Bear River Watershed Historical Bibliography
2004 Research Initiation Award Report
Investigators
Steve Sturgeon—Manuscript Curator, Special Collections & Archives,
Library and Instructional Support, Utah State University
Dan Davis—Photograph Curator, Special Collections & Archives, Library
and Instructional Support, Utah State University
Bob Parson—University Archivist, Special Collections & Archives,
Library and Instructional Support, Utah State University
Mark Buchanan—Graduate Research Assistant, Utah State University
Summary
The Bear River Basin, located in northeastern Utah, southeastern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming, is the largest stream in the western hemisphere that does not empty into the ocean. The basin includes agricultural lands, both developed and undeveloped, as well as urban areas located in the valleys along the main stem of the river and its tributaries. In addition to these private lands, the Bear River watershed includes vast amounts of federal (both Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service) and state lands that serve a range of natural and agricultural functions, each of which generates its unique impacts and demands on water resources.
With Utah State University Water Initiative funding, we compiled a 150 page Bear River Watershed Historical Bibliography that lists Bear River related information housed in Utah State University’s Special Collections and Archives, as well as in the University Libraries with links to catalog records and on-line registers. This bibliography includes references to photographs of the Bear River from the 1860s to the 1990s, manuscripts and records of local irrigation companies, research on the societal impact of reclamation development in the Bear River Basin, and the papers of Utah Governor George Dewey Clyde, who as a former USU Engineering Dean collected documentation on Bear River water conditions as far back as the 1920s.
In a follow-up Utah State University Water Initiative project funded in 2005, many of the items from this bibliography were digitized and so users can view images of the various items that are listed in the bibliography. The bibliography and the related images are available on the web at Bear River Watershed Historical Collection.
Both of these projects are designed to support the Water Initiative’s Research Observatory efforts by identifying sources of information that document changing conditions and developments in the Bear River Watershed during the past 150 years.
Contact Information
Steve Sturgeon
stephen.sturgeon‹at›usu.edu