Transcript PowerPoint - The West as US

THE GOVERNMENT EXPLORATION OF THE WEST
I. The Federal Government, Exploration, and Expansion.
A. Lewis and Clark.
B. Army Explorers.
C. The Railroad Surveys.
II. The Geological Surveys.
A. Ferdinand Hayden and Yellowstone.
B. George M. Wheeler.
C. Clarence King and the USGS
III. John Wesley Powell, the Prophet?
A. The Colorado River Expeditions.
B. Blueprint for a Dryland Democracy.
I. The Federal
Government, Exploration,
and Expansion.
A. Lewis and Clark.
Lewis
Clark
B. Army Explorers.
Wilkinson
The Pike Expedition
Pike
Long’s Expedition, 1819-1820
The Pacific Railroad Surveys
1853-1855
 Maj. Isaac I. Stevens led the survey between 47E and 49E on
what became the Great Northern Line between St. Paul and
Seattle.
 Lt. John Gunnison led the survey along 38E, but was killed with
7 of his men by Ute Indians in Utah in October of 1853. Lt. E.G.
Beckwith completed the survey.
 Lt. Ameil Weeks Whipple explored along 35E west from Fort
Smith Arkansas to Los Angeles.
 Lt. John Parke explored east from San Diego, while Capt. John
Pope moved west from Ft. Washita on the 32E route.
Post Civil War Surveys
 Congress funded several independently run surveys of
the West.
 Led by men of strong egos and diverse interests.
 Merged into the United States Geological Survey in
1879 under first director Clarence King.
William Henry Jackson Photographs
King Surveys the 40th Parallel
John Wesley Powell
Civil War
With Paiute Man 1870s
Report on the Lands of the Arid
Region of the United States (1878)
 Only 3% of the West could be farmed in a way
resembling the East, the rest would require
irrigation.
 A single federal agency should classify and dispose
of lands based on a rational survey.
 The grid system should be scrapped in favor of
jurisdictions that conformed to natural watersheds.
 The 160 acre homestead should be replaced by
smaller (80 acre) irrigated tracts or much larger
(1,280 - 2,560 acre) non-irrigated grazing tracts.
Powell’s Vision of Drainage Districts – No Square States!
The Carey Act 1894
 10 arid states or territories could claim one million
acres of federal land.
 Land must be put under irrigation.
 Land must be distributed to actual settlers.
 Tracts not to exceed 160 acres.
 Only Wyoming and Idaho successfully use the act.
Newlands Reclamation Act
(1902).
 Sale of public lands in the west would be put in a fund
for reclamation projects.
 Projects would be built and administered by the newly
formed Reclamation Service.
 Project lands were to be sold to individuals in tracts no
larger than 160 acres at a price to be determined by
development costs and repaid in a ten year period.
Theodore Roosevelt Dam, Arizona