Eden or Armageddon?: Recent Studies of Water in the Twentieth-Century West

Abstract

choose? Hardship? Only to softies. No one is really a mountaineer today until he has climbed Lizard Head in southwestern Colorado not because it is such a glorious mountain but because its rock is so rotten that the climber's life is constantly in danger. Two of our books deal with canoeing in arctic Canada. Hodgins and Hobbs edit a book of which half the chapters are written by persons who are or were connected with Trent University in Petersborough, Ontario, as are the editors. The time period covered-1837-1950-falls after the heyday of the fur traders and voyageurs and before the explosive growth of recreational canoeing during the past generation. Yetit tells many a dramatic story-the drama more gripping to me because the exposition is straightforward, not full of hype. The typeface chosen for this book is so small and the lines so close together that I had to use a magnifying glass for all of it, which makes for slow going. Nevertheless, Nastawgan's interesting accounts are worth the trouble. Eric Morse's memoirs reveal that although he had a good career as a professor, he lived for canoeing. For many years he studied old reports and maps, chose exciting but difficult routes for each year's expedition, and organized small parties with care and skill. He reports his groups' adventures in rapids, on portages, with weather, and perhaps above all with flies and mosquitoes. Although he acknowledges some hardships, he clearly thinks the rewards more than offset them. The author's wife accompanied him on these expeditions. Was she an equally devoted canoeist or primarily a devoted wife?From his writing he seems a rewarding person to know evenif one does not feelup to his trips. Schullery's American Fly Fishing: A History is intended primarily for other fly fishermen, but anyone can enjoy the book. He strives to be broad-minded and fair to all interests, but he concentrates on trout, with an occasional bow to bass, and he recognizes that fly fishing has a lot of snob appeal. He considers the social conditions, including popular attitudes toward fishing, of each era. He delves into the techniques of fly fishing in considerable detail. '~s we cast the By, we also angle, as Ken Cameron has said, in the past. Our fishing habits are the products of many centuries of sporting experience and thought" (p.257). Webb considers the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado, focusing on the river above Jensen, Utah. His account is straightforward and he too lets the drama of the events speak for itself. Although river running has grown immensely popular and, because of new techniques (namely rubber rafts), much safer than it once was, the rapids still hold many thrills and much excitement. I know; I ran them on the Yampa and the Green. Wildland Recreation Policy is a textbook for undergraduates. Wellman analyzes recreation policy wholly in terms of the conflict between preservation and development, almost completely ignoring other natural resource and recreation issues. He introduces personalities from the various historic conflicts in a way that is likely to enhance the interest of the average undergraduate. He has produced a first-rate synthesis of existing materials, but there is no pretense of research into basic or original records. His treatment of issues is restrained, moderate, and fair. A good book for its purpose. Perhaps my strongest impression after reading these nine books was how often and how long natural resources have not been used for strictly economic (or at least for financial) gains. Personal satisfactions, not merely income or costs, have been the determining motivation. The canoeist on the fast stream and the climber on the difficult mountain face may each find great fulfillment in his activity, even though neither might be willing to trade places with the other. Men and women have always engaged in outdoor play or recreational activity, but in the last generation the numbers involved, the range of activities, and the techniques for travel and for comfort have all grown enormously. To this list of growing aspects of outdoor recreation we should add the writing of books about it. None of these books covers the whole field of outdoor recreation, but each considers some part of it. Together they supply a real addition to our knowledge.