Irrigation, timber, and hydropower : negotiating natural resource development on the Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana, 1904-1945 / by Garrit Voggesser.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-137) and index.
Contents:
Making the Flathead Reservation "blossom as the rose" : the Flathead Irrigation Project -- "A lot of trouble about wood" : timber and forestry on the Flathead Reservation -- The "Indian Muscle Shoals" : power development on the Flathead Reservation -- Afterword.
Summary:
"The Flathead Irrigation Project and the Flathead Lake dam were two early twentieth century enterprises that still reverberate through the twenty-first century Flathead Reservation in western Montana. Voggesser's research in this book has begun to unpeel the origins and history of natural resource conflicts on the reservation. The Flathead Irrigation Project was originally promoted by Senator Joseph M. Dixon as benefiting the Flathead Reservation tribes. It soon morphed into a medium for using tribal funds and assets to benefit white homesteaders. Voggesser tells the story of how competing interests fought to benefit at the expense of the tribes. In the 1920s and early 1930s, a national controversy swirled around the dam site at the foot of Flathead Lake. The lease for the dam site was granted to the Montana Power Company over the objections of the tribes, but the tribes retained ownership and was able to negotiate from a position of strength fifty years later when the lease came up for renewal. Voggesser lays out the struggles by which the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were able to secure control of reservation resources and build a better future for tribal members."--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.