S3E3 The Atlas of Drowned Towns: Recovering the Histories of Places Lost To Dam Construction

During the twentieth century, hundreds of communities in the American West disappeared, and no one seemed to care. River development projects – massive dams built for irrigation, hydroelectricity, and flood control – displaced or destroyed towns, tribal communities, farmsteads, and ranches on the Snake, Colorado, Columbia, and other rivers. Recovering these lost histories is the mission of The Atlas of Drowned Towns, a multimedia and multi-platform public history project (drownedtowns.com). This talk with introduce and explain the objectives and vision of The Atlas of Drowned Towns, exploring some of the questions lurking under the surface of reservoirs: How did these displaced communities respond to their removal – with enthusiasm, acquiescence, or/and resistance? Why did they respond in those ways? What was it like to live in and have to leave these places? And what can we in the 21st century learn from the history of displacement, as we face a future that threatens more such displacement?

Bio: Bob H. Reinhardt is an associate professor in the Department of History at Boise State University, where he teaches, researches, and writes about the history of the American West, environmental history, public history, and the history of public health. Bob is the author of the The End of a Global Pox: America and the Eradication of Smallpox in the Cold War Era (University of North Carolina Press) and Struggle on the North Santiam: Power and Community on the Margins of the American West (Oregon State University). His professional experience includes serving as the Executive Director of the Willamette Heritage Center museum in Salem, Oregon, a postdoctoral fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University, and teaching positions at Western Oregon University and Willamette University. Bob is also the founder and director of the Working History Center at Boise State University.

Do you know of other such displaced communities? Do you know more about these places? Were these communities not actually drowned by river development projects? Share your knowledge with The Atlas of Drowned Towns before or after the event at drownedtown.com.

Watch the video here.