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--American Historical Review
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The region surrounding the San Antonio River Valley and the Edwards Plateau was slow to tame.
The indigenous people, the Payaya and the Tonkawa, understood how to manipulate and survive in this often harsh environment. They used fire to maintain grasslands and were in turn sustained by the large mammals who grazed there.
When the first Spanish colonists arrived, they found bounty in the vast herds of buffalo thundering over the broad plains and an abundance of lumber available from the thick forests. But the Spaniards never could conquer the region, eventually relenting to the fierce native American tribes, the withering summer heat, and unpredictable, damaging storms.
Over a century later, San Antonio remained a frontier outpost for Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and later the United States. It wasn't until the mid-1880s, when rails began cutting a swath through the south Texas plains, that the city began broadening its economic reach.
Twentieth century urbanization produced a new array of problems and challenges for San Antonians. Over-population, incidence of disease, and social pathology plagued the swelling metropolitan area-putting lives and the quality of life in jeopardy. Urban growth also threatened green space and historic architecture, and brought into question the distribution and availability of water.
Water has always been central to life in San Antonio. Whether fending off rising flood waters or searching for precious droplets during times of drought, the denizens of the region have had a tumultuous and symbiotic relationship with water. Yet, it wasn't until the mid-twentieth century that the water supply became a political issue. The city's tap water and flood management policies cut sharply along ethnic divisions and class lines, leaving thousands without the "luxury" of indoor plumbing and, worse, without protection from flooding.
Environmental conditions became a catalyst for political reform when surging waters from the swollen San Antonio River watershed ripped through the community in September, 1921, flooding the central district and killing scores. The city responded by constructing its most important public works project-the Olmos Dam-which now stands sentinel over modern San Antonio's flourishing downtown and renowned Riverwalk.
This collection examines the environmental history of San Antonio, drawing upon an interdisciplinary array of authors and insights to highlight the evolving interaction between humanity and the south Texas landscape, while striving to make us a bit more sensitive to how changes in each shaped the other.
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All he wanted was bait for fishing, but when the young man cracked open a mussel he had pulled up from the shallow waters of the San Antonio River he was startled to "discover a pearl imbedded in the unhappy bivalve." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unbranded stock, recharge zone, artesian springs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Antonio, Hill Country, Air Force, Conservation Society, East Side, Coastal Plain, West Side, Balcones Escarpment, San Antonians, United States, African Americans, Edwards Plateau, Mexican Americans, Quarry Market, City Hall, North Side, San Marcos, Bexar County, World War, Camp Bullis, City Water Board, Civil War, New Braunfels, Gonzalez Amendment, Good Government League New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
- Crown Jewel of Texas: The Story of San Antonio's River by Lewis F. Fisher on 6 pages
- The Politics of San Antonio: Community, Progress, and Power by David R. Johnson in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Urban Texas: Politics and Development (Texas a and M Southwestern Studies) by Char Miller in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Air Force (Defending the Nation) by John Hamilton in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Race Relations by Philip Mason in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 79 books this book cites
- Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas by Char Miller in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Guadalupe and Her Faithful: Latino Catholics in San Antonio, from Colonial Origins to the Present (Lived Religions) by Timothy Matovina in Back Matter
- An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans From Nature by Craig E. Colten in Back Matter
- Texas Roots: Agriculture And Rural Life Before The Civil War (Texas a & M University Agriculture Series, No. 8) by C. Allan Jones in Back Matter
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