Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner

During the last 100 years, water resource development has greatly affected the western United States. The early programs were generally dominated by engineers. The projects were often big, ambitious, and expensive. Such leaders as John Wesley Powell, William Mulholland, and Floyd Dominy often went to great lengths to accomplish their objectives. Throughout the 20th century, their work sustained considerable economic growth. More recently, water resource development advocates have had to reconcile with the environmentalists. The overall result of this interaction has been a shift in priorities. Rather than resource development, future water projects could emphasize the management and efficient utilization of supplies.

Driving across the United States, the landscape gradually turns from green to brown at about the hundredth meridian (11). Great effort has gone into transforming the Great American Desert into something productive. The United States has built approximately 50,000 dams. In the west, such projects tend to be economically unsound. Dams and reservoirs also may create major environmental problems (5). Moreover, despite all of the engineers' heroic efforts, only a small area about the size of Missouri has actually been successfully irrigated. Furthermore, that conversion primarily occurred through the exploitation of nonrenewable groundwater. Nonetheless, water resource development and management are extre

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and 170 miles of power transmission line. In fact, the city's entire concrete capacity was not sufficient for the aqueduct's construction. A new concrete plant had to be build near limestone deposits in the Tehachapi Mountains (84). During the entire six years, Mulholland monitored the project. The engineer persisted throughout sandstorms, windstorms, and snowstorms. His enthusiasm and devotion proved inspirational to the men working on the aqueduct. In addition, although Mulholland eventually became a virtual "Moses" to thirsty Los Angeles, he harbored no political aspirations. As Mulholland once said, "I would rather give birth to a porcupine backwards than become the mayor of Los Angeles (86)." It was on November 5, 1913, that the first Owens Valley water flowed down the aqueduct's final sluiceway and into the San Fernando Valley. Many people are of the opinion that Los Angeles stole water. In reality though, nothing that the city did was actually illegal. True enough, Mulholland and his cohorts may have engaged in chicanery, subterfuge, spying, bribery, a strategy of lies, and even an all out campaign of divide-and-conquer in order to accomplish their goals. The water may have even made several Los Angelenos ve
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Los Angeles, Francis Dam, American Desert, Water Plan, Unfortunately Bureau, Homestead Acts, Floyd Dominy, Reclamation Act, Bureau Reclamation, Pacific Northwest, los angeles, reclamation act, resource development, acre-feet water, water resource development, water resource, bureau reclamation, san joaquin, colorado river, water development, owens valley, texas water plan, desert lands act, john wesley powell, owens valley water,
Approximate Word count = 2800
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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