Saving Grand Canyon

2020 Winner of the Southwest Book Awards 2020 Spur Awards Finalist Contemporary Nonfiction, Western Writers of America The Grand Canyon has been saved from dams three times in the last century. Unthinkable as it may seem today, many people promoted damming the Colorado River in the canyon during the early twentieth century as the most feasible solution to the water and power needs of the Pacific Southwest. These efforts reached their climax during the 1960s when the federal government tried to build two massive hydroelectric dams in the Grand Canyon. Although not located within the Grand Canyon National Park or Monument, they would have flooded lengthy, unprotected reaches of the canyon and along thirteen miles of the park boundary. Saving Grand Canyon tells the remarkable true story of the attempts to build dams in one of America’s most spectacular natural wonders. Based on twenty-five years of research, this fascinating ride through history chronicles a hundred years of Colorado River water development, demonstrates how the National Environmental Policy Act came to be, and challenges the myth that the Sierra Club saved the Grand Canyon. It also shows how the Sierra Club parlayed public perception as the canyon’s savior into the leadership of the modern environmental movement after the National Environmental Policy Act became law. The tale of the Sierra Club stopping the dams has become so entrenched—and so embellished—that many historians, popular writers, and filmmakers have ignored the documented historical record. This epic story puts the events from 1963–1968 into the broader context of Colorado River water development and debunks fifty years of Colorado River and Grand Canyon myths.

2020 Winner of the Southwest Book Awards 2020 Spur Awards Finalist Contemporary Nonfiction, Western Writers of America The Grand Canyon has been saved from dams three times in the last century. Unthinkable as it may seem today, many people promoted damming the Colorado River in the canyon during the early twentieth century as the most feasible solution to the water and power needs of the Pacific Southwest. These efforts reached their climax during the 1960s when the federal government tried to build two massive hydroelectric dams in the Grand Canyon. Although not located within the Grand Canyon National Park or Monument, they would have flooded lengthy, unprotected reaches of the canyon and along thirteen miles of the park boundary. Saving Grand Canyon tells the remarkable true story of the attempts to build dams in one of America’s most spectacular natural wonders. Based on twenty-five years of research, this fascinating ride through history chronicles a hundred years of Colorado River water development, demonstrates how the National Environmental Policy Act came to be, and challenges the myth that the Sierra Club saved the Grand Canyon. It also shows how the Sierra Club parlayed public perception as the canyon’s savior into the leadership of the modern environmental movement after the National Environmental Policy Act became law. The tale of the Sierra Club stopping the dams has become so entrenched—and so embellished—that many historians, popular writers, and filmmakers have ignored the documented historical record. This epic story puts the events from 1963–1968 into the broader context of Colorado River water development and debunks fifty years of Colorado River and Grand Canyon myths.

