Dammed Indians Revisited: The Continuing History of the Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux

Description

This book is an update of an earlier work that started as a doctoral thesis on the effects of the Pick-Sloan water projects that built large dams on the Missouri River in Montana| North Dakota and South Dakota. Oddly enough| the land that needed to be taken for the reservoirs was generally Indian reservation property belonging to various branches of the Sioux nationa. The book is packed with facts| dates| and names of people involved as the tribes struggled to negotiate restitution and resettlement money for the many people who lost their homes and often their livlihoods due to these projects. The projects include the Fort Peck dam in Montana| Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota| the Oahe dam and several others in South Dakotaa. Initially the government claim was that water from these reservoirs would be shared by the tribes for irrigation| etc.| but in actual fact the main purpose seems to have been to protect the cities farther down the Missouri (Kansas City| St. Louis| etc). It is also a particularly sad book when one begins to realize that the tribes who are hurt by the projects have not really recovered in the 50 plus years since the projects were done. Whole villages and entire lifestyles were drowned out with the rising waters. For general reading purposes the book covers interesting material in about as boring a manner as possible. Occassionally whole paragraphs are repeated word for word in separate chapters that cover similar material. It is well researched| but not the kind of book one usually chooses to read for pleasure.