The+Keel+of+Lake+Dickey-+JH

A Reporter at Large: The Keel of Lack Dickey - Described by Jessica Holt

From the beginning of this article you can tell this piece is going to be about nature, weather and the environment. The main focus of the article is an expedition on the St. John river. McPhee describes it as being "awesome and suprising" he was imaging a tiny river and this was not only a huge river but also a pure one in his eyes. It was one of the only rivers that remained undammed for purposes of electricity. He tells that this river could provide 1% of New Hampsires electricity needs. It was suprising that the title of the article did not reflect what was seeming to be the main focus of the article. He goes into vivid details about rapids and the size of the St. John river in Maine. He talks about a man who died on the Big Black Rapids and explains how it makes no sense to him how it could have happened.

The relation of the title to the story is that is the point along the river where they want to put the dam is the town of Dickey. He explains that each year congress debate the fate of this river, but to this point nothing has been approved. He explains the the Army Corps of Engineers await the decision of congress each year about the building of this dam. He explains the St. John river as if it is unique to other rivers in various aspects. He continues to explain their adventure in the canoes down the St. John river. He discusses a company that cuts trees close to the river as he can hear the skidder as they are floating down. He explained that even if people wanted to think of this river and all of the trees as wilderness and completely free this was clearly not the case. The river was being faught over and the trees and land was all managed by different corporations. I feel like McPhee is trying to draw our attention to the fact that this beautiful earth we have been given, is continuously being exploited for our benefit.

Then he goes into an explanation of their fishing trips and goes into detail about the guide who spends most of his life in the woods. He says that he enjoys the trips more than the sport of fishing. I kind of took this as someone who spends so much time in nature would not think of it as a sport but as a way of getting nutrition while on one of these trips. He does a vivid explanation of the impacts that this damn would have on Lake Dickey and the Seven Islands. His explanations do not make me feel like he supports the building of the dam. He says "Seven Islands, not far from the head of Lake Dickey, would at time be under fifteen feet of water. At other times, as the dam made its electricity and coped with the river's irregular contribution of water, the surface of the lake would go down as much as forty vertical feet, and Seven Islands would then emerge, like the engulfed cathedral, coated with mud." He finishes the article by explaining that congress seems to be having a change in heart because of energy crisis. The environmental impact that McPhee seems to be discussing could be that we are only looking out for the environment when it is in the best interest of the capital wants and needs. Also, he could be suggesting that perhaps we do not have enough appreciation of the beautiful nature that we have been given, instead we are quick to destroy it if it will give more to our materialistic needs.