The Story of Water in the American West…
I have no fear that America will grow too big. A hundred years hence these United States will be an empire, and such as the world never before saw...In my opinion the richest portion of it, and a section fully as populous as the East, will be in the region beyond the Mississippi. All through that region, much of which is now arid and not populated, will be a population as dense as the Aztecs ever had in their palmist days in Mexico and Central America. Irrigation is the magic wand which is to bring about these great changes. –John W. Noble, Secretary of the Interior, quoted in The Independent, 1893 (From: Rivers of Empire, D.Worster, 1985)
The story of water in the arid American West is one which includes forces as diverse and broad-ranging as geological epochs, the post-Pliocene {Neolithic} agricultural revolution and human migration to the New World. The earliest human habitation of the region began about 14 - 25k years ago when migration routes from Asia opened as a consequence of lowered ocean levels, the result of global cooling and the formation of glacier ice sheets. It is thought that these early immigrants were drawn to the region because of plentiful hunting, but over time developed intensive agricultural practices, ones which ultimately impact the human community worldwide. The development of agriculture in Mesoamerica, and its dissemination to the arid American west, required regional adoptions. These adaptations emerged primarily in the form of irrigation projects. The migration of Euro Americans brought with it major adaptive changes to the West, which in turn resulted in dramatic environmental alterations to the region. However, the central driving force behind settlement in the arid-West continued to be irrigation. In fact, some of the earliest Euro American irrigation projects were built using prehistoric Indian canals. Moreover, the socio-economic pattern that developed in arid regions ranging from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica played out once again in the hydraulic civilization of Euro American development in the West.
“In 1878, Mesa was founded by Mormon pioneers. Upon exploration, they discovered the Hohokam's abandoned canals, parts of which they used to develop their own irrigation system. Evidence of the canals can be seen today at the 31-acre ‘Park of the Canals’."
This Project is currently under development; it will become active in early 2009-- thanks for your patience!
• Agriculture in the Trans-Mississippi West
• California Central Valley Project
• Carter Administration - Reclamation Legislation
• Dam Building [http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/dams/index.html]
• Defense Industry
• Dust Bowl Era
• Global Climate Change – Impact on Western United States
• Government Agencies - Water-related History
• Historic figures in Western Water Development
• Indian Water Rights
• Maps (Water Sheds, Snow Pack, etc.)
• Mining – Effects on Water Resources
• National Parks – Water Issues
• Pre-Historic Water Use
• Socio-Culture Implications of Water Policy
• Sub-Surface Water
• Wetlands, Natural Habitats
• River Histories
• Transportation
• Urban Water Issues
• Water Projects, History of
• Water Recreational Use
• Water Related Links
