The Shasta Dam Boomtowns: Community Building in the New Deal Era

by Al M. Rocca

The United States Government, through the Bureau of Reclamation dam projects, facilitated as a by-product, the development of new western boomtown communities. As Boulder/Hoover Dam (Nevada)in 1931 and continuing with Parker Dam (Nevada), Grand Coulee Dam (Washington), Ft. Peck Dam (Montana) and Shasta Dam (California), thousands of unemployed Depression-worn laborers streamed to new construction sites in hopes of securing jobs. In previously uninhabited areas, new towns sprang up to support the social and commercial requirements of a large work force. Nearly everyone in these communities believed their jobs, the projects, and he newly created towns were temporary, representative of the unsettled times of the Great Depression. However, most of the New Deal era dam boomtowns successfully made the economic transition from temporary boomtown to permanently established community, and large numbers of dam workers, their spouses and families, continue to reside there. This book investigates both the creation and social development of the last of these twentieth century boomtown areas, Shasta Dam. It is a dramatic story of people young and old, fighting to survive the economic rigors of the Great Depression and build a new life in northern California.

162 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

I am currently serving as Professor Emeritus at Simpson University in Redding, California. I teach a course on Curriculum & Instruction for Secondary Teaching Candidates. I have earned an MA in geography and Phd in History. My teaching also includes United States history and world geography. As you can see from my list of books, I have written and published in both the adult non-fiction and children's historical fiction.

I have currently finished a new book titled, Endangered Species: Case #2 Sea Otter Rescue. The book takes place in and around the Monterey Aquarium and looks at the hardships faced sea otters and how aquarium efforts have helped mitigate these dangers.

I also have a major new book that is in its final stages. This book, Christopher Columbus, Pre-1492: The Birth of a Transatlantic Voyage will explain how Columbus's early voyages in the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic Ocean provided an expanding geographic understanding that provided him the confidence to conceive a transatlantic voyage to the Indies--changing the world.