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14 CHAlJfAUQUANS DEBATE MVTIlICAL COYOTE FLATS DAM by Mamurt MfUW~ll In a mock Congressional field hearing reminiscent of the Two Forks Dam debate, proponents, opponents, and expens of every stripe testified on the mythical Coyote Aats. a proposed dam in the arid, mountainous and fictitious state of Lincoln. The hearing was watched and conuncmed upon by prominem ghosts"r.Wrslem-water-past John Wesley PoweR MarJ Hallock Foote, William Mulholland. Sarah WinnemuCOl. and John Muir. impersonated by present day scholars. The cast of charaCters is listed at Lhe end. The Thin:! Annual American West Symposium. WESTERN RIVERS FROM GRAND WASH TO COYOTE FLATS: CONFLICT AND COMMUNITY, was sponsored by the Center for the American West and held Sep<<:mber 27 and 28 at lhe University of Colorado at Boulder. The chautauqua eurnincd the lessons of history and questions of the future of water and lhe West. It featured speeches by key figures in the development of water in the West. pornayed by scholars who have studied !heir lives and writing. 1be remainder of the conference was devoted 10 the mock hearing, the historical figures providing commentary. laler followed by commemary from the scholars lhemsclves. Opening the conference to the strains of ~CooI WalersM by Sons of the Pioneers. CU Professors Charles F. Wilkinson and Patricia Nelson limerick, Co-Chairs of the Cemer for the American West Advisory Board. welcomed lhe participants 10 lhe chautauqua. Director of the Center for lhe American West Gary H. Holthaus read from !he poem "The Ancient Ones: Water.M by Janet Lewis. rrpeaLing her question: The earth and sun were conslant.. 001 water, How could they name il with one wordT He antlOW'JCCd lhe rccipiem of the Center for the American Wesl's annual Wallace Stegner Award. author and visual anist N. Scon Mornaday. His works include The Ancien! Olild, House Made of Dawn, and An~le of Gefosc and Other Poems. The award is given for M...faithfully and evocativcJy depicting the spiril of lhe American West.. M Momaday was unable to anend the conference but sent expression of his deep appreciation for the award. John Wesley Po,,"'cll then took the stage in suspcndered dungarees, boots, one sleeve pinned across his shin. and a nowing beard. His main message, said Powell. was that the West is fundamentally different from the East. He lold his life Story and described his Civil War years, where at !he Battle of Shiloh in 1862 a nearly spenl (lall sllatt.ered his wrist and wen! up his ann. II was amputated IwO days later. He said he still could do pretty much what he wanted, and the loss of the arm helped him avoid ponage on his Colorado River trips. Powell plunged into a del3iled description of the preparations for his Great Adventure down the Colorado River, recounting his efforts to obIain fmancing and put together a crew. The expedition lefl Green River at 1:00 P.M. on May 24. 1869. lbcy departed with provisions for ten months. expecting to wimer on the River. Three months later the remnants of the expedition emerged at Grand Wash Giffs. half swved, diminished by four men and two boats. He had heard the Grand Canyon would be the worst, he said, and il was. . . . JoM wt'sJq Powt'll dt'suibt's his vallds down lhe Colorado Riwr. /' I- Acting as M.C., Major John Wesley Powell inltoduced each of lhe other hiSlorical characters. The flISt was Mary Hallock Foote, writer and illustrator of Wes~m regionallitcratUTe in the lale 18005 and early 1900s. and wife of engineer Anhur Foote. Mrs. Foote accompanied her husband from project 10 project. and sometimes her income as a writer and illustrator was a1llhat supported the family. ThrOUghOUI her speech. she returned 10 her ambiguity aboul the Wesl and the Easlemization of it. and the building over and remaking of its watct\lo'ays. In spi~ of her concerns for the open spaces. her writing oftcm romanticized the Wesl and perhaps helped bring more people 10 it. ~ From fq;. Proft'ssor CJuuI~ F. WiUin.SQII. Ct'IlUr of 1M A.m.6jcan Wltst Dir<<lOT Gary Ii. f1olthasl.s, Major JOM. Wt'sit'y PO'Wt'll. aNi Pro/usoT Patricia NdsOIt LVnujci: listCl to William Midlso/land, fo.1ajor Powell nexl introduced Los Angeles engineer WillLam Mulholland. who took the slage dressed in suspendered overalls tuCked inlO sturdy boots. with a hat on his head: he was dressed (or overseeing the building of major water projects. Mulholland immediately pointed out that his job was to bring water to the people of Los Angeles and he did what