River of Promise, River of Peril: The Politics of Managing the Missouri River
John E. Thorson. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.

Reviewed by David L. Kozak, associate professor of anthropology, Fort Lewis College.

    If the adage heard in the American West "water flows uphill to money" is true, it is equally true that water flows uphill to bureaucracy. The latter is poignantly demonstrated in John E. Thorson's discussion of Missouri River water politics in his aptly titled River of Promise, River of Peril. His book addresses federal water management structures via a focus on the narrowly conceived Pick-Sloan Plan, and emphasizes the nuanced cleavages and connections between tribal, federal, state, and local water interests. This work will appeal to anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, historians, community planners, and others concerned with agriculture, federal, state, regional, and tribal politics, water management as it affects the above, and the political economy of the Missouri River. His rhetorical style is clear, knowledgeable, even understated, which I admire, because Thorson tells his story without theoretical pretension or polemics.

    The book is divided into nine chapters that largely follow a chronology of this river's management. Seven useful appendices supplement the text. The initial two chapters provide a geographic and demographic sketch of the Missouri River basin, outlining its resources and how the river has been and is used by its human residents. Chapters three through six offer an analysis of the history of water conservation and river development, the ultimate implementation of the Pick-Sloan Plan, and the various successes and failures of this nationalization process. Chapter seven compares the failures of Missouri River management with new and successful patterns of water management developed in other parts of the country. Chapter eight brings the most recent water politics regarding the Missouri River basin up to date (1994) and chapter nine concludes on a cautiously optimistic note with regard to future water management prospects.

    Thorson examines the processes of dividing the river along economic development, flood water management, navigational, and tribal lines. He points out the difficulties and pitfalls of making agreements among and between the ten states, twenty-five tribes, numerous federal agencies, and countless counties all based on narrowly defined economic criteria. Effective intergovernmental water management proved elusive and the passage of the Pick-Sloan Plan of 1944 eventually demonstrated the failure of the vertical (top-down) aspects of the federalist system. Such top-down management has resulted in a maze of inequitable allocations and distributions, of dam-building projects, electricity production and flood control projects that have largely favored the lower basin states (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, and Nebraska) and non-Indian interests. This has generated intra-basin conflicts (including lawsuits) among the various horizontally competing governments (state to state, county to county, reservation to state, etc.) with a stake in the water. He further notes the relative disregard for the numerous native communities who have Winter's Doctrine water rights. Thorson suggests that the "commodity" (i.e., economic) orientation to water, the inability for the various political entities to generate their own resolutions, and the heavy-handed federalist approach are at fault for the failure of Pick-Sloan and reasonable management.

    In its place, Thorson suggests a "New Pick-Sloan Plan" for the basin that rests on the principles of conservation, equity, and ecology. Instead of viewing the river as a commodity in terms of acre-feet of water to be sold and allocated like so many widgets, or divided into so many kilowatt hours of electricity, agricultural produce, or barge tonnage (p. 182), Thorson argues that the view of the river basin must undergo fundamental change. He suggests that water should be used carefully rather than wastefully, that all water users should be treated equally and fairly in negotiation and distribution, and that the watershed should be seen as an integrated, ecological system, one that demands respect. In other words, he argues for a shift from the Missouri River as a commodity value that serves narrow economic interests to that of a community value (see Brown and Ingram 1987) that serves a more inclusive constituency. Moreover, this implies the need of connecting the disparate and fragmented interests that comprise the basin on a more equal footing.

    If there is a gap in Thorson's book it is his rather cursory treatment of native water rights. While this book is not an ethnography nor is native water rights his primary subject (see McCool 1994), I did find his coverage of this lacking, though not damagingly so. Some might also see a gap in his general absence of theorizing. He does evoke the work of the sociologist Amitai Etzioni, but this seems forced and is not necessary for his argument. Rather, he garners evidence that is effective in conveying the need for a community (horizontal) approach in water management. Therefore, I am not troubled by this omission as it does not adversely affect his ability to teach us important lessons about water politics in general and the "Big Muddy" in particular. In sum, I learned a great deal from this work and can heartily recommend it to anyone interested in this subject material. I predict that "River of Promise, River of Peril" will become essential reading for those concerned with water politics and how this politics applies to the Missouri River.

References Cited

Brown, F. Lee, and Helen M. Ingram
  1987  Water and Poverty in the Southwest. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

McCool, Daniel
  1994  Command of the Waters: Iron Triangles, Federal Water Development, and Indian Water. Tucson: University of
            Arizona Press.