Audio
Of Reclamation and Recreation
Transcript
Of Reclamation and Recreation Wayside Description The background photograph shows two large, grey pipes running down a wooded hillside and ending in a cement building with water behind it. Across the pipes half way down the slope is a bridge. There are powerlines running left to right across the photo with a large tower supporting them. The following text is on the left side of the wayside. Every time we bet on the future of this country, we win. Every time we develop the water resources, [or] we set aside a recreation area, we can be sure they will be used.” U.S.President John Fitzgerald Kennedy spoke these words at the dedication of Whiskeytown Dam in 1963. The lake before you, and the dam one mile to the left of where you now stand, was constructed as part of the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project. Whiskeytown Lake and the Clair A. Hill Whiskeytown Dam are part of an expansive system of dams, reservoirs, canals, tunnels, and hydroelectric powerplants created between the late 1930s and mid-1960s. The purpose of these features? To provide water, power, and flood control to California’s Central Valley, particularly farmers. At first, outdoor recreation was mostly an afterthought for the Central Valley Project. But with the nation’s economic boom after World War II, millions of citizens gained increasing amounts of leisure time. Outdoor activities such as camping, picnicking, boating, and hiking were sought out like never before. To support the country’s outdoor recreation wants and needs, and also to conserve land and water, the Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson administrations helped facilitate an unprecedented expansion to the National Park System. One of the dozens of new federal parks established in the 1960s? Whiskeytown National Recreation Area! Photo Inset On the right side of the wayside is an inset photograph. The photo is black and white showing four men walking. The following text accompanies the inset photo. James K. Carr Father of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Walking aside President Kennedy in the photo above is Redding native James K. Carr. The politically connected Carr was a primary force behind the 1965 establishment of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. A water and power engineer with an interest in conservation, Carr served as one of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall’s righthand men in the early 1960s. The park’s James K. Carr Trail to Whiskeytown Falls honors his legacy. JFK Library Photo.
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Audio description of the wayside, "Of Reclimation and Recreation" at the Visitor Center
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