This is Part One of a three-part series on the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline (LPP). The first two podcasts explore the historical roots of the complex issues underpinning the pipeline proper. Here, Historian Greg Smoak joins us to discuss the origins of water law in the West, beginning with, appropriately enough, the lake’s namesake John Wesley Powell, and his populist perspective on how water in this arid region might be equitably managed. Professor Smoak is a Professor of History at the University of Utah and the director of the American West Center. He’s the author of many articles and essays on various American west topics including water rights, Native American law, environmental policy, and American Indian policy among other things. He’s the author of the book Ghost Dances and Identity: Prophetic Religion and American Indian Ethnogenesis in the Nineteenth Century.

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