projects affected plant, animal, fish, and bird

populations through displacement or destruction of habitat. In addition, land development for

agriculture or subdivisions often destroyed historic or archeological resources. Destruction of nonarable wetlands was a special environmental problem. Hydroelectric production, often considered

“pollution-free,” was recognized as causing environmental effects by altering water temperatures,

flow regimes, and natural fluctuation patterns thus affecting native fish populations’ environment,
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Brief History of the Bureau of Reclamation 

migration, and spawning. Environmental issues that conflicted with traditional bureau missions were

not unique to Reclamation. Americans identified and looked toward resolution of many

environmental effects caused by construction and natural resources exploitation programs in both the

government and private sectors.

Because of the new laws and regulations and increasing public/political pressure,

Reclamation hired new staff to deal with environmental and historic preservation issues. 

Reclamation now invests a great deal of time and money in issues such as: endangered species; instream flows; preservation and enhancement of quality freshwater fisheries below dams; preservation

of wetlands; conservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat; dealing with Endangered

Species Act issues; controlling water salinity and sources of pollution; ground water contamination;

and the recovery of salmon populations particularly on the Trinity/Klamath, Columbia/Snake, and

San Joaquin/Sacramento River systems. Reclamation implemented “reoperation” (revision of the

way hydroelectric power generation is scheduled and carried out) of hydroelectric facilities at Glen

Canyon Dam on the Colorado River to better achieve environmental objectives. Reclamation has

made costly modifications to dams such as Shasta and Flaming Gorge to achieve environmental

goals. There is also a major effort underway among Federal and state agencies and other interest

groups to improve environmental and water quality in the delta at the mouth of the Central Valley of

California where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers flow into San Francisco Bay.

Ironically, Reclamation’s attempts, in partnership with the Fish and Wildlife Service, to use

drainage water to support environmental objectives at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in the

Central Valley of California resulted in unexpected and difficult environmental problems. The

drainage water mobilized and concentrated selenium in the water of the refuge which caused death

and deformity among affected animal populations. The selenium issue was a problem, now resolved,

that neither Reclamation nor the Fish and Wildlife Service foresaw.

RECREATION

Reclamation reservoirs provide flatwater recreation opportunities all over the West. While

Westerners quickly identified and began to enjoy recreation opportunities on and in the water

captured behind Reclamation dams, recreation was not recognized legally as a project use until 1937. 

Reclamation transferred Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam, to the National Park Service for recreation

management in 1936 and initiated the still-existing pattern of seeking other agencies to manage

recreation at Reclamation facilities. That pattern means that today Reclamation directly manages

only about one-sixth of the recreation areas on its projects. From the 1930s to the early 1960s,

recreation for specific projects was authorized, however, in the mid-1960s, the Congress began to

give Reclamation more generalized authorities for funding recreation on all projects. Fishing,

hunting, boating, picnicking, swimming, and other recreational opportunities have developed over

the years. In addition to flatwater recreation opportunities, many stretches of “blue ribbon” fishing

developed all over the West in favorable conditions below Reclamation dams.

In 2010, Reclamation had 289 recreation areas located on about 6.5 million acres of land,

most of which are open for public outdoor recreation. In recent years, Reclamation has “reoperated”

some facilities seeking to improve fishing and white water recreational opportunities. Three
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recreation areas managed by the National Park Service–Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam,

Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam, and Lake Powell behind Glen Canyon Dam, as well as the U.S.

Forest Service’s Lake Shasta behind Shasta Dam–are among the most prominent National Recreation

Areas on Reclamation projects. Other managing partners for recreation areas include other Federal

agencies, state agencies, counties, and cities. These partnerships result in millions of recreation days

of use on Reclamation projects annually and raise numerous issues in terms of interagency

coordination, water quality, public safety, public access, cost-sharing, law enforcement, etc. As

water is converted from rural to urban uses in the West, and urban population increases, recreation

visits to Reclamation projects are expected to continue to increase.

FLOOD CONTROL/DROUGHT BENEFITS

Flood control is one of the benefits provided on many Reclamation projects. Reclamation

operates its facilities to prevent millions of dollars of flood damage. Between 1950 and 1992,

Reclamation projects prevented in excess of $8.3 billion in flood damage.

During periods of drought, Reclamation becomes involved in drought management activities. 

Reclamation projects have carryover storage which often can provide water during a few consecutive

years of drought. In some areas, however, growing demand stresses the water supply even in normal

water years. Water shortages, often drought-influenced, will probably increase in the West, thus

forcing more effective and efficient use of water supplies. Reclamation drought activities are quite

varied, e.g., assisting water users with planning for use and allocation of limited water supplies,

participating in cooperative contingency planning for future droughts, water conservation, loans,

cooperation in water banking, deepening wells, and water purchases are among the many possible

activities.

