WSPC06624

• File Number: 8408
• Description: Platte River Basin-River Basin General Correspondence
• State: CO
• Date: 6/1/1952
• Author: C Petrus Peterson
• Title: Bonny Dam-Address of C Petrus Peterson President of the National Reclamation Association at the Dedication of Bonny Dam
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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V ~ea of Reclamation
Region 7 052652-P44
Bldg. 46, Denver Federal Center
Denver, Colorado

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R!C~nVED

M.6Y 2 9 1952

FOR RELEASE 10 A.M.. ~"/()Jll' "'Uk
JUNE 1, 1952 ~"::.,, hllil1)tll aU""l(/)

ADDRESS OF C. PETRUS PETERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL
RECLAMATION ASSOCIATION, AT THE DEDICATION OF BONNY DAll,
AT THE DAM, SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 1952

It is a very delightful privilege to participate in oeremonies
celebrating the completion of a modern miracle changing forces of nature
from elements of destruction into agencies ministering to human welfare.
We are privileged on this occasion to share in such a celebration.
It is a current comment that we live in a period of great con-
f'ueion, There are many who assert that we live in a period or' organized
confusion. It would be much nearer the truth to say that we live in a
period of unprecedented achievement.
There continues to be a great deal of political debate on the
question of what IlIight have been if what was had not been or on the subjeot
of what IlIight now be i.t' what is were not. We c!U1 afford to disregard for
the moment such polelllics and devote our attention to a consideration of

the dramatic progress made on many fronts including the progress made in

the field of. reclamation and utilization of our natural resources.

It was a great ~, whenever it was, when the first human beings
came down out of the trees, if that is what they did, or came out of the
mountain caves, if that is what they did, or when they came out of the
Garden of Eden, and, standing on two feet, sensed a developing conscious-
ness that they possessed the innate capacity to become the masters of their
environment.

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