Text 20A4-I

Fresh water is a precious resource, and water from rivers, streams, and lakes has often been regarded as an economic commodity in the United States as in much of the world. Water is essential not only for human consumption and for a variety of domestic purposes, but for fire protection, military defense, transporting people and goods, irrigating farmlands, manufacturing, and generating power. The great rivers and their tributaries in the United States are the primary source of the water bounty and are major symbols of American regionalism, ultimately binding together disparate areas into a powerful whole.

American rivers were symbols of a burgeoning nation in the 18th and the 19th centuries. They inspired romantic renderings at the hands of artists, and in some cases, they were depicted as detailed landscape features with physical and even human qualities. But at times they were regarded as untapped or underutilized resources, raw material waiting to be harnessed, managed, and exploited for human benefit. In the neoclassical tradition of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the ‘proper’ channel for a river was not necessarily the one it has carved for itself: by means of canals and locks it can be guided by men along a straight and level line, thereby improving upon natural design. “Rivers, therefore, were most attractive when they yielded to humanity’s needs, whether as mechanisms of transportation or as sites for nascent towns.” For aesthetic and for practical reasons, wild rivers served little purpose, as historian Theodore Steinberg noted:

“As the 19th century progressed, a consensus emerged on the need to exploit and manipulate water for economic gain. A stunning cultural transformation was taking place, a shift in people’s very perception of nature. By the latter part of the 19th century, it was commonly assumed, even expected, that water should be tapped, controlled, and dominated in the name of progress — a view clearly reflected in the law”.

Steamboats, canals, and dams became the technologies of choice to accomplish those goals.

David Billington, Donald Jackson, and Martin Melosi. The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design and Construction.