BEAUTY LOST SAMPLE

FOREWORD

Supposition: Most assuredly, there is a contrast between two different viewpoints expressed about Glen Canyon, Thus, two very different environs, perspectives, and appearances. Some people view Lake Powell’s addition as complimentary while others abhor the modification. Granted, the popularity of Glen Canyon with its new emblem of protection––as a national recreation area established October 1972––promotes an image of a multi-use facility that welcomed the masses in the early 1980s. Whether it’s an improvement or a desecration of a former undefiled habitat, therefore, depends on one’s perspective, and to some degree, one’s politics. Nevertheless, the extreme changeover of Glen Canyon’s native habitat is what it is. It also follows how the contemporary view of the canyon and basin storage is here to stay; at least, for the time being. So are intense arguments levied against the Bureau of Reclamation’s 1960s retrofit. That said, the mitigated narrative throughout this text provides all the relevant details about the before, during, and after aspects of Glen Canyon’s alteration. As such, the narrative divided into three segments relates the substance of relevance, and draws or infers key argumentative points of contention (pro and con).

As for the above-mentioned different viewpoints, therein lies the thrust and thesis for this text: conflicting convictions about Glen Canyon B.D. (before the dam) and the remodeled appearance. In short, the relative few who echo David Brower’s disdain for the lake and basin, and the majority who favor the changeover. Of course, such things happen when rivers are impeded and forced to go in reverse. Moreover, that monstrous-sized dam built at the southwest portal of Glen Canyon had tamed a former stallion river. As a fitting metaphor, the Colorado River was hobbled, and the second largest canyon in the Southwest was sacrificed by Dominy and the Bureau. According to Brower, he did the unthinkable and uncalled for, and got away with it knowing what standing reservoirs in predominant sandstone desert always do: accumulate sediment that has nowhere to go (because of the dam). Once the full extent of the Glen Canyon-Lake Powell story and the saga is learned, there is no other way to say and explain what happened here was politics pure and simple. Making this point also makes another point most people today don’t know that part of Glen Canyon’s history. For them, the view of the lake and canyon backdrop is the way things should be.  

Apart from this glaring indictment, most people living in the 1950s and 60s, especially those who lived in this region, were primed about a future lake lengthening its mileage behind the dam, and increasing its depth to an average 550 feet (167 m). When the basin was full, it would be a major recreational appeal to the tourism industry waiting in the wings. Of course, Lake Powell’s fundamental purpose was intended as basin storage mandated by the Colorado River Compact, thereby denoting a 1922 agreement among the seven previously mentioned Western States governing the allocation of water rights to the river’s so-called liquid assets. The dam that corralled the river would also be the first major project in the Upper Colorado River basin and double as a hydroelectric generating station. Beyond that combined selling point to Congress, once the funding was approved, the recreational advantages was solely an aquatic playground meant to appease the public. Therefore, staunch support for Dominy and public aversion for Brower, as well as all the others who sided with him. 

This no-frills summary sets the tone for why this text was composed, which entails a dialectic that churns the muddy waters of disputation between two factions defending either side of the dam fence issue, as it were. In philosophy, anytime a dialectical process is scrutinized, argumentation amounting to a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis (or TAS for short) typically follow. That being said, let it be stated from the outset the veritable and verifiable brouhaha that has haunted this Bureau of Reclamation’s project before the dam was even erected continues to this day. These reasons will all be addressed throughout the text, including why this unprotected province was eventually targeted as an optimum dam site in the early 1920s, as well as the Colorado River’s divvied assets mandated by the CRC.

Methodology Of The Text: The adjective, optimum, turns out to be a somewhat conspicuous misnomer; at least, this contention is fostered by those who oppose the Bureau’s dam and basin storage project. The first part of the text, Before, reveals the historical and salient details that began the candor, and the no holds barred impudence between the two main players who held their own given the intense litigation centered on Glen Canyon’s retrofit. Thus, the numerous altercations between Dominy and Brower.

The next segment, labeled During, takes the reader on a down-river vicarious excursion through Glen Canyon some few years before the near completion of the dam. George Steck filmed the two-week odyssey, and his narration provides a daily chronicle of what he and his friends experienced during their serendipitous outing. The account of the narration is partially taken from a voice-over video copy of a rustic 8mm film George later presented to me, as well as notes that I took on that evening when I, and a group of friends, had the privilege of watching the relic movie in his home.

