Description: Between 1896 and 1919, air pollution from large-scale copper smelting in northern California's Shasta County severely damaged crops and timber in a 1,000-square-mile region, completely devastating a core area of 200 square miles. The poisons from these smelters created the nation's largest man-made desert--a shocking contrast to the beauty of the surrounding Cascades and Trinity Alps. Offering the drama and pathos of a David-and-Goliath tale in which Goliath wins and strides on, Murder of a Landscape makes compelling reading for anyone interested in the industrial, political, and environmental history of the American West.
Brief description:
Khaled J. Bloom is an independent scholar and sixth-generation Californian with family roots in both mining and farming. In addition to articles on agricultural history, medical history, and historical ecology, he is author of The Mississippi Valley's Great Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878.