Hetch Hechy Research Paper
Clint Mooney
Research paper
Lush green grasses that flourish using the water from a winding river sit in the middle of a colorful valley. It is a beautiful sanctuary where people come to visit and take in all it has to offer. A valley that will never be seen for the valley now sits under a reservoir. The image of a church under water is an effective way to persuade any audience that the damn built to flood Hetch Hetchy valley ruined one of nature’s beautiful sanctuaries.
Hetch Hetchy might have been one of the world’s natural wonders. There was a raging waterfall that poured into a calm river which meandered through the tall grassy fields. The tall conifer and oak trees that outlined the valleys edge were dominated by the colossal rock walls. Horses could be seen roaming free. It was home to many animals. Before the dam was built a beautiful cathedral once was there. John Muir said “Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people 's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple …show more content…
has ever been consecrated by the heart of man"("Hetch hetchy a time to redeem a historic mistake”) A valley called Hetch Hetchy now sits under about four hundred feet of water.
Hetch Hetchy was a valley in Yosemite Nation Park that became one of the biggest subjects for an environmental issues debate.
Around the 1880’s, the city of San Francisco considered Hetch Hetchy valley as a place to build a reservoir. Yosemite became an enact national park in 1890 while the Sierra Club was formed in 1892 to fight San Francisco’s Mayor James Phelan who filed for water rights to build a dam in 1901 ("New York Times 1913 Editorials Opposing Damming of Hetch Hetchy"). Mayor Phelan request got denied in the following years, but argued that a reservoir would only complement the parks beauty. The earthquakes and fires that happened in San Francisco on 1906 supported the Mayor’s proposal of building the dam. His plans were approved on 1913 and one hundred million dollars and 67 lives later the O’ Shaughnessy dam was completed in 1923 ("New York Times 1913 Editorials Opposing Damming of Hetch Hetchy"). About ten years later water eventually filled the
valley
The picture was originally taken as a nature shot but a drawing of a church was later added as a symbol. The main figure in the first picture would be the church. Pictured in the background are huge gray jagged rocks with few green shrubs on it with a bright blue sky behind it. A huge lake is in front of the mountains rocks and is centered between some evergreen trees. Half sunken in the water is a big chapel with two huge steeples. It is obvious that the church was hand drawn into the photo and isn’t an actual church. The church symbolizes the beauty that was once there before the valley was flooded into a lake. Its steeples which tower over the rest of the beautiful church is kind of like the huge rocks that used to tower over the beautiful valley. The water, which has sunken half the church and covers its beauty also covers the beautiful valley. When one first looks at this picture he or she would not have thought what used to be there. The valley under all that water is the only thing excluded from the picture. This photograph was taken after it was flooded in 1923 since there is a lake in the picture but the exact date is unclear. The picture is very bright and colorful and shading was used to simulate the church under water. These composition details come together to create a message for the intended audience saying that the dam should be removed and everything put back to how it was.
A church in the middle of a lake was the first image that drew my attention to the article and made me want to read more about it. The focal point for this picture was centered with the background lines drawing your attention to it. The focus contributes to the purpose of what the Sierra Club is trying to show. This image suggests a story that a sanctuary was once there before the water, which is exactly what John Muir thought of the valley. The water has the power in this visual and the church does not. Politics has power in the situation and the conservationists do not have power. It shows a stereotype that people who are higher in power and have more of a say so than the people who are below them. This image is not trying to sell anything but trying to tell people to stand up for what is right. It makes a commodity out of our views showing that we care more about energy and power than we do about Mother Nature. Politicians will go and do anything for to expand its big cities such as destroying its national parks.
In the second picture the mountains draw your attention to the main focus, the dam, which brings your eyes down its steep slope to the bottom left corner. This image was snapped after 1923 right behind the dam. It is interesting to see the aggressive rocks meshed together with the smooth concrete barrier. The difference from jagged to flat definitely tells a person that it the smooth wall does not belong. Excluded from this picture is the destruction that the dam throughout its construction caused downstream. Also excluded is the destruction it caused upstream. The focal point in this picture is centered and contributes to the purpose that something doesn’t belong. Mountains that used to be high in the sky are now level with water and are mere hills now. The story this picture has it that a wall was put up and is trapping water to go through. Flooding everything in front of it and drying out everything behind it. In this photograph the dam is in power and the water is at is mercy. Taming what once used to be a free flowing river and turning it into an almost stagnant lake should be a crime. In accordance to build the dam the lake would be for recreation and boaters but unfortunately no one is even allowed to swim in it.
The other three photographs are black and white pictures taken before 1913 before the valley was being turned into a reservoir. Tall trees and rocks which are the background in these pictures are also the main figure. These photos focus on the valleys beauty and help contribute the authors’ purpose.
