History of The Proposed Red River Gorge Dam
Decades of flooding by the Red River offered downstream residents much misery. In 1962 the "Great Flood of Clay City," the worst seen in 102 years, moved both government officials and local communities to lobby the Kentucky State Legislature and the Kennedy administration for immediate construction of a flood control dam. The United States Congress would ultimately approve the measure and provide funding. The Army Corps of Engineers set about their business of making the structure a reality; however, many felt that such actions would destroy the unique ecosystem residing there. Spearheaded by the Sierra Club, an opposition to the dam was formed. It was this group that obtained the help of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas by participating in a Dam Protest Hike which drew local and national attention to the situation. The Dam Protest Hike took place on November 18, 1967 at the Clifty Wilderness area, junction of Swift Camp Creek and the Red River, Highway 715.
In 1971, the University of Kentucky commissioned Wendell Berry, a Kentucky native farmer and author, to write a book entitled The Unforeseen Wilderness advocating the preservation of the gorge in its natural state.
The struggle of wills lasted several decades, involved two proposed Dam sites and finally concluded with Red River's entry into the National Wild and Scenic River system on December 3, 1993. President Bill Clinton signed the declaration into law which provides federal protection for a 19.4-mile (31.2 km) section of the river. This effectively eliminated any further possibility of a dam being constructed and preserved the Red River and its Gorge as we know it. For more information see RRS: History of the Red River Valley Dam
Read more about this topic: Red River Gorge
Famous quotes containing the words history of the, history of, history, proposed, red, river and/or dam:
“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”
—Henry Geldzahler (1935–1994)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“...a fixed aim furnishes us with a fixed measure, by which we can decide whether such or such an action proposed is worth trying for or not, and as aims must vary with the individual, the decisions of any two people as to the desirableness of an action may not be the same.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“But he sent her Good-by,
And said to be good,
And wear her red hood,
And look for skunk tracks
In the snow with an ax—
And do everything!”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“In order to get to East Russet you take the Vermont Central as far as Twitchell’s Falls and change there for Torpid River Junction, where a spur line takes you right into Gormley. At Gormley you are met by a buckboard which takes you back to Torpid River Junction again.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The devil take one party and his dam the other!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)