What stories should we be covering? Win a subscription to In These Times by taking our short new survey!

Klamath Water Babies

Anti-government farmers wouldn’t have prospered without federal handouts.

By Jeffrey St. Clair

Not since Shay’s Rebellion has a popular uprising against the government enjoyed such jaunty press coverage. When a militant band of irrigators in the Klamath River basin of southern Oregon thumbed their noses at the Bureau of Reclamation and illegally diverted water into their fields of alfalfa, politicians such as Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith rushed to their side, calling them heroes.… return to article

Also by Jeffrey St. Clair
Popular Discussions