Abstract:
The objectives of the study encompassed a scholarly investigation
of the appropriate archival and published literature on the Cook-Inlet-Susitna
Basin, and the publication of the articles and a book-length
history of the utilization of water resources.
There are many aspects of Alaskan history to which historians have
not given serious attention. Certainly there has been no historical
consideration of the importance of water resources in Alaska. Issues
that have involved water use have either been treated journalistically
or have been the subject of scientific monographs. The understanding of
the public can sometimes be confused by the journalistic treatment of
events while scientific reports are seldom read. There is a definite
need for a well-researched, lively survey of an important spect of
Alaska's history.
Many years passed before systematic scientific work was carried out
in the Cook Inlet-Susitna region but the uses of its water resources for
sanitation, transport, food, and power were intensified as time passed.
The region has had significance for well over 200 years to the western
peoples who settled there and, of course, for much longer to its aboriginal
inhabitants. There has never been a substantial history written
of the region, although some aspects of its past have been surveyed in a
few pub1ished works, and there has never been a historical survey of
water utilization for any region of Alaska.
Increasingly, the development of the region will involve political
decision. The public scrutiny of the environmental impact of new dam
and other construction is not likely to decline. Further petroleum
leasing in the outer continental shelf areas will raise questions of the
best uses which can be made of the water and other resources. The
wisdom of these decisions depends upon our knowledge of all of the
factors involved. An understanding of what has happened in the past as
people have made use of the water resources could contribute to the
effectiveness of judgments made in the future.
