Summer is a time to catch up on reading that has been put off, and with the interest in the high water on the Missouri River I have some reading recommendations for people that are interested in the current flooding of the Missouri River. These books are long and comprehensive, but of a high academic quality.
Through my studying of the Pick-Sloan Plan two books I would recommend if you want a comprehensive history on the dams and the Corps are The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, and Big Dam Era. Chapter 6 (p235-292) in Large Federal dams covers the Missouri River the building of the structures and the Pick-Sloan Plan. Big Dam Era covers the Missouri River from the implementation of the Pick-Sloan Plan to the 1990s. This book is about 200 pages. Granted both are written by the Corps, but they good comprehensive background histories. Luckily, they are now online in PDF format and the full text can be accessed on-line which is better than writing the Corps for a copy or trying to find them in a library.
If political history is more of your thing then I would suggest; Dammed Indians Revisited by Michael Lawson, Unruly River by Robert Kelly Schneiders, Cadillac Desert by Mark Reisner(Chapter 6 p170-213), and River of Promise River of Peril by John Thorson. It is alot of reading, but they are interesting books to give a perpective of the Corps, Janklow, South Dakota, and politics surrounding the dams. Finally, if your interested in the legislation of the Pick-Sloan Plan I would recommend The Missouri Basin's Pick-Sloan Plan A Case Study in Congressional Policy Determination by Marian E Ridgeway. In my opinion the best book that describes the legislative process of the Pick-Sloan Plan without reading thousands of pages of Congressional documents.
Summer reading List
The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, and Big Dam Era.
Big Dam Era
Dammed Indians Revisited
Unruly River
Cadillac Desert
River of Promise River of Peril
The Missouri Basin's Pick-Sloan Plan A Case Study in Congressional Policy Determination
I know these are huge books and more time is required then the average reader might want to put in, but these are the best. So these are my recommendations for summer reading. Please leave comments on what you think or other good books or articles on the topic. If you read or had read any of these works feel free to comment on them.
Thanks, TC. In your opinion, knowing what you know now, who is in the best position to put the Corps off releasing water earlier this year?
ReplyDeleteWell Larry, Corps control their own destiny set by the guide lines given to them by Congress. Meaning that if the Corps wanted to change the Master Manual quickly and increase flow they would have needed an act of Congress to get that done. The problem with that is two things; one the excessive high water and flow from the Missouri and trying to get down stream Representatives an Senators to go along with a possible flooding of their states. For example Corps when they release water from the dams they have to take in account how that will affect the whole system from Yankton to New Orleans. There are no dams between this area, and if they let water out they need to be sure that it will not cause flooding in the lower areas. That leads to the second point. There are more representatives in the House on the lower end of the basin than on the Northern end of the basin. This affected the legislation in 1944 and it affects policy now. The likelyhood that Congress would have allowed early releases last fall or early spring would not have gone through. A once and a life time event happens, there is very little an organization can do.
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