INTERNATIONAL AND OTHER ASSISTANCE

International assistance is another aspect of Reclamation’s program. Reclamation employees

have worked in more than 80 countries providing technical assistance for a wide range of water

resources issues, and Reclamation has welcomed more than 10,000 visitors from nearly every

country in the world to its facilities. Reclamation routinely provides training programs for foreign

visitors. This activity is conducted in accordance with United States policy and in cooperation with

the U.S. State Department. Reclamation also provides technical water assistance to various public

and private entities within the United States through a variety of programs.

RECLAMATION TODAY

Reclamation currently has more than 180 projects in the seventeen western states which are

managed out of over twenty area offices. The area offices are within five regions which are

organized around western watersheds. Many projects are actually operated and maintained by the

water users. Reclamation’s projects provide agricultural, municipal, and industrial water to about

one-third of the population of the West. Farmers on Reclamation projects produce a significant

percentage of the value of all crops in the United States, including about 60 percent of vegetables and

25 percent of the fruit and nut crops. Because of continuing initiatives begun under the presidency of
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Brief History of the Bureau of Reclamation 

Bill Clinton, Reclamation’s staffing level has trended downward in recent years. In 2010

Reclamation staff was about 29 percent smaller than in 1993. As Reclamation enters into additional

partnerships with the beneficiaries of the water and electricity produced on its projects and shifts

increasingly to water management activities, Reclamation’s staffing levels are expected to shrink

even further in the Twenty-First Century.

SELECTED READINGS

[A larger list of suggested readings may be found in another Bureau of Reclamation leaflet:

“Readings in the History of the Bureau of Reclamation” or at

http://www.usbr.gov/history/selectedbibliography.pdf]

August, Jack L., Jr. Vision in the Desert: Carl Hayden and Hydropolitics in the American Southwest. 

Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1999.

Baxter, John O. Dividing New Mexico’s Waters, 1700-1912. Albuquerque: University of New

Mexico Press, 1997.

Billington, David P., with Donald C. Jackson and Martin V. Melosi. The History of Large Federal

Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction. Denver, Colorado: Bureau of Reclamation,

2005. Available from the Government Printing Office.

Hundley, Norris, Jr. Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in

the American West. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975.

Kollgaard, Eric B. and Wallace L. Chadwick. Development of Dam Engineering in the United

States. New York: Pergamon Press, 1988.

Linenberger, Toni Rae. Dams, Dynamos, and Development: The Bureau of Reclamation’s Power

Program and Electrification of the West. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,

2002.

Pisani, Donald J. From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California and

the West, 1850-1931. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1984.

Pitzer, Paul C. Grand Coulee: Harnessing a Dream. Pullman: Washington State University Press,

1994.

Reisner, Marc P. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. New York:

Viking, 1986.

Rowley, William D.. The Bureau of Reclamation: Origins and Growth to 1945. Volume 1. Denver,

Colorado: Bureau of Reclamation, 2006. Available from the Government Printing Office.

Smith, Karen L. The Magnificent Experiment: Building the Salt River Reclamation Project, 1890-
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1917. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1986.

Stevens, Joseph E. Hoover Dam: An American Adventure. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,

1988.

Terrell, John Upton. War for the Colorado River: The California-Arizona Controversy. Volume

One. Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1965.

Terrell, John Upton. War for the Colorado River: Above Lee’s Ferry–The Upper Basin. Volume

Two. Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1965.

Tyler, Daniel. The Last Water Hole in the West: The Colorado-Big Thompson Project and the

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1992.

Tyler, Daniel. Silver Fox of the Rockies: Delphus E. Carpenter and Western Water Compacts. 

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.

United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. The Bureau of Reclamation:

History Essays from the Centennial Symposium, edited by Brit Allan Storey, 2 volumes. 

Denver: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008.

Wilkinson, Charles F. Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West. 

Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1992.

Worster, Donald. Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West. New

York: Pantheon Books, 1985.

For additional information, contact:

Brit Allan Storey, Ph.D., Senior Historian

Telephone: (303) 445-2918 or e-mail: bstorey@usbr.gov

Mailing address:

History Program, (84-53000)

Bureau of Reclamation

P.O. Box 25007

Lakewood, Colorado 80225-0007

Office location:

14th Floor, Building 67, Denver Federal

Center

Lakewood, Colorado

Learn more about Reclamation’s history and history program at:

http://www.usbr.gov/history

Learn more about Reclamation’s current programs and activities at:

http://www.usbr.gov Revised January 2011