Damming the Delaware

Damming the Delaware PDF Author: Richard C. Albert
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271046635
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description


Delaware Diary

Delaware Diary PDF Author: Frank Dale
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813522838
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
Tracing the history of the Delaware, this book delves into archives and newspaper files to explore the men who tried to tame this wild river. Many attempted to venture down it in a variety of vehicles due to the needs of commerce, but in recent times it has been converted to leisure activities.

Devastation on the Delaware

Devastation on the Delaware PDF Author: Mary A. Shafer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Book Description
Narrative nonfiction account of the record-setting Delaware River flood of August 18-20, 1955, reads like a thriller. This devastation was caused by rain from hurricanes Connie and Diane, hitting within five days of each other. The flood killed nearly 100 people in PA, NJ & NY, with the highest flood crest recorded on river to date. This is an extremely readable narrative woven from interviews with 100+ survivors & eyewitnesses. With 105 historic photos bringing these events to chilling life, this is the first comprehensive account of a tragic event that changed life in the Delaware Valley forever.

In the Shadow of the Dam

In the Shadow of the Dam PDF Author: Elizabeth M. Sharpe
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416572643
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
Early one May morning in 1874, in the hills above Williamsburg, Massachusetts, a reservoir dam suddenly burst, sending an avalanche of water down a narrow river valley lined with factories and farms. In just thirty minutes, the Mill River flood left 139 people dead and 740 homeless -- and a nation wondering how this terrible calamity had happened. In this compelling tale of a man-made disaster peopled with everyday heroes and arrogant scoundrels, Elizabeth Sharpe opens a rare window into industry and village life in nineteenth-century New England, a time when dam failures and other industrial accidents were widespread and laws favored factory owners rather than factory workers. In the Mill Valley, the townsfolk depended upon generally benevolent patriarchs who assured them that the dam was safe, when most people could see that it was not. The story of the Mill River flood is the story of those townsfolk: of George Cheney, the dam keeper whose repeated warnings about leaks in the dam had been ignored by the mill owners; of his wife, Elizabeth, who watched in disbelief as the dam burst open from the bottom; of Isabell Hayden, the mother who saw her young son swept away in the river's torrent; and of Fred Howard, a box maker who spent the days after the flood searching for bodies, burying friends, and waiting to see if the button factory he relied upon for his livelihood would be rebuilt. It is also the story of the well-meaning but overconfident businessmen who built the dam: of Onslow Spelman, the manufacturer who dismissed the dam keeper's flood warning, irrationally insisting that the dam could not break; of Lucius Fenn and Joel Bassett, the engineer and contractor whose roles in the construction of the dam would be questioned during the public inquest into the causes of the flood; of William Skinner, the factory owner who struggled to decide whether or not to rebuild his silk factory in the village that bore his name; and of many others. The flood highlighted class divisions between worker and owner, as well as the disorganized state of professional engineering, then still in its infancy. As the flood exposed the dangers of allowing mill owners -- who were not trained engineers -- to design their own dam, legislation to regulate the building of reservoir dams in Massachusetts was enacted for the first time. Engineers, politicians, and business owners battled over control of the reform measures to prevent similar tragedies, yet saw them continually repeated. In the Shadow of the Dam is the story of an event that reshaped a society. Told through the eyes of villagers like Collins Graves, lauded as a hero for his desperate ride through the valley to warn people of the impending flood, and industrialists like Joel Hayden Jr., entrusted with the responsibility of disaster relief despite his culpability in failing to maintain the leaking dam, In the Shadow of the Dam is a history of our uneasy relationship with industrial progress and a riveting narrative of a tragic disaster in small-town Massachusetts.

Delaware, the First State

Delaware, the First State PDF Author: Carol E. Hoffecker
Publisher: B B& A Publishers
ISBN: 9780970580405
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
Examines the history of Delaware, from its first inhabitants and the arrival of European settlers to the effect of modern times on its business and government.

