"The Thirsty Places of the Earth" : Politics, Environment, and the Contentious History of Utah's Cache County Water Conservation District no. 1
Logan, UT
Utah State University
2006
Master's thesis
This thesis explores the settlement of Cache Valley's west side with specific emphasis on Petersboro and Cache Junction. Based in dry-farming agriculture, hydrologists associated with Utah State Agricultural College and a local business conglomerate called the Syndicate pursued an irrigation district plan with the private local company Skeen and Skeen to build a canal system and water these two communities as well as their surrounding lands. However what seemed to be a success in 1920, quickly faltered due to a complex social, political, and environmental landscape which limited irrigated agriculture and ultimately led to the district's bankruptcy and landowner displacement by 1935. This thesis challenges previous notions of hegemony associated with irrigated societies while also reevaluating the homogenous success story of the irrigated Mormon West. It provides an important look into the local history of Cache Valley, while informing a larger understanding of struggle in the American West. [Author's abstract]