The Yuma reclamation project : irrigation, Indian allotment, and settlement along the lower Colorado River / Robert A. Sauder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sauder, Robert A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reclamation of land--Arizona--Yuma Valley--History--20th century.

Reclamation of land.

Irrigation--Arizona--Yuma Valley--History--20th century.

Irrigation.

Indian allotments--Arizona--Yuma Valley--History--20th century.

Indian allotments.

Indians of North America--Arizona--Yuma Valley--History--20th century.

Indians of North America.

Land settlement--Arizona--Yuma Valley--History--20th century.

Land settlement.

Irrigation--Political aspects.

History.

Yuma Valley (Ariz.)--History--20th century.

Yuma Valley (Ariz.).

Colorado River Valley (Colo.-Mexico)--History--20th century.

Colorado River Valley (Colo.-Mexico).

Yuma Valley (Ariz.)--Environmental conditions.

Colorado River Valley (Colo.-Mexico)--Environmental conditions.

Irrigation--Political aspects--West (U.S.)--History--20th century.

Arizona--Yuma Valley.

Physical Description:

xix, 274 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Reno : University of Nevada Press, [2009]

Summary:

In the arid American West, settlement was generally contingent on the availability of water to irrigate crops and maintain livestock and human residents. Early irrigation projects were usually the cooperative efforts of pioneer farmers, but by the early twentieth century they largely reflected federal intentions to create new farms out of the western public domain. The Yuma Reclamation Project, authorized in 1904, was one of the earliest federal irrigation projects initiated in the western United States and the first authorized on the Colorado River. Its story exemplifies the range of difficulties associated with settling the nation's final frontier-the remaining irrigable lands in the arid West, including Indian lands-and illuminates some of the current issues and conflicts concerning the Colorado River. Author Robert Sauder's detailed, meticulously researched examination of the Yuma Project illustrates the complex multiplicity of problems and challenges associated with the federal government's attempt to facilitate homesteading in the arid West. He examines the history of settlement along the lower Colorado River from earliest times, including the farming of the local Quechan people and the impact of Spanish colonization, and he reviews the engineering problems that had to be resolved before an industrial irrigation scheme could be accomplished. The study also sheds light on myriad unanticipated environmental, economic, and social challenges that the government had to confront in bringing arid lands under irrigation, including the impact on the Native American population of the region. The Yuma Reclamation Project is an original and significant contribution to our understanding of federal reclamation endeavors in the West. It provides new and fascinating information about the history of the Yuma Valley and, as a case study of irrigation policy, it offers compelling insights into the history and consequences of water manipulation in the arid West.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780874177831

0874177839

OCLC:

319689901