“It was a hard process for everybody"
July 25, 2023 3:07 AM Subscribe
The human impact is also evident. In one photo, a tractor drags a white house on a rolling platform through a field. In the foreground, two men in cowboy hats are turned away, as if they don’t want to watch. Their body language is bent, resigned, sad. In another photograph, a couple walk through the cemetery with their backs to the camera. The woman appears to be holding flowers. Soon the graves will be dug up and the bodies moved to a new cemetery ... As the “government men” came in, the demolition sped up. “Catastrophe came to the old Berryessa Valley,” the text reads. “Fires burned. Dust and smoke filled the air.… The valley is black at night.” from Lost Beneath Lake Berryessa [Alta; ungated]
Death of A Valley - Documenting the Destruction of a California Town
Death of a Valley [Guernica, 2015]
Dorothea Lange’s “Death of a Valley”
Death of the Valley
Dorothea Lange’s Angel of History
Death of a Valley [Aperture; paywalled]
Dorothea Lange, previously
Death of A Valley - Documenting the Destruction of a California Town
Death of a Valley [Guernica, 2015]
Dorothea Lange’s “Death of a Valley”
Death of the Valley
Dorothea Lange’s Angel of History
Death of a Valley [Aperture; paywalled]
Dorothea Lange, previously
I used to live near there and spent many an idle hour by that lake-- looking forward to reading this! Thank you!
posted by The otter lady at 7:24 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by The otter lady at 7:24 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's not that unusual, really. When they built Indianapolis' first reservoir back in the 40s, by damming Fall Creek to the northeast of the city, they ended up flooding-out the small to town of Germantown, too. I believe the developer actually bought the town piecemeal.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:46 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 8:46 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
About the story and equally about the outlet — I really appreciate that Alta publishes articles that reward my reading at a speed much slower than I would read a standard news piece or standard think piece. I mean, look at this scene-setting:
"When we drove up to the lake, I was pleasantly surprised. Even though it was Memorial Day weekend, the beach wasn’t crowded. Children splashed in the water, and Canada geese bobbed near the shore. The park ranger greeted us with a list of freedoms. We could swim, boat, fish, and picnic here, he said. Parking was free. Have a good time."
The park ranger greeted us with a list of freedoms. I am jealous of how good that line is.
posted by migrantology at 9:02 AM on July 25, 2023 [7 favorites]
"When we drove up to the lake, I was pleasantly surprised. Even though it was Memorial Day weekend, the beach wasn’t crowded. Children splashed in the water, and Canada geese bobbed near the shore. The park ranger greeted us with a list of freedoms. We could swim, boat, fish, and picnic here, he said. Parking was free. Have a good time."
The park ranger greeted us with a list of freedoms. I am jealous of how good that line is.
posted by migrantology at 9:02 AM on July 25, 2023 [7 favorites]
The park ranger greeted us with a list of freedoms. I am jealous of how good that line is.
It's definitely a good twist on the language. But, it's also kind of odd. To me, it carries overtones of what some stereotypical 2A extremist would say, inferring their guns weren't allowed by the government. I know that's not Alta's bent, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:35 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's definitely a good twist on the language. But, it's also kind of odd. To me, it carries overtones of what some stereotypical 2A extremist would say, inferring their guns weren't allowed by the government. I know that's not Alta's bent, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:35 AM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Tangential, but "Berryessa" is just one of my favorite place names ever.
posted by jferg at 11:30 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by jferg at 11:30 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's definitely a good twist on the language. But, it's also kind of odd. To me, it carries overtones of what some stereotypical 2A extremist would say, inferring their guns weren't allowed by the government. I know that's not Alta's bent, though.
Maybe she was using "freedoms" in the positive liberty sense? Because this lake was constructed, everyone now has the freedom to go swimming and enjoy other fun activities if they so choose? She's writing about a town whose residents were displaced and homes flooded to presumably benefit the greater good, so it seems appropriate to contrast a violation of negative liberty with the resulting positive liberties.
I agree that it sounds like terms that second amendment extremists might use ironically because they're so dense that they can't comprehend freedom as being anything other than a lack of restriction.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:50 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
Maybe she was using "freedoms" in the positive liberty sense? Because this lake was constructed, everyone now has the freedom to go swimming and enjoy other fun activities if they so choose? She's writing about a town whose residents were displaced and homes flooded to presumably benefit the greater good, so it seems appropriate to contrast a violation of negative liberty with the resulting positive liberties.
I agree that it sounds like terms that second amendment extremists might use ironically because they're so dense that they can't comprehend freedom as being anything other than a lack of restriction.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:50 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
I think every region has places like this. Four towns--Enfield, Prescott, Dana, and Greenwich--were forcibly abandoned and drowned in central Massachusetts to guarantee a sufficient water supply for Boston.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:56 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:56 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
A bunch of my relatives lived in St Thomas, which was inundated by Lake Mead in 1938. With the recent extended drought in the Colorado River basin it has re-emerged and become something of a historic site/tourist attraction.
