Article Images | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

Connecting History

Milestones

Hot off the Press

History Talk

Article Images

Return to "The West without Water: What Can Past Droughts Tell Us About Tomorrow?"

Mono Lake, California Mono Lake, showing calcium carbonate “tufa tower” formations that originally formed beneath the lake but are now exposed after the water level dropped. The eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada range is shown in the background. (Photo by D. J. DePaolo.)	"Save Our Water" Logo California's "Save Our Water" Program attempts to stave off effects of potential drought.	Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde The famed Cliff Palace housed the ancient Pueblo Peoples of Mesa Verde.
Donner Lake, California Donner Lake, Sierra Nevada Range, California (Photo taken by B. Lynn Ingram).	Dust Bowl, 1930s Drought during the late 1920s gave way to the Dust Bowl, one of the United States' worst climate tragedies. A dust storm approaches a town in Stratford, Texas in this photograph.	Folsom Lake Folsom Lake, from California Department of Water Resources' album: "What Drought Looks Like."
Folsom Lake, 2014 A bone-dry boat dock. Photo taken from California Department of Water Resources' album: "What Drought Looks Like."	Giant Sequoia Trunk Section A cut section of a Giant Sequoia trunk from Tuolumne Grove, Yosemite National Park, California, showing AD dates of fires (photo courtesy of Thomas Swetnam, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona).	Hohokam This hiking trail covers part of a canal the Southwestern Hohokam built in 700 CE. The trail leads to Indian Mesa
John Wesley Powell In 1869, John Powell became the first white man to lead an expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. Here he stands with a Paiute Native American during the Colorado expedition circa 1871.	John Wesley Powell, 1869 This stamp commemorates John Wesley Powell's 1869 expedition down the Colorado River. He remarked on the arid conditions of the west in his Report on the Land of the Arid Regions of the United States.	Lake Powell, 2006 In the Southwestern United States, Lake Powell, the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, is at 44 percent of capacity.
Lake Powell, 2009 Lake Powell, in 2009, showing a white calcium carbonate “bathtub ring” exposed after a decade of drought lowered the level of the reservoir to 60 percent of its capacity. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.)	Lake Tahoe The beautiful Emerald Bay of Lake Tahoe.	Marsh Sediment, San Francisco Bay Frances Malamud-Roam and Anders Noren coring marsh sediments adjacent to San Francisco Bay (Photo taken by B. Lynn Ingram)
Montezuma Well The Montezuma well of the Sinagua is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.	Montezuma’s Castle Montezuma’s Castle, a cliff dwelling occupied by the Sinagua, located just north of Camp Verde in central Arizona. (Photo by B. Lynn Ingram.)	Oroville Lake, 2014 Oroville Lake, from California Department of Water Resources' album: "What Drought Looks Like."
Pueblo Cliff Dwelling, Colorado Ancient pueblo cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde, southwestern Colorado. (Photo taken by B. Lynn Ingram)	Sacramento Valley, California Frances Malamud-Roam, B. Lynn Ingram, and Christina Brady coring a small oxbow lake in the Sacramento Valley, California. (Photo taken by Anders Noren, University of Minnesota, LaCore curator.)	San Francisco Bay, California Sediment core taken by Frances Malamud-Roam and B. Lynn Ingram from beneath San Francisco Bay, California. (Photo taken by B. Lynn Ingram.)
Shasta Lake, 1965 A photo of Shasta Lake and Shasta Dam (part of the California's Central Valley Project), with the lake at its fullest in 1965.	The Colorado River A study during the early 1940s produced a 600-year record of Colorado River flow and revealed several sustained periods of low water flow.	West Walker River, Sierra Nevada Range An ancient tree stump submerged in the West Walker River, eastern Sierra Nevada. (Photo courtesy of D. J. DePaolo.)

Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Stanton Foundation.

College of Arts and Sciences