Damming the Colorado : The Rise of the Lower Colorado River Authority, 1933-1939

Before there was a Lower Colorado River Authority, the Colorado River cut across Central Texas free and unfettered by artificial structures. But the river could be unpredictable and dangerous. In the early years of the twentieth century there were numerous attempts to harness and develop the river. Some Texans desperately wanted private enterprise to achieve that goal, but the job proved to be larger than the resouces of the private sector. What emerged in the mid-1930s was a cooperative federal-state approach that created controversy yet results.