On Beyond the Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner is all about John Wesley Powell and his plans for the West. It starts with his first expedition on the Colorado River and chronicles his career as he eventually becomes a DC bureaucrat who provided order to governmental science. This book ended up strongly relating to Cadillac Desert and partially to Progress and Poverty, both 2022 reads. Fundamentally, this book demonstrated that John Wesley Powell's ideas about land use planning were too far ahead for the late 19th century. 

Value of first survey

Reading about John Wesley Powell's 1864 expedition was exhilarating; I am glad the book was written in 1954 when the author could describe the rapids as they once were because all of the rivers they rafted have been dammed. John Wesley Powell assembled a motley crew of random people from relatives to people he found along the way; I think one of the most impressive parts was that there was no mutiny. Powell also uniquely built relationships with Native Americans: "Powell respected them, and earned their respect, because he accepted without question their right to be what they were, to hold to the beliefs and institutions natural to them," (p169). 

Politics 

After John Wesley Powell's first survey in 1864, he delegated additional surveys to his trustees and began focusing on the work in Washington: "he began to care more about efficient organization and the public good which federal science ought to serve," than carrying out that work personally (p.257). Powell led the charge to revolutionize the system of land surveying, policy, and farming tailored to the West. The West received minimal rainfall, especially compared to the East Coast, creating challenges that could not be approached with the same policy making as the East Coast. Powell's career was made in land management policy for the West. He had fears, later realized, that land speculation around irrigation projects would occur and that poor parcels would go to the Jeffersonian yeoman farmer but great parcels would go to big corporations. His primary plans included a recommendation of 80 acres for homesteads with irrigation and 2560 acres for pasture farms versus the standard 160 acres to everybody. However, those numbers accounted for native grass species and their growth rates (p.275). Additionally, he wanted to close all the public domain until reservoir locations were decided, so as to prevent speculation.

Although Powell had the expertise and data to back these suggestions up, the idyllic dream of all pioneers becoming successful farmers persisted. Politicians like William Gilpin, first Governor of Colorado, spread lies about the soil quality and rainfall to lure more settlers. When the droughts finally came, it was the little guys who suffered the most. Ultimately, Powell's ideas were taken down by Western politicians, worried about their states viability: "The wise system of land laws had marched the West swiftly and directly toward homesteader failure and land and water monopoly by corporations and individuals...there would be fewer...happy farmers in large parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas in 1940 than there were in the peak year of 1890," (p.403). While Powell's foresight was ignored by those "who feared government sponsorship of science," his work with the US Geological Survey, Bureau of Ethnology, and more, became the models for the Forest Service, National Park Service, and Soil Conservation Service, (p.410). This book showed that John Wesley Powell did tremendous work for government science and the public, in addition to being the non-Native person who 'found' the Grand Canyon (which is pretty cool). 

Miscellaneous

There were a couple of interesting tidbits to this book: 1) John Wesley Powell, Abraham Lincoln, and Mark Twain were all cut from the same cloth of a homegrown midwest education. John Wesley Powell "had unlocked a region" (p.149). Powell's view of land management was anti-speculation, so it was highly influenced by Henry George, who published Progress and Poverty around the same time. 

Thanks to my brother, Jeremy, for the recommendation.