"Audretsch has given us insight into the scope of CCC work which otherwise might have lain dormant." He "has produced a meticulously referenced and detailed compilation of history of the seven CCC companies which served, 1933-1942, at the South Rim, North Rim, and Phantom Ranch to develop Grand Canyon National Park." ---Kathy Mays Smith Author, Gold Medal CCC Company 1538: A Documentary 2009 Recepient of the CCC Legacy President's Meritorious Service Award "Shaping the Park and Saving the Boys succeeds in large part because it strikes a good balance between what is old - the broader history of the CCC as a New Deal Program - and what is new - those tantalizing, heretofore unknown or forgotten details of day-to-day Civilian Conservation Corps work at Grand Canyon. Casual readers will enjoy the book both as a primer on the New Deal's most popular program, and as a snapshot of CCC life at Grand Canyon, while researchers will find themselves returning to its pages again and again for useful nuggets in the text as well as within the footnotes." --- Michael I. Smith, CCC Historian, Past Board Member CCC Legacy THE GREAT DEPRESSION was undoubtedly the nation's greatest crisis since the Civil War. Unemployment in the United States reached 25%. Many young men, without work experience or adequate schooling, were without hope. Then, on March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as president. In the sometimes-frenetic First Hundred Days of his administration, the president and Congress passed landmark legislation to return the nation to prosperity. One of those legislative milestones was the Civilian Conservation Corps program. The goals of the CCC program were twofold: revive the wasted young men and damaged natural resources. Over a nine-year-period, 1933-1942, nearly three million young men carried on conservation work in national parks, state parks, national forests, and other public lands. One of the greatest beneficiaries of the CCC was Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park. From 1933 to 1942, the park's infrastructure advanced as much as fifty years with the installation of trails, buildings, trail resthouses, roads, telephone lines, and many other improvements. Many of these enhancements benefit today's park users. Robert W. "Bob" Audretsch retired as a National Park Service ranger at Grand Canyon in 2009 after nearly 20 years of service. Since then, he has devoted himself full time to research and writing about the Civilian Conservations Corps. Bob holds degrees in history and library science from Wayne State University. He resides in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Finalist for the 2020 WILLA Literary Award, Creative Nonfiction Inspired by her first breathtaking trip in the Grand Canyon, Harriet Hunt Burgess dedicated her life to saving land for future generations. Beginning in the 1970s, she persevered through four decades—overcoming daunting obstacles and taking extraordinary risks—to conserve hundreds of thousands of acres of land in the American West. Without Burgess, iconic and irreplaceable landscapes like the Lake Tahoe region and the California coast would be much different today. As Harriet Burgess once explained, “The land we save is our legacy. It’s what we give to our children.” The Grand Canyon was the catalyst for Harriet’s conservation mission and the spark for Grand Canyon to Hearst Ranch. Author Elizabeth Austin has interwoven her own exhilarating and life-changing dory trip through the depths of the Grand Canyon with the compelling story of Harriet’s early life and five of her most significant conservation achievements as founder-president of the American Land Conservancy.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience--an end-to-end, rim-to-river exploration of the Grand Canyon. The authors have debuted a film-Into the Canyon-in February of 2019 that explores their hike through the canyon Award-winning photographer Pete McBride, along with best-selling authors Kevin Fedarko and Hampton Sides, takes us on a gripping adventure story told through stunning, never-before-seen photography and powerful essays. By hiking the entire 750 miles of Grand Canyon National Park--from the Colorado River to the canyon rim--McBride captures the majesty of as well as calling us to protect America's open-aired cathedral. The 2019 Public Lands Alliance Partnership Book of the Year, this is the most spectacular collection of Grand Canyon imagery ever seen, showing beauty from vantages where no other photographers have ever stood. It will also highlight the conservation challenges this iconic national park faces as visitation numbers grow and development pressures surrounding it mount. This photography will inspire and remind us why we protect such a cherished public space. Proceeds benefit the Grand Canyon Conservancy, and the accompanying documentary Into the Canyon has been shown at the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival and the Aspen Film Festival in February of 2019 as well as debuting on the National Geographic Channel--all in time for the national park's centennial.

The epic story of the fastest boat ride in history, on a hand-built dory named the "Emerald Mile," through the heart of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado river.

This ten-volume encyclopedia explores the social history of 20th-century America in rich, authoritative detail, decade by decade, through the eyes of its everyday citizens. Social History of the United States is a cornerstone reference that tells the story of 20th-century America, examining the interplay of policies, events, and everyday life in each decade of the 1900s with unmatched authority, clarity, and insight. Spanning ten volumes and featuring the work of some of the foremost social historians working today, Social History of the United States bridges the gap between 20th-century history as it played out on the grand stage and history as it affected—and was affected by—citizens at the grassroots level. Covering each decade in a separate volume, this exhaustive work draws on the most compelling scholarship to identify important themes and institutions, explore daily life and working conditions across the economic spectrum, and examine all aspects of the American experience from a citizen's-eye view. Casting the spotlight on those whom history often leaves in the dark, Social History of the United States is an essential addition to any library collection.