Includes bibliographical references and index. Print version record. Electronic reproduction.

Foreword: A river in time -- Introduction: Twelve millennia on the San Juan -- ch. 1, Prehistory: from clovis hunters to corn farmers -- ch. 2, Navajos, Paiutes, and Utes: views of a sacred land -- ch. 3, Exploration and science: defining terra incognita -- ch. 4, Livestock: cows, feed, and floods -- ch. 5, Agriculture: ditches, droughts, and disasters -- ch. 6, City building: farming the triad -- ch. 7, Mining: black and yellow gold in redrock country -- ch. 8, The federal government: dams, tamarisk, and pikeminnows -- ch. 9, San Juan of the imagination: local and national values -- Epilogue: Visions: flowing from the sunrise or a water spigot? Natural history of the lower San Juan River in the US Southwest.