Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of History
First Advisor
David A. Horowitz
Term of Graduation
Spring 2025
Date of Publication
7-16-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.) in History
Department
History
Language
English
Subjects
Environmental History, Environmental Regulation, Oregon State Sanitary Authority, Regulatory Agency, River Management, Water Pollution
Physical Description
1 online resource (iii, 157 pages)
Abstract
The environmental movement in Oregon can trace its origins to the turn of the twentieth century, where citizen activism and initiative led to the creation of an early environmental regulatory agency, the Oregon State Sanitary Authority. This creation established that the State of Oregon had a duty to preserve, not just the navigability or usability of rivers and waterways, but the quality and purity of its water. The Oregon State Sanitary Authority played an active role in maintaining and protecting the environment as a mandate of the people, and throughout its thirty-year existence battling industrial polluters, reluctant municipalities, and disinterested legislatures, all the while grappling with shifting and evolving science and technological developments. By establishing policies, setting legal proceedings, studying science, engineering, economic, and technical data, and sometimes even public pressure campaigns, the Oregon State Sanitary Authority fought an uphill battle against the environmental challenges facing the country from World War II to the rapid growth of the post-war period. The Sanitary Authority carved out a modest but nonetheless important victory against the water pollution. The Oregon State Sanitary Authority set the groundwork that becomes Oregon’s apparent leadership as an example of environmentalism nationally and serves as an example of Oregonian’s relationship to the nature of state, agency, and water--what it is for, and who it belongs to.
Rights
© 2025 Avery Morgan Fischer
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44021
Recommended Citation
Fischer, Avery Morgan, "The People's Rivers: Early Environmental Regulation and the Oregon State Sanitary Authority" (2025). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6913.