Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Historical Question: “Progressives and Conservation: Should Hetch Hetchy Be Damned or Saved?”

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question

1. For what purpose did John Muir and the members of the Sierra Club want to preserve wilderness, such as the Yosemite Valley, in the early twentieth century?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. John Muir and the Sierra Club wanted to protect nature from development and destruction, but they did not support preservation for preservation’s sake. Instead, the Sierra Club believed that places like Yosemite Valley would be ideal escapes for harried, unhealthy city dwellers. They argued that preserving Yosemite would ensure that the “healing power of Nature” was widely accessible for urban Americans.
Incorrect. The answer is c. John Muir and the Sierra Club wanted to protect nature from development and destruction, but they did not support preservation for preservation’s sake. Instead, the Sierra Club believed that places like Yosemite Valley would be ideal escapes for harried, unhealthy city dwellers. They argued that preserving Yosemite would ensure that the “healing power of Nature” was widely accessible for urban Americans.

Question

2. Why did public opinion regarding San Francisco’s plan to get water from Hetch Hetchy change in the years following 1903, when the U.S. Secretary of the Interior forbid the city from doing so?

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B.
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Correct. The answer is a. Just three years after the Secretary of the Interior denied San Francisco the right to dam the Tuolumne River and flood Hetch Hetchy, a massive earthquake (and the fire it sparked) devastated San Francisco. The earthquake and fire killed thousands of people, and destroyed more than 80 percent of the city’s buildings. This destruction bred broad public sympathy for San Francisco, and when the city once again attempted to get water from Hetch Hetchy in 1907, its plan was approved.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Just three years after the Secretary of the Interior denied San Francisco the right to dam the Tuolumne River and flood Hetch Hetchy, a massive earthquake (and the fire it sparked) devastated San Francisco. The earthquake and fire killed thousands of people, and destroyed more than 80 percent of the city’s buildings. This destruction bred broad public sympathy for San Francisco, and when the city once again attempted to get water from Hetch Hetchy in 1907, its plan was approved.

Question

3. California progressives were dismissive of John Muir’s attempts to preserve Hetch Hetchy from commercial use, arguing that the real enemy in the fight over Hetch Hetchy was not the city of San Francisco but

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B.
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Correct. The answer is b. Progressive politicians in California supported San Francisco’s plan to get water from Hetch Hetchy, and dismissed John Muir’s attempts to block the city from doing so. However, instead of appealing to conservationist beliefs like some other advocates of this plan, these progressives argued that without access to Hetch Hetchy, the powerful private company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) would gain a monopoly over all of San Francisco’s light and power. As progressives, they deplored such concentrations of private power, and so they decried Muir as merely a pawn of PG&E’s master plan.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Progressive politicians in California supported San Francisco’s plan to get water from Hetch Hetchy, and dismissed John Muir’s attempts to block the city from doing so. However, instead of appealing to conservationist beliefs like some other advocates of this plan, these progressives argued that without access to Hetch Hetchy, the powerful private company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) would gain a monopoly over all of San Francisco’s light and power. As progressives, they deplored such concentrations of private power, and so they decried Muir as merely a pawn of PG&E’s master plan.

Question

4. Although John Muir did not succeed in preventing San Francisco from damming Hetch Hetchy in 1907, his fight to save it resulted in what positive outcome for preservationists less than ten years later?

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B.
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Correct. The answer is a. Muir’s fight to save Hetch Hetchy from commercial development may have failed, but his struggle energized the preservationist movement, and led to the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. The NPS was a federal agency specifically intended to protect parks across the United States—a major victory for environmentalists.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Muir’s fight to save Hetch Hetchy from commercial development may have failed, but his struggle energized the preservationist movement, and led to the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. The NPS was a federal agency specifically intended to protect parks across the United States—a major victory for environmentalists.

Question

5. This essay supports which of the following historical arguments about the environment in the early twentieth century?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. This essay explores how the debate over whether San Francisco should be permitted to take water from Hetch Hetchy illustrates the conflict in the early twentieth century between conservationists and preservationists. These two groups both cared about nature and the environment, but they had very different visions for what good stewardship over the natural world should look like.
Incorrect. The answer is d. This essay explores how the debate over whether San Francisco should be permitted to take water from Hetch Hetchy illustrates the conflict in the early twentieth century between conservationists and preservationists. These two groups both cared about nature and the environment, but they had very different visions for what good stewardship over the natural world should look like.