California--Hetch Hetchy Valley

President Roosevelt writes John Muir about the city of San Francisco trying to gain water rights to the Hetch Hetchy valley. Roosevelt will do what he can to protect the great “natural beauties of this country.” However, the citizens of the area are not standing against the Hetch Hetchy project. Roosevelt worries that he will be seen as interfering in the development of California.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt shared Robert Underwood Johnson’s indignation at Columbia College’s acceptance of money “for such a purpose from such a knave,” (Joseph Pulitzer had recently proposed the creation of a school of journalism at Columbia College). Roosevelt tells Johnson that he was extremely doubtful about the Hetch Hetchy matter, but ultimately decided he had to stand behind the judgement of Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-17

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Interior Garfield to look at a letter from John Muir. Roosevelt believes it is not necessary to decide about the Hetch Hetchy Valley at present.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt looks at issues related to Hetch Hetchy Valley, California. He will consider the options that John Muir presented: damming Lake Eleanor and letting San Francisco get water from the Tuolumne tributaries.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Robert Underwood Johnson thanks President Roosevelt for his harsh words regarding Joseph Pulitzer, and expresses disbelief that Columbia College would accept the promise of money to fund a school of journalism “from such a knave.” Johnson and his wife look forward to meeting Roosevelt and his wife at Vice President Charles Fairbank’s house soon. Johnson’s differing opinion regarding Hetch Hetchy has been communicated to Roosevelt, Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, and Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield previously, and he warns that the matter will not end soon and will continue to grow.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-15

Creator(s)

Johnson, Robert Underwood, 1853-1937

Mark W.T. Harvey begins his review of Douglas Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior by noting that it is a very large book with much to say, but Harvey asserts that in his zeal to convey the story of Theodore Roosevelt as a conservation crusader, Brinkley tries to cover too much, provides too many details, and overwhelms the reader with his accumulation of facts and anecdotes. Harvey also argues that this barrage of knowledge comes at the expense of analysis and interpretation, and he believes that Brinkley lets his enthusiasm for his subject overtake the need for a critical perspective. Harvey contends that Brinkley does not adequately explore what terms like conservation, preservation, and wilderness meant in Roosevelt’s time and how Roosevelt acted to fulfill the meaning of these designations. Although he faults Brinkley for making Roosevelt too much of “a conservation hero,” Harvey concludes his review with praise for Brinkley for raising the profile of Roosevelt as an unrestrained lover of nature and a bold leader in the fight to conserve the nation’s natural resources.

The front cover illustration of The Wilderness Warrior, one of Roosevelt’s bird lists, two photographs of the Elkhorn Ranch, and seven photographs of Roosevelt accompany the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2011

William N. Tilchin provides an introduction to former Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal editor John A. Gable’s last major public address of October 23, 2004. Tilchin notes that Gable’s speech called for a comprehensive study of Theodore Roosevelt and conservation and that Douglas Brinkley has met that need with his 2009 book The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. The journal reprints Gable’s address in its handwritten version with Gable’s final edits added by Tilchin.

In the speech, Gable asserts that Theodore Roosevelt’s record as a conservationist and an environmentalist has not been adequately explored by historians and biographers, and he notes the work of Tweed Roosevelt in trying to correct this shortcoming. Gable also argues that Roosevelt, a man of many seeming contradictions, was both a use-conservationist and a preservationist when it came to natural resources, and he quotes Theodore Roosevelt and cites examples from his record as president to bolster his argument. 

Four photographs of Gable supplement the text. Gable’s address first appeared in volume 26, number 3, 2005 issue of the journal.

John A. Gable asserts that Theodore Roosevelt’s record as a conservationist and an environmentalist has not been adequately explored by historians and biographers, and he notes the work of Tweed Roosevelt in trying to correct this shortcoming. Gable also argues that Roosevelt, a man of many seeming contradictions, was both a use-conservationist and a preservationist when it came to natural resources, and he quotes Theodore Roosevelt and cites examples from his record as president to bolster his argument. The section also includes a text box with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, an announcement about the establishment of the Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization at Tulane University, and information about the 2005 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

The article includes ten photographs of Gable with various figures, including three Presidents of the United States–Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and George W. Bush.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2004-10-23

John F. Reiger explores the relationships that led to Theodore Roosevelt’s championing the conservation of natural resources as president. Reiger focuses most of his attention on Roosevelt’s friendship with George Bird Grinnell with whom he would found the hunting and conservation group, the Boone and Crockett Club. Reiger also notes the influence of John F. Lacey, Frank M. Chapman, and others, and he describes how Roosevelt in turn would prove to be an inspiration to future leaders in the environmental movement. Reiger examines Roosevelt’s role in preserving Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon, and he asserts that there is no contradiction in Roosevelt espousing both utilitarian and aesthetic conservation.

Two photographs of Roosevelt in Yellowstone National Park in 1903 appear in the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Barry W. Walsh provides an overview of the career of America’s first and most famous forester, Gifford Pinchot. Walsh emphasizes Pinchot’s work in government to promote forest conservation, and she examines his work with President Theodore Roosevelt and his dismissal under President William Howard Taft. Walsh also examines Pinchot’s bitter quarrel with John Muir over building a dam in the Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park, and she notes his advising President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the founding of the Yale Forest School. A photograph of Pinchot appears in the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1987

Creator(s)

Walsh, Barry W.

In this chapter excerpt from his book John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement, Stephen Fox examines efforts to expand Yosemite National Park, the battle between preservationists and conservationists over the use of forests, and provides portraits of John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, John Burroughs, and Theodore Roosevelt. He looks at the work undertaken by the conservation movement to preserve Niagara Falls, the redwood forests of California, and Mount Desert Island in Maine. Fox concludes the chapter with a look at the battle over the city of San Francisco’s desire to build a dam at the southern end of Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park. In addition to looking at the life and work of Muir, the chapter provides information on many lesser known figures in the turn of the twentieth-century conservation movement.

A listing of the officers and the members of the executive, finance, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace committees of the Theodore Roosevelt Association is found on the second page of the excerpt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1981