Not included in the cost/benefit analysis of Corps of Engineers water resource projects are the economic, social and emotional costs of those who are dispossessed of their land.
China’s monster dam projects displaced millions of farmers and covered hundreds (or more) villages. They caused the extinction of China’s 20-foot-long paddlefish species, a close relative of our own Polyodon spathula. Truman Dam and Reservoir didn’t cause the extinction of the smaller American paddlefish, but it did necessitate development of an artificial breeding program by the Missouri Department of Conservation. That dam destroyed the spawning beds of the spoonbill, as they are called by locals.
There was an uncounted human cost as well. Hundreds of families lost their land to Truman reservoir. Not only was their compensation based on land sale records, in many cases old (some farms had not changed hands in generations) providing misleading valuations, but comparable acreage was not available to replace their livelihood of farming. So they were essentially put out of business. Some of those operations had been in business for a century or more and had supported successive generations of a family. During that time many memories were formed and family traditions established, which were now severed.
Melanie Pruitt with her grandparents on the Sac River in 1980.
Praise to George Eastman whose 1-A Kodak first made the family snapshot feasible. Photos like this have preserved a record of pleasant, fleeting moments that might be forgotten without a picture.
Thanks to Melanie Pruitt for permission to reproduce this lovely image.
We received an email recently that poignantly describes this emotional cost of losing land to ill-justified “multipurpose” dam and reservoir schemes. With permission, here is the email from Melanie Pruitt with a wonderful snapshot of young Melanie with her grandparents on the Sac River arm of the headwaters of Truman Reservoir:
I read Damming the Osage from cover to cover in 72 hours after receiving. … It was beyond amazing. I have spent YEARS trying to explain to people the impact of this situation. And everyone always says, but it’s for flood control. My family was very much impacted by this and lost land to the Corps, but not nearly as much as many, many others impacted. I haven’t stopped talking about your book, as I now can fully explain to people something I always believed in but never knew the whole story or how to explain.
Attaching a pic of me with my grandparents from summer of 1980 on the Sac river, taken just west of new bridge on 82 highway in Osceola. The lake hadn’t completely filled yet (close though) but the color of the water was still blue, not brown. That’s what’s chilling. It’s the last pic I have of me and my grandparents together, as my grandpa passed away in January 1981. I could go on for eternity on what this river means to me, my family, etc. and the impacts of everything.
The Sac is now also dammed farther upstream at Stockton.
The story of Osceola and many of the colorful characters who lived there (including the James and Younger brothers) is woven through our 304-page book. It is now available for $17.50, half the original price, from our website