Wac bennett dam history in attapeu ny

The W. A. C. Bennett Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada.

Pollon and Shirlee Smith Matheson. Calgary: Detselig, When the history of twentieth-century British Columbia is written, the s and s will be remembered as the decades of megaprojects. The Arrow Lakes, Mica, and Revelstoke dams on the Columbia River, the Bennett and Canyon dams on the Peace River, the southeast and northeast coal projects and the extension of the British Columbia Railway to Fort Nelson were all built in these "decades of development.

Each of these projects grew out of its own political and economic context, involved very large capital expenditures both public and private , and all were undertaken in the name of progress and economic opportunity. Each had, and continues to have, major socio-economic and environmental consequences for the people and places in which it is located.

In This Was Our Valley, Earl Pollon and Shirlee Matheson write in a semi-popular way about the inter-relations betwen the upper Peace River and those frontier people who went to live in its valley in the s and the changes brought about by the construction and operation of the Bennett and Canyon dams. The book contains a number of photographs some poorly reproduced but has no index or collated list of references.

The legibility of the maps on the inside cover leaves much to be desired in a book in which, particularly in the first section, the reader is taken all over these northern parts of B. In Part One, Earl Pollon chronicles his life on the frontiers of settlement during the period In fourteen chapters he describes his experiences as trapper, carpenter, prospector, hauler, lime burner, and more in places as far afield as Germansen Landing to the west and the Sikanni Chief River to the north.

We visit landmarks around British Columbia and share the history and events about them.

Stylistically he has some difficulty in making a cohesive narrative out of his recollections, and one often wishes that he would move away from his experiences somewhat and provide the reader with some background about his family and the politico-economic circumstances of the region. Nevertheless, his stories and a selection of his poems bring the reader close to the Peace River and the fascinating backgrounds and the caring values of his tough frontier neighbours and associates.

In Part Two, Shirlee Matheson narrates aspects of her life as a "newcomer" to Hudson's Hope and documents many elements of the planning, construction, and operation of the Peace River power project, drawing on her experience as secretary to the Hudson's Hope Improvement District. Her twenty chapters deal with two major themes : the economic potential of Hudson's Hope and the upper Peace Valley and the impact of the power project upon the river, its valley, and people.

Under the first theme she reviews the potential of coal and other minerals, the prospects of resource processing industries and the need for road and rail links to markets.