Humans required local ecological knowledge of the Red River basin when making community decisions. Many cultures ignored that knowledge causing serious social, political, and economic repercussions.
The introductory chapter places the narrative within a historiographical and theoretical framework. Chapter two explores natural history, archeological records, Amerindian resources, and colonial Spanish and French written records to prove that humans have been agents of change in the upper Red River basin for millennia.
Chapter three illustrates the nation state's attempts from 1803 to 1860 to make the environment and cultures of the Red River basin more "legible."
Chapter four details the contest for the plains of the upper Red River. Comancheros, buffalo skinners, traders, cattlemen, and Plains Indians all shared in that attempted conquest of nature and empire building.
Chapter five focuses on vernacular architecture and human communities of the Red River. A review of the settlers' actions allows for a ground level assessment of the interaction between society and environment.
Chapter six, "Making Indians Follow The White Man's Road," looks at the contest for Amerindian resources from the reservation period through allotment (1867-2005). The underlying conflict between American Indians and Anglo Americans stemmed from the conflict over resources on the Red Rolling Plains, especially the Wichita Mountains.
The seventh chapter entitled "The Irrigated Valley" moves to the Texas side of the river and details development of the Big Wichita River, a major tributary of the upper Red River, during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1880-1930). The chapter underscores the relationship between local elites and political ecology, the intersection at which history, politics, and ecology meet.
Chapter eight, "An Incomplete Conquest," explores the real ecological limitations "upbuilders" faced when trying to attain an agrarian vision for development of the Big and Little Wichita rivers (1930-2001).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-05132009-163119 |
| Date | 13 May 2009 |
| Creators | Anderson, Jahue |
| Contributors | Todd Kerstetter |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-05132009-163119/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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