Streams
of Life
Water in the American West
ThinkQuest ‘99
Drew ((email link disabled))
Lee ((email link disabled))
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Project and Essay Ideas
Build a Dam
For more information see website
Comparison
Visit a local dam (or look at pictures of a
dam) and then visit a local wild river (or pictures). Make sure that the river is wild and it is not dammed. Compare the two. What are the differences between the two rivers? The similarities? Which do you prefer?
Which do you think other people prefer?
Ways the Depression Affected the Era of Great Dam
Building
In a way, the Depression started off the era of great dam
building. This is a good specific topic
for an essay or a research report.
New Melones Dam
When New Melones Dam was being built there were many
protests. On of the protests was by
someone (you’ll have to find out on your own) who chained himself to a rock in
the area that the reservoir was going to cover. A search of newspaper archives might bring some useful
information to light.
Topics for Papers and Essays
- San
Francisco Bay
- Tulare
Lake
- Mono
Lake
- Owens
Valley
- Colorado
River
- Columbia
River
- United
States Bureau of Reclamation
- Powell
- Pike
- Dominy,
Floyd
- Carter,
Jimmy
- Agribusiness
- Central
Valley
- San
Fernando Valley
- Imperial
Valley
- Colorado
River Compact
Places to Start Your Information Search
- Cadillac
Desert, by Marc Reisner, covers all of these topics. It’s a really good place to start.
- Your
local public library (of course)
- Encyclopedias
(Britannica is the best in my opinion)
- University
libraries (some, such as Stanford University, have a United States
Government Library where you can find Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps
of Engineers documents)
- Newspaper
archive (such as http://www.newslibrary.com)