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The United (Watershed) States of America
From https://communitybuilders.org/what-we-think/blog/the-united-watershed-states-of-america
The United (Watershed) States of America
By: John Lavey
Date: Sep, 26 2013
In a departure from perhaps a more typical blog post here on Community Builders, today I throw on the lenses of historical revisionism to ask a big “what if”. Here goes.
The story begins with John Wesley Powell, the great one-armed adventurer and geologist. He was made famous for his successful runs through the Colorado River in 1869 and 1872. But perhaps his most important legacy rests in a lesser-known deed: Proposing in 1879 that as the Western states were brought into the union they be formed around watersheds, rather than arbitrary political boundaries. This idea rested on the observation that because of an arid climate, a statewide organization decided by any other factor would lead to water conflict down the road. Powerful forces, most prominently the rail companies, were proposing that state’s boundaries be aligned in ways best believed to facilitate agriculture, and thus best be enabled to capitalize off the lands given to them by the Federal Government. But the West, Powell observed, was too dry and its soils too poor to support agriculture at a scale common in the East.
Powell set out to produce a map, shown below, depicting what these “watershed states” might look like. (Take a look at any map of the union today, and you’ll know how successful Powell was). The rail lobby, buoyed by Charles Dan Wilbur and his theory that “rain follows the plough”, successfully swayed congressional opinion to accept state’s boundaries in their contemporary form.
John Wesley Powell’s proposed map of the Western United States, with boundaries according to watersheds.
It’s easy to look at Powell’s 134-year-old idea and see amazing prescience. The potential for water conflict in an arid climate was too important an issue to ignore. As Western irrigators opened up more land for agriculture and development, and as cities and towns grew in population, conflicts over water have indeed become more pronounced. In arid places like the Colorado River basin, where multinational agreements and accords with desert towns require minimum flows be served on a yearly basis, the potential for conflict keeps rising.
...
By: John Lavey
Date: Sep, 26 2013
In a departure from perhaps a more typical blog post here on Community Builders, today I throw on the lenses of historical revisionism to ask a big “what if”. Here goes.
The story begins with John Wesley Powell, the great one-armed adventurer and geologist. He was made famous for his successful runs through the Colorado River in 1869 and 1872. But perhaps his most important legacy rests in a lesser-known deed: Proposing in 1879 that as the Western states were brought into the union they be formed around watersheds, rather than arbitrary political boundaries. This idea rested on the observation that because of an arid climate, a statewide organization decided by any other factor would lead to water conflict down the road. Powerful forces, most prominently the rail companies, were proposing that state’s boundaries be aligned in ways best believed to facilitate agriculture, and thus best be enabled to capitalize off the lands given to them by the Federal Government. But the West, Powell observed, was too dry and its soils too poor to support agriculture at a scale common in the East.
Powell set out to produce a map, shown below, depicting what these “watershed states” might look like. (Take a look at any map of the union today, and you’ll know how successful Powell was). The rail lobby, buoyed by Charles Dan Wilbur and his theory that “rain follows the plough”, successfully swayed congressional opinion to accept state’s boundaries in their contemporary form.
John Wesley Powell’s proposed map of the Western United States, with boundaries according to watersheds.
It’s easy to look at Powell’s 134-year-old idea and see amazing prescience. The potential for water conflict in an arid climate was too important an issue to ignore. As Western irrigators opened up more land for agriculture and development, and as cities and towns grew in population, conflicts over water have indeed become more pronounced. In arid places like the Colorado River basin, where multinational agreements and accords with desert towns require minimum flows be served on a yearly basis, the potential for conflict keeps rising.
...
More at link.
Also, from NPR All Things Considered (audio):
In the first of a four-part series, NPR's Howard Berkes reports on John Wesley Powell's vision for developing the western United States. He recognized how serious a restraint the lack of water was in the region, and laid out a plan for how to best use the limited resource.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1413174