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Book
Porter and Brower paired Porter’s photographs with writings
from a variety of authors who wrote about nature and the uniqueness
of Glen Canyon. Some were descriptive, some were poetic, and others
were historical. Brower and the Sierra Club hoped The Place
No One Knew would visually and emotionally move President
Johnson, Congress, and other key people to decide not to complete
the dam. Although these people greatly appreciated Porter's photographs,
the project went forward. The floodgates on the Glen Canyon Dam
closed in 1963. Over the course of several years, the waters of
the Colorado filled the canyon to form Lake Powell. However, the
The Place No One Knew helped halt the construction of
dams in other western locations, including the Grand Canyon.
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Porter realized his photographs could be successful as individual
works of art while also contributing to a cause. The Place
No One Knew, therefore, became the first of many such books.
His images of Glen Canyon started a passionate debate about how
to balance environmental protection with human needs. His book
projects that followed raised public awareness of human impact
on the environment in places around the world. Some of these publications
helped to make the Sierra Club an internationally respected environmental
organization.
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