The Roots of the Conservation Movement, 1890–1919 71
Document 61: Rivers and Harbors Act (1899)
By the end of the nineteenth century, industrial wastes were beginning to have a deleterious effect on the water
quality of rivers around the country. Tucked away in section 13 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899—which
was primarily an appropriations bill allocating funds for dozens of river and harbor construction, repair, and
preservation projects—was a prohibition against dumping refuse in navigable waters, making it the first federal
antipollution law. It is interesting to note that the first colonial antipollution statute also concerned the dumping
of garbage in harbors [see Document 12].[I]t shall not be lawful to throw, discharge,
or deposit, or cause, suffer, or procure to be
thrown, discharged, or deposited either from or
out of any ship, barge, or other floating craft of
any kind, or from the shore, wharf, manufactur-
ing establishment, or mill of any kind, any refuse
matter of any kind or description whatever
other than that flowing from streets and sewers
and passing therefrom in a liquid state, into any
navigable water of the United States, or into any
tributary of any navigable water from which the
same shall float or be washed into such navigable
water; and it shall not be lawful to deposit, or
cause, suffer, or procure to be deposited mate-
rial of any kind in any place on the bank of any
navigable water, or on the bank of any tributary
of any navigable water, where the same shall be
liable to be washed into such navigable water;
either by ordinary or high tides, or by storms or
floods, or otherwise, whereby navigation shall or
may be impeded or obstructed.
Source: U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 30, Part II (Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900), 55th Cong., 3rd
sess., chap. 425, March 3, 1899, p. 1152.DOCUMENT 62: Theodore Roosevelt Addresses Congress on Forest
Preservation and Land Reclamation (1901)Teddy Roosevelt knew and loved the wild areas of the country, but at heart he was a pragmatic utilitarian
whose conservation policies were driven by a desire to manage the land so that it would produce more game to
hunt, more trees for timber, more water for irrigation, and more land for farming. Much of the content of this
address, which set the stage for the Reclamation Act [see Document 63], is a reworking of John Wesley Powell’s
Reports on the Lands of the Arid Region [see Document 58]. Some of Roosevelt’s later conservation policies
were influenced by John Muir [Document 68A] and other preservationists, who convinced Roosevelt of the
value of actually setting aside wilderness areas.Public opinion throughout the United States
has moved steadily toward a just appreciation of
the nature of forests, whether of planted or natu-
ral growth. The great part played by them in the
creation and maintenance of the National wealth
is now more fully realized than ever before.
Wise forest protection does not mean the
withdrawal of forest resources, whether of wood,
water, or grass, from contributing their full share
to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary,
gives the assurance of larger and more certain
supplies. The fundamental idea of forestry is the
perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection
is not an end of itself. It is a means to increase
and sustain the resources of our country and the
industries which depend upon them. The pres-
ervation of our forests is an imperative business
necessity. We have come to see clearly that what-
soever destroys the forest, except to make way for
agriculture, threatens our well-being.
The practical usefulness of the National for-
est reserves to the mining, grazing, irrigation, and
other interests of the regions in which the reserves
lie has led to widespread demand by the people of
the West for their protection and extension. The
forest reserves will inevitably be of still greater use