$4.46
Details
The Salton Sea: The History of America's Most Unique Lake
Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: David van der Molan
Unabridged: 1 hr 27 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 11/09/2022
Genre: History - United States
Synopsis
In the list of popular American geological oddities and attractions, one sizeable phenomenon remains surprisingly unfamiliar to the average citizen. This may be due in part to its remote desert location, but perception of the Salton Sea in southern California is also laden with environmental concerns and is in a constant state of flux. The extensive body of inland saltwater hides a glorious commercial past and has served as an important wildlife preserve but approaches a seemingly inevitable crisis in the coming decade.
The Salton Sea in not directly “on the way” to anything substantial or iconic, and is situated one hour’s drive from Palm Springs, 30 miles to the south of Indio, California on Highway 111. Its distance from Los Angeles and San Diego is approximately three hours driving time. The most recognizable natural phenomenon of Imperial and Riverside counties, it is surrounded by a rural area comprised of predominantly migrant farm workers and located in the southern Colorado desert area known as the Salton Trough, or Salton Sink.
Despite being a natural occurrence filling and emptying intermittingly throughout history, the current presence of this large inland sea surrounded by sand was created accidentally in the early 20th century. First formed around 700 CE, the original and much larger version of the great inland lake was called Lake Cahuilla, connected to the Sea of Cortez. By the time the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, the basin was completely dry as Don Juan Bautista led the first party across the basin’s expanse.
The “accidental” creation of the lake’s modern version was a product of the rising Colorado that destroyed a crucial section of the canal system designed to help farmers. Millions of gallons of water were forced into the lowland area. Beyond the one breach, the entire volume of the river flowed into the Salton lowlands for nearly two years before engineers finally stopped it.
by Charles River Editors
20th century Chicago was an ideal breeding ground for organized crime. A buzzing circuit board dotted with towering skyscrapers, brick buildings, worker's cottages, and an eclectic collection of greystone manors, the Windy City was further decked o...
Published: 03/23/2019
by James M. McPherson
James M. McPherson, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, and arguably the finest Civil War historian in the world, walks us through the site of the bloodiest and perhaps most consequential battle ever fought by Americ...
Published: 03/05/2003
by Martin Luther King
April 16th. The year is 1963. Birmingham, Alabama has had a spring of non-violent protests known as the Birmingham Campaign, seeking to draw attention to the segregation against blacks by the city government and downtown retailers. The organizers lo...
Published: 04/15/2013
by Daniel Okrent
America’s obsession with its own history has resulted in innumerable bestsellers. Like baseball and the Civil War, Prohibition is one of the grand American topics, and now it is the subject of Daniel Okrent’s masterful, prize-worthy tour...
Published: 05/11/2010
by Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was undeniably one of the most influential politicians in American history. In this collection of letters, speeches, and other writings by Lincoln, listeners can gain a uniquely intimate perspective on the sixteenth president of the ...
Published: 04/26/2011
by Robert McDonald
Explore the captivating contradictions of one of U.S. history’s most divisive figures with the celebrated West Point professor and author of Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson’s Image in His Own Time.Thomas Jefferson was the first secr...
Published: 04/28/2020
by Michael Zuckert
Much of the political life of the United States takes the form of contests about rights. This passion for liberty was forged and stoked by the nation’s foundational documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights of the U.S. ...
Published: 05/01/2020
by David Von Drehle
As 1862 dawned, the American republic was at death’s door. The federal government appeared overwhelmed, the U.S. Treasury was broke, and the Union’s top general was gravely ill. The Confederacy—with its booming economy, expert mili...
Published: 12/11/2012
by Abraham Lincoln
This was the first speech given by the newly-elected President of the United States. In an already tense state, Lincoln made the address with the hopes that the discordant South would listen. While reinforcing that the Union would never break, he en...
Published: 10/02/2018