![]() Powell’s position was vigorously fought by the railroads, eager to sell land to pioneers, and equally eager to haul manufactured goods and harvested crops. ![]() Reisner notes how explorer John Wesley Powell believed the arid West to be unsuitable for agriculture, except for 2 percent of the land with water. Reisner examines how the West changed from “the great American Desert” to a land developer’s Promised Land, all courtesy of the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. ![]() How to understand water and the West? A good starting point is Marc Reisner’s “Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water,” published in 1986 and updated in 1993. ![]()
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