The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy: America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism
The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy: America's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism
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赫奇赫奇之战：美国最具争议的大坝和现代环保主义的诞生
DOI：
10.2307/25443420
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发表时间：
2005
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
R. Righter
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文献类型：
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作者：
R. Righter
在1906年毁灭性的地震和火灾之后，旧金山弗朗西斯科迫切需要可靠的水和电供应。该市市长詹姆斯·约塞米蒂敦促在新建的约塞米蒂国家公园内修建图奥勒米河大坝，引发了强烈的抗议。在美国历史上，第一次出现了一个由约翰·缪尔（John Muir）和塞拉俱乐部（Sierra Club）领导的捍卫和保护自然的重要全国性反对派，他们试图保护他们认为所有美国人都有权体验自然美景的权利，特别是约塞米蒂地区壮丽的山脉。然而，山谷的捍卫者，虽然反对建立一个大坝和水库，并不打算让它保持荒野。相反，他们提倡一种不同的发展道路，酒店和基础设施的建设，以支持休闲旅游。他们利用文章、小册子和大幅广告，成功地激起了反对大坝的舆论。数以千计的个人信件开始涌入国会，各大报纸发表社论谴责大坝。这场斗争进入了国会，政客们就风景的价值和西部开发的成本展开了辩论。最终，1913年国会通过了《雷克法案》，授予弗朗西斯科淹没赫奇赫奇山谷的权利。10年后，奥肖内西大坝竣工，这是当时仅次于巴拿马运河的第二大土木工程项目。然而，关于分水岭的所有权和水电产生的利润的冲突仍在继续。直到今天，水库为旧金山弗朗西斯科提供了纯净可靠的饮用水源和重要的电力来源。虽然塞拉俱乐部输掉了这场战斗，但这场争论激起了公众代表国家公园采取行动。未来关于大坝和恢复的辩论清楚地表明了基层环保主义的新兴力量。在一个由政治家和商业领袖，工程师和工人，民族主义者和普通公民组成的叙述中，罗伯特·W·Righter讲述了二十世纪世纪第一场重大环境战役的史诗故事，这场战役一直回荡到今天。
In the wake of the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, the city of San Francisco desperately needed reliable supplies of water and electricity. Its mayor, James Phelan, pressed for the damming of the Tuolumne River in the newly created Yosemite National Park, setting off a firestorm of protest. For the first time in American history, a significant national opposition arose to defend and preserve nature, led by John Muir and the Sierra Club, who sought to protect what they believed was the right of all Americans to experience natural beauty, particularly the magnificent mountains of the Yosemite region. Yet the defenders of the valley, while opposing the creation of a dam and reservoir, did not intend for it to be maintained as wilderness. Instead they advocated a different kind of development-the building of roads, hotels, and an infrastructure to support recreational tourism. Using articles, pamphlets, and broadsides, they successfully whipped up public opinion against the dam. Letters from individuals began to pour into Congress by the thousands, and major newspapers published editorials condemning the dam. The fight went to the floor of Congress, where politicians debated the value of scenery and the costs of western development. Ultimately, passage of the passage of the Raker Act in 1913 by Congress granted San Francisco the right to flood the Hetch Hetchy Valley. A decade later the O'Shaughnessy Dam, the second largest civil engineering project of its day after the Panama Canal, was completed. Yet conflict continued over the ownership of the watershed and the profits derived from hydroelectrocity. To this day the reservoir provides San Francisco with a pure and reliable source of drinking water and an important source of power. Although the Sierra Club lost this battle, the controversy stirred the public into action on behalf of national parks. Future debates over dams and restoration clearly demonstrated the burgeoning strength of grassroots environmentalism. In a narrative peopled by politicians and business leaders, engineers and laborers, preservationists and ordinary citizens, Robert W. Righter tells the epic story of the first major environmental battle of the twentieth century, which reverberates to this day.