What You See in Clear Water: Life On the Wind River Reservation

by Geoffrey O'Gara

Seventeen years ago, journalist Geoffrey O'Gara left Washington, D.C., for northwest-central Wyoming to take a job covering environmental and resource issues concerning the Rocky Mountain region. He settled on the outskirts of the Wind River Indian Reservation, and over the years became deeply attached to the land, its people, and the story of "two cultures that have been arguing for 150 years over the same beloved country, and trying to find a way to share it."

What You See in Clear Water traces the history of the reservation from its beginnings, when the Shoshone Indians signed a treaty entitling them to a region encompassing some 44 million acres, to the present, when a century and a half of cuts and revisions have reduced the reservation to 5 percent of its original size. The Shoshones have been compelled to share what remains with their traditional enemies, the Arapahos, and today, both peoples grapple with the familiar hardships of reservation life: poverty, high suicide rates, persistent health issues, and the hostility and indifference of their non-Indian neighbors. For the past two decades, much of that hostility has centered on a highly charged clash between the Indians and whites over water rights to the river that runs through the reservation.

Although O'Gara's narrative is anchored by the ongoing debate over who will decide the fate of the Wind River--and the lives of the people who depend on it--the story deftly and compassionately illuminates the larger conflict that has persisted ever since the European settlers came to the Americas. "It is the unfinished struggle between Native Americans and the whites who surround and threaten to subsume them--once a military conflict, now a cultural war, complicated after all these years by the fact that neighbors, even antagonistic neighbors, know one another in intimate and sometimes affectionate ways." And it is O'Gara's deep concern and abiding affection for the Wind River's inhabitants that give his book its power and its grace. --Svenja Soldovieri

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Native American, Native Americans, Environment

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2000

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really want to give this four as it should be read by everyone but I understand why this tends to be a textbook not a book necessarily read for pleasure.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author manages to guide the reader though a conflicting set of water resource issues on the most legally confusing of all landscapes... the Wind River Reservation. Lined up across the court-room aisle sit the anglo farmers who tap the river for irrigation and the native residents wanting to restore the "in-stream flows" to support the trout fishery.

Its a conflict the author uses to drive the story forward, but is only a single thread of a much richer story. The author interleaves the battle over water rights with the history of both the Shoshone and Arapaho and the opening of land within the reservation for white settlers. The author's love of the Wind River Reservation is evident in his first hand accounts describing the area's geography and natural history. This book succeeds by tying together the story's long and interconnected threads into a comprehensive picture of water politics.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am kind of heartbroken after reading this book, which leaves off sometime around the year 2000. Since then, there has been extensive oil and gas development on the Wind River reservation, which has contaminated aquifers near Pavilion. The book seems to accept a framework of debate which pits the rights of the tribes against the interests of white farmers, but even the farmers will get steamrolled by the resources of energy companies in the decade that follows. All this heartache over water resources, and we're all still losing the water which makes any life possible.

[Aida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geoffrey O’Gara writes with the same style as a river— a somewhat humorous similarity considering the content of his book. At points the writing is intense, fast paced and gripping and at others a slow stream of relevant fact. He meanders and wanders through subjects all while conveying the history of Wyoming water rights, almost as though through his captivating prose he has tricked you into learning. O’Gara does his best to remain neutral, yet manages to force the reader into such a direct emotional connection with every person he mentions, that by the time you reach the last few pages, you really don’t want the story to be over.

[Steven Latham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book retells the trials, court and legal battles, and troubles of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Who owns the water rights of the river? Is it the Shoshone who live on the river and use it sustain thier way of life and maintain Wyomings natural beauty? Is it the white man who uses the river to sustain his way of life and allow Wyoming to grow? Or is it both?

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mixes personal profiles of the people effected by the water conflicts in the region of the Wind Rivers Indian Reservation with the political narrative as well as scenery descriptions of the area. A little hard to follow, but well worth reading.

[Skyler Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s incredible to learn about tribal history especially when it comes to water and water rights in the west. The Wind River story is no stranger to the difficulties.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

O'Gara writes about the clash for control of water in the Western United States. This book was about Wyoming farmers wanting to keep a hold of their livelihoods. About the Shoshone and the Arapaho people on the Wind River Reservation, many who did not farm, wanting to use the water resource on their land to better their lives, and better their land along with it. Perhaps because of global warming or because demand for the water resource had increased, the water in rivers on the reservation no longer sustained the habitat to produce the trout and other game fish the reservation had before. The Shoshone and Arapaho wanted to save their rivers; they saw an opportunity to make a living by providing recreational opportunities for sportsmen to come to the reservation. The problem was the water on the reservation, according to the interpretation of the treaty establishing the Wind River Reservation, was to be used for farming; established for the Indians who were going to be taught to farm but ended up being used mostly for farming the white land outside of the reservation. The farmers feared if the Indians controlled the resource, their livelihood would suffer. They fought to maintain their control. O'Gara is a journalist and environmentalist, who worked for a local newspaper. He got to know the people. He writes from the view point of all involved (but perhaps I see him having a biased for the Indians.) He gives the history of the Arapaho and Shoshone people, and the establishment of the reservation. He sympathizes with the people, he sees the humor in circumstances, the ironies. His environmentalist love of the land shows through in his descriptions and stories. My frustration was that although the courts would seem to side with the Native Americans, Wyoming politics would intercede. The case actually went to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the decision was ignored. When the book ended in 2000, the Indians had lost their struggle. The white farmers were in control of the water. I researched on the internet to see the current status. In 2014, the headline said the 27-year-old case had finally been decided. The Native Americans on the the Wind River Reservation would be able to control their water for agriculture. How ambiguous was that? What about its use for recreation and habitat restoration? I would give this book a 4 1/2 rating.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wind River runs from the Alpine Lakes of the Continental Divide through the valleys of the Rocky Mtns. and out onto the plains of the Wind River Indian Reservation. This is the story of the battle of control over the river running through this land and the complex legal struggle over water rights. For generations it has been monopolized by white farmers for irrigation, while the Shoshone and Arapahoe contend with the depredations of reservation life and indifference of those who first took their land and gradually assumed control of their water. It's a powerful story of great relevance and guarded promise

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book answered many of the millions of questions I jabbered at Wesley during our trip to Wyoming last June about the Wind River Reservation and the intricacies of having two tribes as well as non-Indian farmers all trying to eke out a living in the same tough place.

I was sort of surprised that I didn't recognize more of the places mentioned in the book, but having only been there twice I guess it makes sense. It reminded me how huge everything is in Wyoming and made me miss it terribly.

[g0rd0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting that we fight over who owns the water. Falls right into the "How can you buy the sky" quote attributed to Chief Seattle. This book illuminates the legal fight while explaining the real life logistics of gravity's pull on water to the sea. Water rights theory, water usage practicality two different things.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my review at my blog.