Dividing Western Waters: Mark Wilmer and Arizona V. California

by August, Jack L., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780875653549
• ISBN10: 0875653545
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-30
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

The Scopes Monkey Trial, the Sacco and Vanzetti case, Brown v. Board of Education, and even subsequent televised high-profile murder trials pale in comparison to Arizona v. California, argues author Jack August in Dividing Western Waters, August's look at Arizona's herculean legal and political battle for an equitable share of the Colorado River. To this day Arizona v. California is still influential. By the time Mark Wilmer settled in the Salt River Valley in the early 1930s, he realized that four basic commodities made possible civilization in the arid West: land, air, sunshine, and water. For Arizona, the seminal water case, Arizona v. California, the longest Supreme Court case in American history (1952-1963), constituted an important step in the construction of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a plan crucial for the development of Arizona's economic livelihood. The unique qualities of water framed Wilmer's role in the history of the arid Southwest and defined his towering professional career. Wilmer's analysis of the Supreme Court case caused him to change legal tactics and, in so doing, he changed the course of the history of the American West.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Midwest to Southwest	p. 1
The Firm and the River	p. 19
A Question of Relevance	p. 33
Arizona Adrift	p. 43
Arizona v California	p. 59
Enter Mark Wilmer	p. 73
A Brave New Water World: Law, Politics, and CAP	p. 99
That Lawyer from Arizona	p. 115
Appendices	p. 133
Notes	p. 137
Selected Bibliography	p. 159
Index	p. 167
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.