Glen Canyon Dammed: Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country [Hardcover]

Jared Farmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1999

Growth is a major issue in the contemporary American West, especially as more and more towns and states turn to tourism to spark their economies. But growth has a flip side—loss—about which we seldom think until something is irrevocably gone. Where once was Glen Canyon, with its maze of side-canyons leading to the Colorado River, now is Lake Powell, second largest reservoir in America, attracting some three million visitors a year. Many who come here think they have found paradise, and for good reason: it's beautiful. However, the loss of Glen Canyon was monumental—to many, a notorious event that remains unresolved. Focusing on the saddening, maddening example of Glen Canyon, Jared Farmer traces the history of exploration and development in the Four Corners region, discusses the role of tourism in changing the face of the West, and shows how the "invention" of Lake Powell has served multiple needs. He also seeks to identify the point at which change becomes loss: How do people deal with losing places they love? How are we to remember or restore lost places? By presenting Glen Canyon as a historical case study in exploitation, Farmer offers a cautionary tale for the future of this spectacular region. In assessing the necessity and impact of tourism, he questions whether merely visiting such places is really good for people's relationships with each other and with the land, suggesting a new ethic whereby westerners learn to value what remains of their environment. Glen Canyon Dammed was written so that the canyon country's perennial visitors might better understand the history of the region, its legacy of change, and their complicity in both. A sobering book that recalls lost beauty, it also speaks eloquently for the beauty that may still be saved.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A lifelong resident of Utah, Farmer has been fascinated by Lake Powell and Glen Canyon since high school. Formed by the damming of Glen Canyon, a project completed in 1963, Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the United States and attracts three million visitors annually. Often cited as a turning point in the environmental movement, the loss of Glen Canyon was a rallying cry that spawned Earth First! and nationalized and strengthened the Sierra Club. Farmer covers the natural history of the region before the dam but focuses on the growth of "industrialized tourism" fueled by the creation of paved roads and easy access to an area that had previously been one of the most remote and wild in the country. He also looks realistically at efforts to remove the dam and includes a useful outline history of Glen Canyon before the dam as well as a good subject bibliography. Recommended for local, regional, and academic natural history collections, this is a good companion to Russell Martin's A Story That Stands Like a Dam (LJ 10/15/98). [See also Katie Lee's All My Rivers Are Gone: A Journey of Discovery Through Glen Canyon, LJ 11/1/98.AEd.]ATim J. Markus, Evergreen State Coll. Lib., Olympia, W.
-ATim J. Markus, Evergreen State Coll. Lib., Olympia, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Anyone interested in the history of place, the effects of tourism on the West, or a fresh approach to the story of Lake Powell should read this fine and complex book.



—Environmental History



Jared Farmer . . . had not been born when Glen Canyon was dammed and Lake Powell created in 1963, but he has a superb sense of the glory of the place before the Bureau of Reclamation came and put it under water. . . . There are several stories in this book, each important and well-told. . . . A particularly eye-opening section of the book is devoted to federal reclamation and the Big Dam Era of engineered water. . . . From the title to the last poignant line of his book, Farmer is a soul-mate of writer John McPhee, who in 1971 said there is something inherently sinister about dams and their function of 'humiliating nature.'



—Rocky Mountain News --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816519927
• ISBN-13: 978-0816519927
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,060,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best nature essay offerings this year, November 28, 2000

By 

Christopher Clarke (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glen Canyon Dammed: Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country (Hardcover)

Biases first: I'm a rabid "drain the lake"er.

Still, one's arguments can only benefit from an effective challenge, and Farmer provides this in spades. An impassioned environmentalist, Farmer nonetheless points out that artificial environments are pretty much what we live in, and that if we look only to "untrammeled wilderness" as the source of our connection with nature, we're likely to run out of that wilderness in short order.

This book is an effective history of Glen Canyon, but it's also a critical analysis of wilderness tourism in the whole of Southern Utah, and a cogent deconstruction of our attitudes toward built versus natural landscapes. And unlike many such tomes (Stephen Pyne's valuable if turgid How the Canyon Became Grand comes to mind) Farmer writes his critique in a personable, approachable voice. It's rare to see a capable writer approach such a multifaceted subject without fear of using the first person singular pronoun. Eminently readable.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two sides to every story, March 20, 2000

By 

David M Fordham (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glen Canyon Dammed: Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country (Hardcover)

This book is well written and enjoyable. It presents the case from those that wish to drain Lake Powell but is does so quite fairly and does give decent coverage to the pros of Lake Powell and and the access and beauty created by the massive Glen Canyon Dam.

Perhaps Mr Farmer angered more than he pleased but that usually shows that he is not completely one one side or the other.

A worthwhile read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book written about Glen Canyon and Lake Powell., September 26, 2005

By 

Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Glen Canyon Dammed: Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country (Paperback)

"Glen Canyon Dammed," to me, is about as good as nonfiction books get. It's got great characters, a historic story, fascinating information, and an author that feels completely trustworthy. The book is one of the fairest, most objective books out there on the subject of Glen Canyon and Lake Powell. It realizes that Glen Canyon was someplace wonderful, and that Lake Powell may be as well. It questions the very subjective idea of wilderness, deftly examines a very difficult topic, and challenges the cliches that often accompany any discussions of this matter.
Jared Farmer has written a book for those on both sides of this issue, though I've no doubt the author has a decisive opinion of his own. He presents old facts with new information, and shapes a perception of the area and of the issue that's both insightful and unique.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read about this issue, about the West, or about the environment. No one should be allowed to gripe against either side of this contorversy without having read this book first.