California’s San Joaquin River was a source of life. It helped provide food for thousands and was a home for many, but the Bureau of Reclamation took it all away when they ordered the construction of the Friant Dam. The Dam wasn’t created to destroy life, but to give life. It helped southern Californians get the water they needed by diverting the river into an aqueduct and sending it south. But what many didn’t predict was the mass die off of many fish that once lived in the San Joaquin. The entirety of the fishing industry in all of central california was crippled, one of their biggest gold mines was destroyed. But the fisherman weren’t the only affected. Farmers, landowners, families, and many more groups felt the affects of the damming.
