Unruly Waters: A Social and Environmental History of the Brazos River by Kenna Lang Archer (review)

In Unruly Waters, Kenna Lang Archer provides an innovative and engaging study of a river through the lenses of social and environmental history. Although similar to other histories of rivers and watersheds, it is mostly about American faith in technology and progress. Steering away from the details of structures and regulations, Archer focuses on the cultural impact of the struggle to control the Brazos River.

Keeping a dangerous rhythm of devastating floods and debilitating droughts, the river's sediment-laden channels are meandering, filled with snags and sandbars, too shallow for consistent navigation. In spite of modern technology and partial completion of a few projects, the people of the Brazos watershed never managed to control its waters. They also never stopped believing in eventual success. this persistence and faith in technology, even in the face of repeated failure, indelibly shaped the culture of those living along its banks.

Archer describes the river as a cultural bridge, like Texas itself, between distinctly southern and western American regions. These two socioeconomic worldviews defined approaches to development of the river over time. Likewise, a changing national narrative regarding resources and their uses influenced plans and projects on the Brazos River. This watershed thus becomes a microcosm of a larger history of interaction between humans and river environments in the United States.

Beginning with a brief discussion of indigenous and then Spanish colonial interaction with the river, the author focuses her study on the years between 1821 and 1980, during which most development efforts occurred. In the early part of the nineteenth century, most immigrants settled along the lower part of the river, replicating southeastern plantation culture. Fertile soils of the Brazos watershed seemed perfect for agriculture and the river for the transportation of goods. One of the first major projects was an effort to construct an accessible shipping port, but sedimentation problems and regular flooding made almost constant dredging necessary and very costly. By the 1890s efforts shifted to the middle region, where the river might be easier to control. Projects there again focused on navigation, but erosion and other geological challenges to the proposed lock-and-dam system overran reasonable costs.

By the 1930s attention shifted both to a new region and a new motivation. From 1929 to 1958, the author describes efforts to develop the upper river region with a primary focus on power generation, along with flood and drought control. Abandoning efforts to make the river navigable, developers planned dams and reservoirs. This shift was also a cultural one, reflecting the national focus on the triumph of man over nature and symbolized by big dams and grand projects. Archer sees this era as the clearest demonstration of optimism and faith in the ability of technology to control the devastating flooding of the river. A few dams were constructed but most projects were eventually abandoned because of cost and geological challenges.

Archer argues that between the 1960s and 1980, the vision shifted again to a much larger one beyond the watershed and even the state of Texas. Reflecting a growing concern over population increases and pressures on water supplies, plans for river development included intrastate, interstate, even international water transfers. Although none of these schemes were ever developed, the discussions surrounding them illuminate conflicting interests and political barriers to water planning. In the end, most attempts to control the Brazos River failed because of geology and cost. However, faith in the power of technology to harness natural resources remained intact, clearly shaping the regional culture.

The work is well researched and clearly argued. In some places, the author uses literature, songs, poems, art, and folktales to examine the cultural impact of the Brazos River on regional identity. This deliberate turn to cultural artifacts supports her central argument that the struggle with the Brazos River is at the bedrock of regional culture. Additionally, the author discusses power relationships and how...