This interview originally aired on June 2, 2020.
In the 1950s and 60s, towns across the American west were razed and relocated to make way for major hydroelectric projects. These towns were essentially drowned by the reservoirs and rivers that replaced them.
Bob Reinhardt is a history professor at Boise State University and has just begun a research project to collect oral histories of these drowned towns in Idaho. His research is being funded by a grant from Brigham Young University’s western studies program. He’ll start with towns that were erased by the Snake River, compiling stories of what these towns were like before, and what the resistance to new dams looked like.
Have a story to tell? Here's how to participate in the research.
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