Utah used to have this gorgeous canyon – until the Sierra Club sacrificed it for Dinosaur National Monument

David Brower’s Glen Canyon Dam Compromise

In 1950, the U. S. wanted to build two dams on the Colorado River. One would flood Dinosaur National Monument. The other would drown a place few had seen – Glen Canyon.

David Brower of the Sierra Club fought hard to save Dinosaur with books, films, and math skills that caught government errors. In the end, he won a deal: no dam at Dinosaur, but Glen Canyon would be lost.

Only then did Brower visit Glen Canyon and see its beauty. Too late, he called it “America’s most regretted environmental mistake.”

Today, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area tells this story of a painful trade-off that changed how we think about wild places.

The Government Wanted to Flood Two Canyons in 1950

The U. S.

Bureau of Reclamation came up with a $1. 3 billion plan in 1950 called the Colorado River Storage Project.

This huge project included building several dams, with two big ones planned for Echo Park inside Dinosaur National Monument and another at Glen Canyon.

Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico backed the project because they needed to store water to meet their promises under the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

Almost nobody cared about the Glen Canyon part because very few people had seen the area or knew how pretty it was.

Home Movies Changed Everything for the Sierra Club

David Brower became Sierra Club director in 1952, mainly focused on saving well-known national parks. His mind completely changed after watching a home movie showing Dinosaur National Monument’s beautiful river canyons.

Before seeing this footage, many Sierra Club members thought the monument was just empty wasteland.

The film showed colorful canyon walls, rushing rapids, and unique rock shapes that would end up underwater if the dam was built. Brower quickly set up trips to see the area firsthand.

Twenty-Five Organizations Joined Forces Against the Dam

Brower brought together 25 conservation groups including the Wilderness Society and Audubon Society to fight the Echo Park Dam.

The movement grew after Bernard DeVoto wrote a strong article called “Shall We Let Them Ruin Our National Parks? ” in the Saturday Evening Post in 1950.

The groups warned that building a dam in a national monument would start a bad trend for growth in protected areas. They made films, published books, and bought newspaper ads to show Americans what was at risk.

Ninth-Grade Math Tripped Up Government Engineers

At a January 1954 congressional hearing, Brower challenged the Bureau’s water evaporation math. Using what he called “ninth-grade math,” he found the engineers made a big mistake.

They got the difference in water loss between the Echo Park and Glen Canyon sites wrong by over 140,000 acre-feet per year.

The Bureau commissioner had to admit the error in front of Congress, which helped the conservation groups look more trustworthy.

Committee members noticed when Brower showed that the government engineers “cannot add, subtract, multiply, or divide.”

Rafting Trips Showed Americans What They Stood to Lose

The Sierra Club set up rafting trips through Dinosaur’s canyons in 1953 and 1954 to prove the rivers were safe for fun and to show off the area’s beauty.

They followed this with a book called “This Is Dinosaur,” edited by Wallace Stegner and published by Knopf in 1955 when the fight was at its peak.

Big newspapers like the New York Times and Los Angeles Times ran long stories about the dam fight.

Public opinion began to change as more Americans saw photos and read about the amazing landscapes that would go underwater.

Saving Dinosaur Monument Meant Sacrificing Glen Canyon

By 1954, the Bureau of Reclamation backed off from the Echo Park plan because of growing public pushback and political pressure.

Environmental leaders said building a bigger dam at Glen Canyon would provide all the needed water storage while keeping Dinosaur National Monument safe.

The problem was that Brower and other Sierra Club leaders hadn’t actually visited Glen Canyon before agreeing to this trade-off.

Very few conservationists knew that Glen Canyon was just as beautiful as Dinosaur Monument, if not more so.

Congress Passed a Law with Far-Reaching Consequences

On April 11, 1956, Congress approved the Colorado River Storage Project Act with Echo Park Dam taken out of the plans.

The new law included words stating “no dam or reservoir constructed under authorization of the Act shall be within any National Park or Monument.”

The Glen Canyon Dam got approved at a higher height to make up for the water storage that would have come from Echo Park.

Environmental groups celebrated their win for the national park system while missing what they gave up at Glen Canyon.

Brower Saw Glen Canyon Too Late to Save It

Only after the deal was done did Brower visit Glen Canyon and realize what a terrible mistake he’d made.

He found hidden springs, magical side canyons, and sculpted rock formations including spots called Music Temple and Cathedral in the Desert.

Unlike other sections of the Colorado River with rough rapids, the water flowed gently through this canyon, creating a peaceful paradise.

After seeing it, Brower declared that Glen Canyon Dam would become “America’s most regretted environmental mistake.

Construction Started Despite Last-Minute Opposition

Glen Canyon Dam construction began in summer 1956 with Brower and the Sierra Club trying to stop it. A U.S. Geological Survey report by Luna Leopold stated that Hoover Dam already provided enough water storage, making Glen Canyon Dam unnecessary.

But environmental leaders couldn’t halt the project because the political momentum was too strong after the compromise deal.

The dam was finished in 1963, and Lake Powell began filling, eventually flooding 186 miles of Colorado River canyon.

A Beautiful Book Documented What America Lost

The Sierra Club published a photography book called “The Place No One Knew” in 1963 as Glen Canyon disappeared under rising water.

Photographer Eliot Porter captured 72 stunning color images of the canyon’s beauty before most Americans even knew it existed.

The photos were printed on special Kromekote paper “to achieve maximum brilliance and fidelity. ” The book served as both a memorial for the lost canyon and a warning about future dam projects.

The Compromise Created a “No Compromise” Movement

The Glen Canyon deal became a powerful symbol that taught environmental activists about the dangers of political compromise.

Brower fell into depression over the loss and adopted increasingly radical environmental positions, eventually leaving the Sierra Club. More militant groups like Earth First! formed later with the motto “No Compromise in the Defense of Mother Earth.”

The canyon’s loss taught environmentalists valuable lessons they used to successfully fight proposed dams in the Grand Canyon in later years.

Visiting Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah

You can learn about the controversial Glen Canyon Dam at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center on Highway 89, which has free entry and opens daily 9am-5pm. Dam tours cost $5 for adults and $2.50 for kids 7-17, but you need advance reservations. Tours last 45 minutes with elevator rides down 110 and 528 feet.

Security rules ban bags and food, but cameras and clear water bottles are okay. Relief maps show the entire flooded canyon area.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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