 The third segment, After, relates the consequences of Glen Canyon’s habitat converted into a desert terrain oasis. Notably, the environmental damage typically caused by any dam. In this case, the peril of so-called aggradation (otherwise known as “deposition of sediment”) and adverse ecological changes throughout the Grand Canyon’s riparian corridor due to the cold-water release hundreds of feet below the high crest of the dam.

The three segments present three different perspectives about the Glen Canyon story most people do not know, especially the beauty lost motif presented in the second part of this text. And then there are the legendary contretemps between David Brower and Floyd Dominy, whose respective arguments are mentioned throughout part one and two. One of them loved canyons and the open spaces, and the other saw an opportunity to bend the will of Nature, as it were, by altering the landscape for a specific purpose. On this note, Dominy was, at least, prophetic when he boasted words to the effect, If you’ve seen one canyon, you’ve seen them all. Then again, this partially inundated canyon with its usually azure colored lake became the most talked about artificial basin in the Southwest. 
And the place relative few people ever saw became the place where millions of people later visited. Apart from the sprawling lake that used to be 200-miles-long (321 km), most visitors also commend the engineering marvel of the Glen Canyon Dam. These are also the people who support what the Bureau of Reclamation got away with, despite Brower’s effort to conceal most of that other Glen Canyon by way of flooding the interior.

Before delving into the story, keep in mind three essential questions about this text’s overall subject matter:

1) Why was Glen Canyon not saved from a damming project, which was the first mega-sized edifice in this sector of the Colorado River?

2) Was this locale even functional for a basin of such size and magnitude? (Note: this question is particularly loaded in the sense trying to answer it entails one must also be familiar with the sedimentary landscape of this entire region. Hence, the temperament of geology and how rivers in sandstone terrain funnel sedimentary loads (i.e., clastic particles) into a literal trap because of dams holding back the water.

3) The second question also begs the next question: What other locale and environment could be saved, and solely for the sake of saving its basin from the same substance of nature that has since affected Lake Powell with its so-called "constipation" program?
     
Let it also be stated how one feels about Glen Canyon’s erstwhile environs compared to the contemporary appearance is what it is––you’re either for or against the changeover. Accordingly, this text sets out to relate both sides of an environmental story that has certainly exceeded the idealism of the likes of David Brower, even Edward Abbey who espoused what some called radical environmentalism. The import disclosed in all three parts of this text’s running narrative is not solely based on the presumed success as a sustainable largesse and aquatic environment favoring tourism. Rather, the Glen Canyon-Lake Powell issue represents a topical subject of concern that has become the juggernaut of an ingratiated and prudent environmental policy chiefly due to Glen Canyon’s interior habitat that was inundated. Moreover, adverse effects to downstream ecology throughout the Grand Canyon adds to the woes and environmental conflicts that have never been fully settled one way or the other.

Thus far in the ongoing dialectic, both sides are, at least, still talking and seeking ways to ameliorate the old and new wounds that have never alleviated over the decades. That being said, Lake Powell’s utility will ultimately fail because, as mentioned, reservoirs in the Southwest’s sedimentary Sunbelt terrain have a limited lifetime compared to those in hard rock topography (i.e., metamorphic). Factor in drought and evaporation and overuse of water throughout the West and the problem, as the saying goes, gets complicated.

RK ALLEMAN
Albuquerque, NM

FYI: Because publishing books with colored photographs, maps, and illustrations are costly, the following Bitly URL’s, which greatly shorten the usual URL addresses, are recommended for those who have access to the Internet. These mentioned websites will take the reader directly to Glen Canyon’s images, as well as maps, illustrations, and all else that pertains to what this text divulges, as information. Think of the Bitly URL’s as a combination of seven letters and numbers. Thus, after the common Bitly address, type in the case sensitive address that takes you directly to Google’s repository (i.e., http://bit.ly/2aigjnt will open a plethora of Glen Canyon images).

Before the Dam: http://bit.ly/23LvHR3
Geology/Illustrations: http://bit.ly/23LvTQb