But though man cannot at his pleasure command the rain and the sunshine, the wind and frost and snow...it is certain that climate itself has in many instances been gradually changed and ameliorated or deteriorated by human action.

George Perkins Marsh,
"Address Delivered Before the Agricultural Society of Rutland County,"
September 30, 1847.
Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920

George Perkins Marsh,
Mathew Brady's Studio,
circa 1850.
America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotypes, 1839-1864

On September 30, 1847, Congressman George Perkins Marsh delivered a speech on agricultural conditions in New England to the Agricultural Society of Rutland County, Vermont. This powerful address gave voice to ideas which would become a catalytic force in the conservation movement. Marsh recognized the human capacity for destruction of the environment and advocated better management of resources and active efforts toward restoration of the land, radical ideas for the period.

Marsh, born in Woodstock, Vermont, was a lifelong spokesman for the preservation and care of natural resources. A successful lawyer, he also studied silviculture and soil conservation. In 1842, he was elected to Congress where he served two terms. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Marsh to serve as the American Minister to Italy in 1861. While in Italy, he summarized his knowledge of agricultural practices and argued for conservation strategies in his book Man and Nature.

Marsh's book added to the momentum the conservation movement was gaining in the United States. The writings of American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau promoted the idea that contact with nature, especially when preserved in its wildest state, was beneficial to the human spirit. Naturalist John Muir settled in California, and began speaking out for the protection of national lands, especially the Yosemite Valley. In 1872, the Yellowstone region of Wyoming was declared a national park by Congress.

• Read more about George Perkins Marsh and his role in the conservation movement. See the Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement, ca. 1850-1920, a special presentation of Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920.
• Search the Today in History Archive on conservation to find more features on milestones in the history of conservation in America. Topics include the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916, the 1908 Governors' Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources, the creation of national parks in Washington and Maine and Arizona, and the first celebration of Earth Day, as well as pages on conservationist Carl Schurz and naturalist John Burroughs.
• For access to texts of current environmental protection bills under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, go to THOMAS: Legislative Information and browse major legislation classified by topics such as environmental protection or public lands.
• Search on national park in the following photographic collections for more photographs of America's natural treasures:
  • American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936
  • Taking the Long View, 1851-1991
  • American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920
  • Washington as It Was, 1923-1959
  • Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920
• The Mapping the National Parks collection documents the history, cultural aspects and geological formations of areas that eventually became National Parks. The collection consists of approximately 200 maps dating from the 17th century to the present, reflecting early mapping of the areas that would become four National Parks, as well as the parks themselves. Explore Yellowstone, Acadia, the Grand Canyon, or the Great Smoky Mountains.
• Visit our nation's national parks online via the National Park Service.

Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 1908.
Taking the Long View, 1851-1991

The Appleton Edison Light Company

Dam Across River,
Appleton, Wisconsin,
between 1880 and 1899.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

On September 30, 1882, the world's first hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. The plant, later named the Appleton Edison Light Company, was initiated by Appleton paper manufacturer H.F. Rogers, who had been inspired by Thomas Edison's plans for an electricity-producing station in New York. With financial backing from three Appleton men, one a personal friend of Edison's, Rogers began building the Appleton plant at his riverside paper mill during the summer of 1882.

Unlike Edison's New York plant which used steam power to drive its generators, the Appleton plant used the energy of the Fox River. The operation's water wheel, generators, and copper wiring took only a few months to install and test. When the plant opened, just twenty-six days after Edison's, it produced enough electricity to light Rogers' home, the plant itself, and a nearby building.

Early Stages of Construction at TVA's Douglas Dam,
Tennessee,
Alfred T. Palmer,
photographer,
June 1942.
FSA/OWI Photographs, 1939-1945

By the early twentieth century, hydroelectric power plants were producing a significant portion of the country's electric energy. The cheap electricity provided by the plants spurred industrial growth in many regions of the country.

In 1933, the U.S. government established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which introduced hydroelectric power plants to the South's troubled Tennessee River Valley. The TVA's power plants, built in conjunction with a number of dams, were just one component of the agency's comprehensive plan to promote the economic development of the Tennessee River Valley. The TVA also administered flood control and soil conservation programs, as well as systems to improve navigation along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. Like other New Deal programs initiated by Franklin Roosevelt, the TVA hired hundreds of displaced depression-era workers to build and operate its facilities, providing an additional boost to the region's economy.

Search the following American Memory collections on the terms electric or dam to see more related images:

• American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936
• American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920
• Buckaroos in Paradise, 1945-1982
• FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945
• History of the American West, 1860-1920
• Taking the Long View, 1851-1991
• Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920
• Washington as It Was, 1923-1959

"Leisure With Electricity,"
Advertisement of Electric Institute of Washington,
Theodor Horydczak, photographer,
August 8, 1946.
Washington as It Was, 1923-1959

• The collection Washington as It Was, 1923-1959 contains a series of more than 2,000 photographs from the Washington, D.C. Electric Institute and Potomac Electric Power Company. Besides images of a variety of early electrical appliances, the series includes examples, some of them amusing, of advertising campaigns and demonstrations promoting the use of electricity in the home and in industry. Search the collection using the keyword electric to retrieve these images. Add keywords such as appliance or advertisement to focus your search. Be sure to try a search on Reddy Kilowatt!
• Browse the American Memory collection Inventing Entertainment, The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies for more evidence of Edison's talents.
• Learn more about inventor Thomas Edison. Search on Thomas Edison in the Today in History Archive. Also see the Today in History features for December 21 to find out about Boulder Dam and June 16 to learn more about Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal projects.
• View 45 color photographs documenting Tennessee Valley Authority dams and facilities in Alabama and Tennessee. Search on Tennessee Valley Authority in FSA/OWI Photographs, 1939-1945.

Welder at Work on Douglas Dam (TVA),
Tennessee,
Alfred T. Palmer,
photographer,
June 1942.
FSA/OWI Photographs, 1939-1945

Carpenter at Work on Douglas Dam (TVA),
Tennessee,
Alfred T. Palmer,
photographer,
June 1942.
FSA/OWI Photographs, 1939-1945