Most of my relatives were only all too happy to get out of St Thomas, and left long before the reservoir was planned. The story of the re-survey of the area, putting them well inside the borders of Nevada, rather than Utah where they had thought they were located, and the resulting brouhaha over back taxes the recently created state of Nevada tried to collect, is one of the most oft-cited events in our family history.
But a few lived in the town until the bitter end and a couple are buried in the cemetery - which had to be moved to higher ground and thus, when the waters were high, were the only remnant of St Thomas you could really visit.
Hugh Lord was famously the very last resident of St Thomas. He refused the believe the lake waters would ever reach the town. He left only when the water was high enough that he could step from his porch directly onto his boat. At the point he set his house on fire and rowed away.
A fictional version of Lord is the protagonist of the 2018 novel Lords of St Thomas.
posted by flug at 4:22 PM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
Most of my relatives were only all too happy to get out of St Thomas, and left long before the reservoir was planned. The story of the re-survey of the area, putting them well inside the borders of Nevada, rather than Utah where they had thought they were located, and the resulting brouhaha over back taxes the recently created state of Nevada tried to collect, is one of the most oft-cited events in our family history.
But a few lived in the town until the bitter end and a couple are buried in the cemetery - which had to be moved to higher ground and thus, when the waters were high, were the only remnant of St Thomas you could really visit.
Hugh Lord was famously the very last resident of St Thomas. He refused the believe the lake waters would ever reach the town. He left only when the water was high enough that he could step from his porch directly onto his boat. At the point he set his house on fire and rowed away.
A fictional version of Lord is the protagonist of the 2018 novel Lords of St Thomas.
posted by flug at 4:22 PM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
Aerial image of Monticello before it was inundated.
You can also go to historicaerials.com and use their viewer to find aerials going back to 1948 (and compare to later years).
Ford Lake outside of Ypsilanti, Michigan was formed in the 1930s by a dam built to power a nearby Ford Motor Company Plant. The Tuttle Hill Road bridge, a circa 1885 iron suspension bridge, was partially inundated when the lake formed. It could be seen above water for a few years until ice pushed it over onto its side. It is still down there.
posted by Preserver at 5:44 PM on July 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
You can also go to historicaerials.com and use their viewer to find aerials going back to 1948 (and compare to later years).
Ford Lake outside of Ypsilanti, Michigan was formed in the 1930s by a dam built to power a nearby Ford Motor Company Plant. The Tuttle Hill Road bridge, a circa 1885 iron suspension bridge, was partially inundated when the lake formed. It could be seen above water for a few years until ice pushed it over onto its side. It is still down there.
posted by Preserver at 5:44 PM on July 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
My dad grew up near by. He emailed me this after I sent him the link:
"Back in the day, when in high school, I, with friends, would go swimming in Putah Creek before the dam was built. I remember the valley was filled with fruit trees.
The place was called Cannonball as the rock had round sandstone concretions in the walls of the canyon. I fondly remember those trips. This is where we would go to drink beer and swim. Another beer drinking spot was up Portuguese Canyon.
When the river flows were high in the spring we would go body surfing in the flow. It was a great make out spot."
posted by vespabelle at 8:16 PM on July 25, 2023 [5 favorites]
"Back in the day, when in high school, I, with friends, would go swimming in Putah Creek before the dam was built. I remember the valley was filled with fruit trees.
The place was called Cannonball as the rock had round sandstone concretions in the walls of the canyon. I fondly remember those trips. This is where we would go to drink beer and swim. Another beer drinking spot was up Portuguese Canyon.
When the river flows were high in the spring we would go body surfing in the flow. It was a great make out spot."
posted by vespabelle at 8:16 PM on July 25, 2023 [5 favorites]
Very nice post.
Back in the 80s, I saw a Russian film about a village that was about to be flooded. It was very long, as Russian films were back then, and extremely beautiful and moving. I think I once made an ask about it, because I'd love to see it again. I wonder if that film was inspired by these photos. Though, as some have already stated, this type of "progress" was the norm during the early-mid 20th century.
posted by mumimor at 9:31 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Back in the 80s, I saw a Russian film about a village that was about to be flooded. It was very long, as Russian films were back then, and extremely beautiful and moving. I think I once made an ask about it, because I'd love to see it again. I wonder if that film was inspired by these photos. Though, as some have already stated, this type of "progress" was the norm during the early-mid 20th century.
posted by mumimor at 9:31 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
« Older I’ve played for 60 years. That’s long enough | Where do deep-sea creatures live? Where they won’t... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Rhedyn at 7:23 AM on July 25, 2023 [3 favorites]