Daniel Hulbert- Super blog 3- CVP

 

Daniel Hulbert



Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. “Central Valley Reclamation Project, Calif. Pier 11, Spillway Section of the Keswick Dam, as Seen from a Point Downstream.” Image. Accessed March 2, 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017826259/.

 

            This visual source from the Keswick Dam, located on the Sacramento river, near Redding California, is of a spillway. Spillways are the way in which water is released from the reservoirs and given to the people. A more minor detail of this photograph is the powerlines that are in the top right, these powerlines are drawing power from the hydroelectric power plant. This power was why PG&E supported state control because the Federal governments involvement in power scared PG&E. This source is both visually appealing and allows me to show the actual water that the political conflicts were fought over. This source also shows the scale of this project and allows the reader to begin to gasp the expense of the project.



Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. “Kennett Division. Shasta Dam. Rows 27 to 29 on Downstream Face as Seen from Left Abutment.” Image. Accessed March 2, 2021. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017826255/..

 

            Similarly, this picture taken during the construction of the Shasta Dam, the largest Dam in the CVP, shows the scale of this project. The image shows the massive concrete slabs used to construct the dam and the large amount of engineering that went in to the construction of the project.  This massive construction project, funded by the Federal Government, helps explain why they wanted to retain control of the Project. The federal government, more specifically the Bureau of Reclamation, did not want to construct these monstrously large dams just for the state to exploit those the water was going to.



“California Average Annual Precipitation Climate Map, with Color Coded Yearly Rainfall Amounts.” Accessed February 23, 2021. https://www.eldoradoweather.com/californiaannualprecip.html.

 

            This climate map of California colorfully illustrates average rainfall amounts across the state from 1900-1960. This map shows the massive disparity in rainfall between northern and southern California, where in Northern California they can see 80+ inches of rain, while in parts of Southern California they can see less than 5 inches of Rain. The entire idea of the project was the need to bring water south in the central valley, specifically to the regions near Fresno and Bakersfield where rain is almost celebrated as a holiday. This map allows us to understand why the south supported the project.

Comments

  1. Andrew DavidsonMarch 5, 2021 at 4:05 PM

    Hallo Daniel. The two first images seem to very helpful for showing the different water projects that occurred during the project. Your last image also helps explain to a reader who is unfamiliar with this topic the difference between rain rates in southern and northern California. I like how you also explained not only what these images are but how they fit into your argument for your final paper. The last image paired up with other sources would be a great point in your project to explain why water was needed in regions in need of water. One suggestion I have for your project is to continue looking for more maps of where the water from the project was sent to. Other than that your project seems to be going well and good luck on your presentation and project.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yvonne Chamberlain-Marquez (Stringfellow Acid Pits)

Image
Stringfellow Acid Pits For those who live in the Inland Empire, the sight of a giant metal woolly mammoth looming over highway 60 is familiar. Dinosaurs and other extinct creatures adorn the hillside, serving as a teaching tool for school children. Many probably have memories from spent time at the Jurupa Cultural Center as kids, learning about Earth Science from founder, Ruth Kirkby. What is seemingly absent from cultural memory is the toxic waste that sits less than a mile away in the Stringfellow Acid Pits. The Acid Pits were once home to over 32 million gallons of toxic chemicals, dumped by numerous corporations and the United States military. The chemicals penetrated through the ground and into the water supply of thousands of residents. During multiple heavy rain events, the pits overflowed sending the waste into neighborhoods and the local elementary school. Residents recalled their children playing in the foaming waste, making beards and throwing snowballs.  Though now a...
Read more

Introduction - David Biggs

Image
 Introduction - David Biggs Welcome to HIST 197 - Environmental Problems in California. I'm David Biggs, your tour guide and professor. I have been a prof at UCR since 2004, and my research interests are environmental history with a special focus on Vietnam. I've written some articles and two books, Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta and Footprints of War: Militarized Landscapes in Vietnam . If interested, you can find out more about my work at http://davidbiggs.net . Besides my main research, I am also involved in  local environmental policy issues. I have served as an expert witness on federal environmental cleanup cases involving a military herbicide called Agent Orange that is linked to all sorts of illnesses, and I wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times about chemical warfare in Vietnam. At UCR in the past, I've taught a Public Policy course focusing on local environmental history case studies, and that is where the research materials and case st...
Read more

Antonios Theodosis - Radium Craze in Los Angeles During the Early Twentieth Century

Image
  Radium Craze in Los Angeles during the Early Twentieth Century  In the early twentieth century, a new buzz was quickly growing around Los Angeles with the discovery of an element that would glow in the dark and could be found naturally in the environment. The element in question was none other than radium, the eighty-eighth element in the periodic table was something fresh, hot, and exciting in all aspects of the early 1900s. As a result of this fresh excitement, the element could be found in numerous consumer products, medicinal practices, and in areas of congregation around the city of Los Angeles. Its exciting glow and mystery that surrounded it intrigued scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and the general public in what can only be deemed as an era of the “radium craze.” This infatuation and mystery surrounding this radioactive element was not a good thing, however, because as noted, it was infused in everyday consumer products, in medicinal products, and procedures wh...
Read more