Title: The wired Northwest : the history of electric power, 1870s-1970s /
Authors: Hirt, Paul W., 1954-
Year: 2012
Subjects: Electric power Northwest, Pacific History; Electric power Northwest, Pacific History; Electric power systems Northwest, Pacific History.; Electric power distribution Northwest, Pacific History.; Energy policy Northwest, Pacific History.; Electric power Environmental aspects Northwest, Pacific History.; Elektrizitätswirtschaft.; Elektrizitätsversorgung.; Northwest, Pacific Environmental conditions.; Northwest, Pacific Economic conditions; Northwest, Pacific Economic conditions; USA Nordweststaaten
Abstract: The Pacific Northwest holds an abundance of resources for energy production, from hydroelectric power to coal, nuclear power, wind turbines, and even solar panels. But hydropower is king. Dams on the Columbia, Snake, Fraser, Kootenay, and dozens of other rivers provided the foundation for an expanding, regionally integrated power system in the U.S. Northwest and British Columbia. A broad historical synthesis chronicling the region's first century of electrification, Paul Hirt's new study reveals how the region's citizens struggled to build a power system that was technologically efficient, financially profitable, and socially and environmentally responsible. Hirt shows that every energy source comes with its share of costs and benefits. Because Northwest energy development meant river development, the electric power industry collided with the salmon fishing industry and the treaty rights of Northwest indigenous peoples from the 1890s to the present. Because U.S.^
Contents: The Brilliant Spectacle -- Power Incorporated -- Becoming Modern -- Profit and Welfare -- "Let Every Inch of Water Do Its Duty" -- War-Accelerated Transitions -- Roaring Twenties -- The Bubble Bursts, 1929-1932 -- A New Deal for the Northwest, 1933-1938 -- Integrating the U.S. Northwest Power System, 1937-1941 -- War-Accelerated Transitions II -- "Endless Limitless Development" : A Telescoped View of the Postwar Era.