The authors’ purpose in writing this article is to give you a heartfelt feeling about what happened. There are other options to restore one of America’s big mistakes and still supply water to the San Francisco. Tom Philp discusses a plan to do so in his article. He states that the issue isn’t about the environment but yet it is all in the politics. A group called Restore Hetch Hetchy got started in 2000 to do basically what their title says but Tom Philp believes a good strong politician is really what’s needed (philp 1).
Robert Bonner discusses how a dam ruined a town that was downstream and how bad it was for a man named Cody to live during the construction of the dam (Bonner 274). This story relates to any place a dam is built. Flooding of good fertile land that was home to humans or animals where they lived and farmed gets destroyed. Hetch Hetchy valley should be put back to its original state for everyone to visit and enjoy again
The image of a church under water is an effective way to persuade any audience that the damn built to flood Hetch Hetchy valley ruined one of nature’s beautiful sanctuaries. Throughout the article it is portrayed that this event is the first time American culture debated the needs of humans and value of wilderness. Valleys are sites of extraordinary biodiversity and their loss will continue until there is a widespread understanding of the long-term ecological effects of dams (Kingsford 122).
Pictures
Work Cited
Bonner, Robert E. "The Dam and the Valley: Land, People, and Environment Below Buffalo Bill Damn in the Twentieth Century." Agricultural History 76.2 (2002): 272. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2010.
"Hetch hetchy a time to redeem a historic mistake." Sierra Club. Sierra Club 2, n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/>.
Kingsford, R. "Ecological impacts of dams, water diversions and river management on floodplain wetlands in Australia." Austral Ecology 25.2 (2000): 109-127. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1442 -9993.2000.01036.x/citedby>.
"New York Times 1913 Editorials Opposing Damming of Hetch Hetchy ." Sierra Club 1. New York Times, n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/ny_times_ 1913_editorials.html>.
Philp, Tom. "WATER: Bring back Hetch Hetchy?." Sacramento Bee forum (2002): 1-2. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.edf.org/documents/2379_HetchHetchy_SacBee_042102.pdf>.
Righter, Robert. "The battle over Hetch Hetchy: America 's most controversial dam and the birth of modern environmentalism." Oxford university press (2005): 1-29. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=X5OBqCUf6ZsC&oi=fnd&pg= PR7&dq=Hetch+Hetchy&ots=2ODYboay4M&sig=udh1tRif_ALQaTCab- HsUej6SYc#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
Research paper
Lush green grasses that flourish using the water from a winding river sit in the middle of a colorful valley. It is a beautiful sanctuary where people come to visit and take in all it has to offer. A valley that will never be seen for the valley now sits under a reservoir. The image of a church under water is an effective way to persuade any audience that the damn built to flood Hetch Hetchy valley ruined one of nature’s beautiful sanctuaries.
Hetch Hetchy might have been one of the world’s natural wonders. There was a raging waterfall that poured into a calm river which meandered through the tall grassy fields. The tall conifer and oak trees that outlined the valleys edge were dominated by the colossal rock walls. Horses could be seen roaming free. It was home to many animals. Before the dam was built a beautiful cathedral once was there. John Muir said “Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people 's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple …show more content…
has ever been consecrated by the heart of man"("Hetch hetchy a time to redeem a historic mistake”) A valley called Hetch Hetchy now sits under about four hundred feet of water.
Hetch Hetchy was a valley in Yosemite Nation Park that became one of the biggest subjects for an environmental issues debate.
Around the 1880’s, the city of San Francisco considered Hetch Hetchy valley as a place to build a reservoir. Yosemite became an enact national park in 1890 while the Sierra Club was formed in 1892 to fight San Francisco’s Mayor James Phelan who filed for water rights to build a dam in 1901 ("New York Times 1913 Editorials Opposing Damming of Hetch Hetchy"). Mayor Phelan request got denied in the following years, but argued that a reservoir would only complement the parks beauty. The earthquakes and fires that happened in San Francisco on 1906 supported the Mayor’s proposal of building the dam. His plans were approved on 1913 and one hundred million dollars and 67 lives later the O’ Shaughnessy dam was completed in 1923 ("New York Times 1913 Editorials Opposing Damming of Hetch Hetchy"). About ten years later water eventually filled the
valley
The picture was originally taken as a nature shot but a drawing of a church was later added as a symbol. The main figure in the first picture would be the church. Pictured in the background are huge gray jagged rocks with few green shrubs on it with a bright blue sky behind it. A huge lake is in front of the mountains rocks and is centered between some evergreen trees. Half sunken in the water is a big chapel with two huge steeples. It is obvious that the church was hand drawn into the photo and isn’t an actual church. The church symbolizes the beauty that was once there before the valley was flooded into a lake. Its steeples which tower over the rest of the beautiful church is kind of like the huge rocks that used to tower over the beautiful valley. The water, which has sunken half the church and covers its beauty also covers the beautiful valley. When one first looks at this picture he or she would not have thought what used to be there. The valley under all that water is the only thing excluded from the picture. This photograph was taken after it was flooded in 1923 since there is a lake in the picture but the exact date is unclear. The picture is very bright and colorful and shading was used to simulate the church under water. These composition details come together to create a message for the intended audience saying that the dam should be removed and everything put back to how it was.
