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1-15 of 15
- Description:
- Early in the settlement of the West pioneers began diverting and damming waterways. Miners use water during their hunt for precious metals. Farmers rely on it for the survival of their thirsty crops. An important part of western history, water continues to affect western culture today. This story is a political one, as well as a story about agriculture, recreation, beauty and the backdrop to western life.
Born and raised in the heart of the West, I have been surrounded with the stories of western water my entire life. Over the last 5 years I recorded through my photography many smaller components that make up this bigger story. One significant chapter is the story of the Teton Dam disaster which took place 13 miles from my place of my birth. Other images tell not so well known stories, like the story of a desert dam that was built in 1920 near Kilgore, Idaho. It eventually was removed because it forced the water from the riverbed and reservoir down into the porous lava resulting in the loss of an already scarce resource. Another tells the story of the Cove Hydro project on the Bear River that was recently decommissioned and removed. Or then there is the the Sunbeam Dam on the Salmon River that in 1934, as the legend goes, was dynamited by angered locals over the impact the dam had on salmon runs.
The photographic stories continue into contemporary times. A more recent story is of environmental groups trying to recover historical salmon runs into the heart of the Idaho. They hope to do so with the proposed removal of four modern day dams. The four eastern Washington dams targeted by these groups are deemed inefficient and the number one threat to the extinction of Idaho's salmon. This time perhaps it will only require somewhat more lawful methods to succeed in protecting the salmon.
Through time the stories change, and then often times the story seems to never change. Though the proverbial water may pass under the bridge, or over the dam in a few cases, the photographs capture the impact bridges and dams have on western water. Perhaps the photographs may motivate a casual observer to be more then a passive audience. Or maybe they will simply create an informed observer to a part of their world which often flows by unnoticed.
