The Hailey Public Library will host “Making the Desert Bloom: The Reclamation Act of 1902,” a virtual talk by historian John Lundin on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 5:30 p.m. It is the last talk in the popular Our Water Series.
The Act permanently changed the face of the West by funding massive irrigation projects that “reclaimed” arid lands for human use.
“Virtually every green pasture, crop of wheat and field of potatoes from here to Twin Falls, and beyond, exists only because of the passage of the Reclamation Act of 1902,” stated HPL programs and engagement manager Kristin Fletcher. “This federal law funded far-reaching irrigation projects in 20 arid states of the American West. One scheme, the Minidoka Project, resulted in multiple dams on the Snake River and its tributaries, including the Big and Little Wood rivers, waters which now irrigate more than a million acres of agricultural crops.”
Lundin is a lawyer, historian and author who splits his time between Seattle and Ketchum. He has written and lectured extensively about Wood River Valley history, inspired by his great-grandparents Matthew and Isabelle Campbell McFall who moved to Bellevue, Idaho, in 1881 and built the McFall Hotel in Shoshone in 1900. Lundin has authored a number of history books over the years, including Skiing Sun Valley: A History from Union Pacific to the Holdings, by History Press.
To attend the event, RSVP to kristin.fletcher@haileypubliclibrary.org.