Saving Grand Canyon: Dams, Deals, and a Noble Myth

Grand Canyon has been saved from dams three times in the last century. Unthinkable as it may seem today, many people promoted damming the Colorado River in the canyon during the early twentieth century as the most feasible solution to the water and power needs of the Pacific Southwest. These efforts reached their climax during the 1960s when the federal government tried to build two massive hydroelectric dams in Grand Canyon. Although not located within the Grand Canyon National Park or Monument, they would have flooded lengthy unprotected reaches of the canyon and along thirteen miles of the park boundary.

Saving Grand Canyon tells the remarkable true story of the attempts to build dams in one of America’s most spectacular natural wonders. Based on twenty-five years of research, this fascinating ride through history chronicles a century of Colorado River water development demonstrates how the National Environmental Policy Act came out of these controversies, and debunks the myth that the Sierra Club saved Grand Canyon. It also shows how the Sierra Club parlayed public perception as the canyon’s savior into the leadership of the modern environmental movement after the National Environmental Policy Act became law.

The tale of the Sierra Club stopping the dams has become so entrenched-and so embellished-that many historians, popular writers, and filmmakers have ignored the documented historical record. This epic story puts the events from 1963-68 into the broader the context of Colorado River water development and debunks 50 years of Colorado River water development and Grand Canyon history.