The Western Waters Item of the week is a report issued in June 1997, “Estimation of groundwater velocities from Yucca Flat to the Amargosa Desert using geochemistry and environmental isotopes, June 1997″ From the report description, “Geochemical modeling techniques were applied to groundwater flowpaths from Yucca Flat on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) to the Amargosa Desert, south of the NTS to estimate groundwater flow velocities for independent comparison to velocities calculated by other methods. The groundwater flowpaths examined considered flow in the carbonate aquifer beneath Yucca and Frenchman flats mixing with flow from carbonate aquifers east and southeast of the NTS and discharging at wells south of the NTS border. The approach used the computer codes WATEQ4F and NETPATH to calculate chemical speciation, determine the saturation state of mineral phases, and simulate mixing and the possible chemical reactions along the flowpath.”

This report comes to the Western Waters Digital Library from UNLV’s Historic Landscape of Nevada Collection.
View the collection at UNLV Libraries to access additional tools for educators and suggested primary source sets of digital materials.

Browse the Western Waters Digital Library for more information on:

groundwater
groundwater velocities
geochemistry

From the introduction, “Restoring Harmony to the Klamath River Basin,” by Roger E. Meiners and Lea- Rachel Kosnik, addresses the conflict over water that torments the once- peaceful region around the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California. In addition to analyzing the causes of the turmoil, this paper offers specific suggestions for ending the discord.”

This item comes to Western Waters from The Oregon Institute of Technology’s Klamath Waters Digital Library

View more items in the Western Waters Digital Library on the Klamath River Basin.

Enjoy the mid-century design of this historic pamphlet from 1950, “What CVA means to you, the Columbia is our river”

This pamphlet was authored by The League for CVA and was designed to promote the creation of a Columbia Valley Administration organization. The pamphlet begins, “The Columbia is a river of gold–in terms of potential resources the RICHEST RIVER IN THE WORLD. Its waters and surrounding lands contain an almost inexhaustible supply of benefits, natural riches that are the key to the greatness of the Pacific Northwest.”

This item comes to Western Waters from the University of Washington’s Grand Coulee Dam collection, which “contains images of photographs and text documenting the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam, built during the first half of the twentieth century. Included are images of the Works Progress Administration work camps, land clearing activities, the moving of towns, and the dam construction itself. Also presented are documents outlining arguments both for and against this enormous undertaking.”

View the Grand Coulee Dam collection at the University of Washington University Libraries.

View more pamphlets from the Western Waters Digital Library

The Western Waters Digital Library item that we are featuring this week is a photo of a dragline backfilling spillbox, taken in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in the spring of 1931. This item comes to Western Waters from Utah State University’s Bear River Watershed collection. From the photo’s description, “George E. Mushback and Mr. Diffenbach inspect backfilling of spillbox being done by dragline, an excavating machine that fills in areas by dragging dirt towards itself.”

See more items from WWDL about the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Read reports and technical papers about the Bear River Basin

View more photos documenting dragline excavation.

We have new collections from the UW College of Forest Resources Water Center and a new maps collection from the University of the Pacific focused on the San Joaquin Sacramento Delta.

The item of the week is a Lighthouse at junction of the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers. This is a tinted postcard that comes to the Western Waters Digital Library from the University of Oregon’s Columbia River Basin collection. The description for the item is, “A tinted photographic postcard. The legend in red at upper left reads “Lighthouse at junction of the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers.” The lighthouse, which stands in the middle of the water, is a wooden structure with a metal roof. The wooden pilings and beams supporting the living quarters are built in a square, but the building itself is octagonal. On the lowest level is a fenced deck surrounding the building; the level above that features four tall gable windows, one looking to each of the four directions. At the top is a fenced widow’s walk. On the left side of the building can be seen a lantern and a tall pole, perhaps a lightening rod. On the shore beyond the lighthouse are trees. The lighthouse was built near Kelly Point in 1895. In 1935 the lighthouse was electrified and no longer needed keepers to light the lantern or ring the fog bell. It was sold and moved during the 1940s and burned during the 1950s.”

Additional Resources

View more historic postcards in the Western Waters Digital Library
Western Waters Columbia River Basin Research Guide

This letter comes to the Western Waters Digital Library from Arizona State University’s Colorado River Central Arizona Project collection.

View more resources from the Western Waters Digital Library on the Colorado River Compact.

You can view other Western Waters materials on the Platte River here.

Visit UNL’s Platte River Basin project page for more information about this collection.

Visit hiddenwater.org for interactive maps and galleries for different drainage systems.

The collections list has also been updated with the many new collections we’ve added recently.