PODCAST · society
ReThink History: Rivers Reborn
by ReThink History
For three-quarters of a century, Americans threw concrete across the great salmon rivers of the West — the Columbia, the Snake, the Elwha, the Klamath — in the conviction that taming a wild river was part of the nation's destiny. The dams delivered cheap power, irrigated deserts, and tamed floods. They also blocked the salmon, drowned Native fishing grounds that had fed people for ten thousand years, and broke treaties the United States had promised to keep forever. Rivers Reborn is a 12-part ReThink History series on how that happened and how it was undone: why the rivers were dammed and the Manifest-Destiny faith behind it; who profited financially and who profited politically; the full ledger of what the dams gave and what they cost; the drowning of Celilo Falls and the broken treaties; and the hard question of why the dead salmon rivers of the Atlantic, a century earlier, never taught the West the lesson — ignorance, indifference, or greed. Then the turn: how Native nations who nev
Episodes
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Rivers Reborn: What a River Is For
Years ago the host paddled a reservoir directly over the drowned campsite of his childhood. Today the dam is gone, the reservoir is gone, and his granddaughter will see the fall salmon return where the lake once stood. This finale closes the circle and renders the series' verdict — how much of…
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The River Answers: Salmon Return in Weeks
Scientists expected the salmon to take years. They came back within weeks, spawning above the old dam sites for the first time in over a century. This episode reports the startling Klamath recovery and the rebuilt Elwha — then turns to the unfinished business: the four Lower Snake River dams…
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Taking Them Down: The Tribes Who Freed the Rivers
At the damming the tribes were ignored; at the removal they led, and cold economics became their ally. This episode tells the two great takedowns: the Lower Elwha Klallam's fight that freed the Elwha (2011–2014), and the Yurok, Karuk, and Klamath Tribes' campaign that removed four Klamath dams in...
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The Turn: How Dam Removal Became Possible
For most of a century, taking a dam down was unthinkable — then four forces converged. The 1974 Boldt decision restoring treaty tribes' right to half the salmon, the Endangered Species Act, aging-dam economics, and the 1999 breaching of Maine's Edwards Dam, the first federal order to remove a...
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The Eastern Ghost: The Lesson the West Ignored
A century before the West dammed its rivers, New England's mill dams had already wiped the salmon out of the Connecticut and the Merrimack. The lesson was on the books. This episode asks the series' sharpest question — why didn't it carry west? — and weighs three readings fairly: ignorance,...
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Ceremony of Tears: The Drowning of Celilo Falls
On a morning in 1957 the gates of a new dam closed and Celilo Falls, one of the oldest fishing sites in North America, vanished in hours. This episode centers the treaty question the dams raised and mostly ignored: the 1855 Stevens treaties' 'usual and accustomed' fishing right, the 1940 Ceremony...
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The Ledger: What the Dams Gave and What They Cost
The dams delivered flood control, irrigation, and the cheapest power in America. They also blocked the salmon, warmed the water, bred toxic algae — and in 2002 left tens of thousands of dead salmon on the banks of the Klamath after irrigation diversions cut river flows during a drought. This...
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Harvesting the Reservoir: How Dams Won Elections
A ribbon-cutting on a new dam won votes; the salmon it killed had no vote, and for much of this era neither did the tribes. This episode examines who profited politically: the New Deal coalition, the public-power constituency the Bonneville Power Administration created, and the postwar…
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Follow the Money: Who Profited From Cheap Power
Cheap dam power didn't just light homes — it smelted the aluminum for Boeing's bombers and fed the plutonium works at Hanford. This episode follows the money: the 1939 Bonneville–ALCOA contract, the WWII arsenal, the Klamath Reclamation Project's 225,000 irrigated acres, and the utilities — later...
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The Great Dams: The New Deal Remakes the Columbia
In the 1930s the federal government threw the largest concrete structure in North America across the Columbia, and a poor, dark region suddenly had the cheapest electricity in America. Bonneville, Grand Coulee, the Bonneville Power Administration, and Woody Guthrie's hired anthems made the dams a...
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The Doctrine of Domination: Why America Dammed the West
To the generation that settled the arid West, a river running free to the sea looked like wasted water and unharvested power. This episode traces the idea behind the dams: Manifest Destiny reworked as an engineering faith, the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902, the rise of the Bureau of…
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A Cup of Water: A Boyhood River Lost to a Dam
As a boy, the host knelt at a Klamath tributary so thick with spawning salmon he could barely find open water to fill a cup — beside a farm already abandoned because the valley was about to be flooded by a new dam. This opening episode sets the whole series in motion and its thesis: that the...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
For three-quarters of a century, Americans threw concrete across the great salmon rivers of the West — the Columbia, the Snake, the Elwha, the Klamath — in the conviction that taming a wild river was part of the nation's destiny. The dams delivered cheap power, irrigated deserts, and tamed floods. They also blocked the salmon, drowned Native fishing grounds that had fed people for ten thousand years, and broke treaties the United States had promised to keep forever. Rivers Reborn is a 12-part ReThink History series on how that happened and how it was undone: why the rivers were dammed and the Manifest-Destiny faith behind it; who profited financially and who profited politically; the full ledger of what the dams gave and what they cost; the drowning of Celilo Falls and the broken treaties; and the hard question of why the dead salmon rivers of the Atlantic, a century earlier, never taught the West the lesson — ignorance, indifference, or greed. Then the turn: how Native nations who nev
HOSTED BY
ReThink History
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does ReThink History: Rivers Reborn have?
ReThink History: Rivers Reborn currently has 12 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is ReThink History: Rivers Reborn about?
For three-quarters of a century, Americans threw concrete across the great salmon rivers of the West — the Columbia, the Snake, the Elwha, the Klamath — in the conviction that taming a wild river was part of the nation's destiny. The dams delivered cheap power, irrigated deserts, and tamed floods....
How often does ReThink History: Rivers Reborn release new episodes?
ReThink History: Rivers Reborn has 12 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to ReThink History: Rivers Reborn?
You can listen to ReThink History: Rivers Reborn on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts ReThink History: Rivers Reborn?
ReThink History: Rivers Reborn is created and hosted by ReThink History.
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