A church in the middle of a lake was the first image that drew my attention to the article and made me want to read more about it. The focal point for this picture was centered with the background lines drawing your attention to it. The focus contributes to the purpose of what the Sierra Club is trying to show. This image suggests a story that a sanctuary was once there before the water, which is exactly what John Muir thought of the valley. The water has the power in this visual and the church does not. Politics has power in the situation and the conservationists do not have power. It shows a stereotype that people who are higher in power and have more of a say so than the people who are below them. This image is not trying to sell anything but trying to tell people to stand up for what is right. It makes a commodity out of our views showing that we care more about energy and power than we do about Mother Nature. Politicians will go and do anything for to expand its big cities such as destroying its national parks.
In the second picture the mountains draw your attention to the main focus, the dam, which brings your eyes down its steep slope to the bottom left corner. This image was snapped after 1923 right behind the dam. It is interesting to see the aggressive rocks meshed together with the smooth concrete barrier. The difference from jagged to flat definitely tells a person that it the smooth wall does not belong. Excluded from this picture is the destruction that the dam throughout its construction caused downstream. Also excluded is the destruction it caused upstream. The focal point in this picture is centered and contributes to the purpose that something doesn’t belong. Mountains that used to be high in the sky are now level with water and are mere hills now. The story this picture has it that a wall was put up and is trapping water to go through. Flooding everything in front of it and drying out everything behind it. In this photograph the dam is in power and the water is at is mercy. Taming what once used to be a free flowing river and turning it into an almost stagnant lake should be a crime. In accordance to build the dam the lake would be for recreation and boaters but unfortunately no one is even allowed to swim in it.
The other three photographs are black and white pictures taken before 1913 before the valley was being turned into a reservoir. Tall trees and rocks which are the background in these pictures are also the main figure. These photos focus on the valleys beauty and help contribute the authors’ purpose.
The authors’ purpose in writing this article is to give you a heartfelt feeling about what happened. There are other options to restore one of America’s big mistakes and still supply water to the San Francisco. Tom Philp discusses a plan to do so in his article. He states that the issue isn’t about the environment but yet it is all in the politics. A group called Restore Hetch Hetchy got started in 2000 to do basically what their title says but Tom Philp believes a good strong politician is really what’s needed (philp 1).
Robert Bonner discusses how a dam ruined a town that was downstream and how bad it was for a man named Cody to live during the construction of the dam (Bonner 274). This story relates to any place a dam is built. Flooding of good fertile land that was home to humans or animals where they lived and farmed gets destroyed. Hetch Hetchy valley should be put back to its original state for everyone to visit and enjoy again
The image of a church under water is an effective way to persuade any audience that the damn built to flood Hetch Hetchy valley ruined one of nature’s beautiful sanctuaries. Throughout the article it is portrayed that this event is the first time American culture debated the needs of humans and value of wilderness. Valleys are sites of extraordinary biodiversity and their loss will continue until there is a widespread understanding of the long-term ecological effects of dams (Kingsford 122).
Pictures
Work Cited
Bonner, Robert E. "The Dam and the Valley: Land, People, and Environment Below Buffalo Bill Damn in the Twentieth Century." Agricultural History 76.2 (2002): 272. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2010.
"Hetch hetchy a time to redeem a historic mistake." Sierra Club. Sierra Club 2, n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/>.
Kingsford, R. "Ecological impacts of dams, water diversions and river management on floodplain wetlands in Australia." Austral Ecology 25.2 (2000): 109-127. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1442 -9993.2000.01036.x/citedby>.
"New York Times 1913 Editorials Opposing Damming of Hetch Hetchy ." Sierra Club 1. New York Times, n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/ny_times_ 1913_editorials.html>.
Philp, Tom. "WATER: Bring back Hetch Hetchy?." Sacramento Bee forum (2002): 1-2. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.edf.org/documents/2379_HetchHetchy_SacBee_042102.pdf>.
Righter, Robert. "The battle over Hetch Hetchy: America 's most controversial dam and the birth of modern environmentalism." Oxford university press (2005): 1-29. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=X5OBqCUf6ZsC&oi=fnd&pg= PR7&dq=Hetch+Hetchy&ots=2ODYboay4M&sig=udh1tRif_ALQaTCab- HsUej6SYc#v=onepage&q&f=false>.