Produced by Ken Verdoia

KUED Productions

Western America, Twentieth Century

Glen Canyon Dam rises seven hundred feet from the bedrock of the Colorado River, its five million yards of concrete holding back enough water to meet the needs of thirty million families for a year. Its construction inspired both proud support and fierce opposition. Glen Canyon: A Dam, Water, and the West presents a balanced and comprehensive history of the dam, from the early stages of negotiation and planning up through the salvage archaeology projects completed as the floodgates closed. Featuring interviews with central members on both sides of the debate--including David Brower, director of the Sierra Club in the 1950s, and Floyd Dominy, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation during the dam’s construction--the film fosters both appreciation and respect for the beauty and history of Glen Canyon before the dam, and understanding of the achievement and benefit of an extraordinary public works project. Only by awareness of all aspects of this massive undertaking can one begin to understand the pivotal and formative role of water to the arid lands of the American West.

Distributed for KUED, public broadcaster of the University of Utah.