© 1955 by Harry
E. Sever and is cataloged in the Library of Congress under Catalog
Card Number 54 -10247.
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Once, the Sever family owned one of the largest wheat farms in the entire country. When the depression hit, everything was lost. Harry E. became a traveling laborer and scratched his initials into the walls of the dams along America's great rivers. Penned in the late 1930s and 40s, this novel was written in much simpler times. Simpler because life was that way but infinitely more difficult because, by today's standards, life's experience, knowledge and technology were so limited. Driven by a burning desire to tell his story, my grandfather created Dam-mania! Though I've edited it some and condensed it a little, it is HIS story. Please consider the first six chapters of this effort as our gift to you! |
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From the Jacket
Who builds the mighty dams of our western United States? Who are the ten thousand faceless workers who broil alive on the griddle of the Colorado canyon? Who dangles with gad and jackhammer above the Columbia's raging torrents? Here, in DAM-MANIA!!, they are faceless no longer, as Harry E. Sever brings them vividly to life.
This is the gripping story of Chet Evans, engineer -- in love with life and people fired by the vision of a Northwest reborn and rekindled by the Dam's power; of Doleful Dan, sheepherder extraordinary, half-crazed by the curse of an unproved murder charge, daring to rejoin society and to look for peace among the dammers; of Anna Adams (wanton or angle?) Holding in her young hands the lives of two men, and in her hidden soul the mysteries of a romantic poet.
DAM-MANIA!! Is the roistering history of a turbulent boom town, arrogantly proud of its virile youth, yet fearful of its final destiny in the uncertain world of the Great Depression. A colorful parade of boomtown citizens moves across these pages; alleged racketeers, politicians, mistresses-behind -the-throne, arsonists -- the wild and reckless dwellers on a new frontier.
And above all towers The Dam-- the monster which rules them ruthlessly-- maims them, kills them, yet offers them all a stake in the future of their country.
Step into a world of strange and tangled lives, a breathing, sounding world that will hold you from your first glimpse of it to its final explosive climax. It is a world that glows with pride in the Northwest's heritage and the part played by all its people in building of a glorious future.
Published as "A Vantage Book" in 1955.
Dedication
To those parched-featured, leather-skinned, sand-battered, optimistic, strong-hearted, willing-handed men and women of vision who came, survived and remained here to fight the good fight in the deserts of the Northwest, knowing that their dreams of development will eventually come true.
A personal note..
The copy I have in my hand has a message inscribed beneath the "Dedication" it reads, "I autograph this book to my patient and long-suffering wife who's understanding and untold hours of typing and re-typing made it possible." It is signed "Harry E. Sever" and dated "Feb. 2, 1955".
Introduction
Although DAM-MANIA! is fiction-- in that its hero and heroine, indeed all its minor characters, are purely imaginary -- it is authentic history. It is as true to life, to the events that make up its background, as its author could make it.
There may never have been a "Chet Evens," an "Anna" or any one of the individuals depicted here; but they all are, as it were, prototypes of living human beings.
Perhaps my novel might better have been entitled God's Damsites, this indicating, to all who read, the rightful Owner of these "man-made" wonders.
DAM-MANIA! Is not intended primarily to be a "problem" novel; yet it is impossible in such a work for an author to shut his eyes to the private power monopolies that lie in wait to seize any and all public-spirited projects for their own aggrandizement.
First of all, I have endeavored to present an entertaining story. Beyond that, any historical, social, economic, or political significance appears in the book only because the subject matter could not be dealt with honestly otherwise. H.E.S.
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