7 Forces Driving More
the ground while pressing jackhammers against rock ledges. Closer to
home, my grandmother told me stories of how my grandfather and
others helped carve out the big canal.
Through these stories, one could see how the arid West was made
habitable. How flooding was controlled, drought alleviated, crops ir-
rigated, electricity generated, new towns created, and recreation ex-
panded. Through ingenuity, America had triumphed by converting
what were limited supplies of water into an on-demand resource.
The presumption that we could control water started early. Along
America’s frontier, people believed that farming actually created more
rain. As the settlers pushed past the 00 th meridian, a line that bisects
North Dakota, runs southward, and marks the change from humid to
semi-arid plains, farmers noticed an increase in rainfall as more land
was plowed. A few scientists and government officials provided support
for the idea that the climate was indeed changing. Respected journalists
like Horace Greeley endorsed and broadcast the news. What began as
mythology among farmers morphed into a widely accepted view that
“rain follows the plow.”
Congress, cognizant that too little rain would deter western settle-
ment, passed the Timber Culture Act in 7 , granting homesteaders
an additional 0 acres, provided 0 acres were planted in trees so as to
alter the climate with more rain.
Both myths were later refuted, but the quest to command water
continued. When diverting surface water was not feasible, digging a
deep hole and calling on divine intervention was the next best option.
If water appeared, a windmill was built. When word spread of what
would be revealed as one of the world’s largest aquifers, stretching across
portions of eight states, Model T’s were hooked up to centrifugal pumps
to bring its water to the surface.
Roosevelt’s New Deal brought electricity to rural areas and eventu-
ally large-capacity wells. From new technology came high-lift turbine
pumps, center-pivot irrigation systems, industrial engines, and cheap
natural gas.^ Wells more than a half mile deep and capable of filling
thirty-two bathtubs per minute were drilled. The amount of water