The Croton Dams and Aqueduct

The Croton Dams and Aqueduct PDF Author: Christopher R. Tompkins
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738504551
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

Book Description
This collection of rare photographs chronicles the construction of one of the largest masonry dams ever built. From the beginnings of the first Croton Dam, completed in 1842, and of the new dam, which was finished in 1907, up to the present day, The Croton Dams and Aqueduct provides a stunning portrait of the entire project and the region that it impacted: New York City and Westchester County. As early as the 1770s, New York considered creating waterworks and even proposed damming area rivers, including the Hudson. With disease and fires blamed on the lack of water, plans were created c. 1830 to dam the Croton River. By 1842, water from the first dam flowed into New York City from Yorktown. Built to provide enough water for "centuries," the first dam was obsolete by the 1880s. Exponential growth from immigration created the demand for more water, and New York built the New Croton Dam. The new dam not only provided clean water for New York's burgeoning population but also spawned a new community of immigrant workers in the once Anglo community of Westchester County.

The Delaware River

The Delaware River PDF Author: Frank Harris Moyer
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467141151
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Emerging from the Catskills, the Delaware River winds along the border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the Atlantic, offering hundreds of miles of magnificent scenery. Its sparkling waters supported the Lenape tribes growing maize along its banks. English explorers sailed the river in search of the mythical Lake Laconia, believed to be the source of all northeastern rivers. Urban growth pitted railroads, industry and energy companies against protectionists in continuing fights over appropriate use of the river. Hunting, fishing and boating remain vital local traditions passed from one generation to the next. Author Frank H. Moyer charts the life and legacy of the mighty Delaware.

Flooded

Flooded PDF Author: Peter Taylor Klein
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1978826141
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
In the middle of the twentieth century, governments ignored the negative effects of large-scale infrastructure projects. In recent decades, many democratic countries have continued to use dams to promote growth, but have also introduced accompanying programs to alleviate these harmful consequences of dams for local people, to reduce poverty, and to promote participatory governance. This type of dam building undoubtedly represents a step forward in responsible governing. But have these policies really worked? Flooded provides insights into the little-known effects of these approaches through a close examination of Brazil’s Belo Monte hydroelectric facility. After three decades of controversy over damming the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon, the dam was completed in 2019 under the left-of-center Workers’ Party, becoming the world’s fourth largest. Billions of dollars for social welfare programs accompanied construction. Nonetheless, the dam brought extensive social, political, and environmental upheaval to the region. The population soared, cost of living skyrocketed, violence spiked, pollution increased, and already overextended education and healthcare systems were strained. Nearly 40,000 people were displaced and ecosystems were significantly disrupted. Klein tells the stories of dam-affected communities, including activists, social movements, non-governmental organizations, and public defenders and public prosecutors. He details how these groups, as well as government officials and representatives from private companies, negotiated the upheaval through protests, participating in public forums for deliberation, using legal mechanisms to push for protections for the most vulnerable, and engaging in myriad other civic spaces. Flooded provides a rich ethnographic account of democracy and development in the making. In the midst of today’s climate crisis, this book showcases the challenges and opportunities of meeting increasing demands for energy in equitable ways.

Water for a City

Water for a City PDF Author: Charles H. Weidner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Book Description


Dingmans Ferry

Dingmans Ferry PDF Author: Matthew M. Osterberg
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738538730
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Book Description
For over 200 years, the small village of Dingmans Ferry grew along the banks of the Delaware River. This once small town thrived first as a farming community and later as a summer retreat for New York and Philadelphia residents. Dingmans Ferry provides a tour of this fascinating community that was lost in the late 1970s after the area was purchased for the proposed Tocks Island Dam Project. The incredible mills, country churches, one-room schools, and family homes come alive in this grand photo essay. Drawn from the collections of the Dingmans Ferry/Delaware Township Historical Society, Pike County Historical Society, and private collections, these photographs include familiar sights such as Darragh Mill, St. John's Episcopal Church, and the Academy. Famous residents such as Chief Thundercloud and Marie Zimmerman are also highlighted in this photographic journey through an area long forgotten.