Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States

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In the report, Powell cites empirical evidence of rain patterns that contradict the theory that Rain follows the plow, which was widely propagated by politicians, scientists, railroad corporations, and proponents of Manifest destiny.^[3][4] Powell also argued against many common practices and laws used to settle unclaimed lands in the Public Domain managed by the United States General Land Office. Powell discouraged the practice of dividing government land into arbitrary rectangular plots for settlement, arguing that this technique ran the risk of concentrating valuable water resources on single plots, leaving adjacent plots unable to be settled, farmed or used for pasturage.^[1] He also pointed out the inadequacies of the Homestead Act of 1860 for settling the arid lands. The Act allowed individuals over the age of 21 to stake a claim for parcel of land of 160 acres.^[5] Powell argued that while this was fitting for the humid and sub-humid regions of the country, 160 acres of dry, western land would be too little to support grazing due to sparse vegetation and also too little for agriculture without irrigation due to scarce water availability.^[1]

As one of the central tenets of his strategy for developing the western United States, Powell proposed that settlements consist of cooperative communities, similar to those of the Mormons, Pueblos, and Hispanic New Mexicans.^[2] This communal lifestyle would allow groups to pool the capital for the irrigation projects necessary to draw water from large rivers. This idea stemmed from the notion that smaller streams can often be diverted by individuals but irrigation projects from larger rivers require more work and capital than individual citizens can provide^[1]

He proposed that collectives of 9 or more individuals be able to create their own irrigation or grazing districts with a maximum number of acres per person. The lands would be surveyed and classified primarily by the United States Geological Survey as irrigable lands, timber lands, pasturage lands, mineral lands, and coal lands.^[1] These would have different regulations for communal settlement. Individuals and groups would then democratically determine their own allotments and hold other individuals accountable to prevent fraud^[2]

Political borders would be organized based on watershed boundaries, guaranteeing access to irrigation for a maximum number of individuals instead of allowing scarce water resources to be controlled by single allotments. In order to further ensure a democratic division of water, Powell was insistent in the report that water rights not be separated from land they irrigated on the basis that this would prevent developers from monopolizing water rights and extorting landowners.^[1]

The publication of Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States further established Powell's reputation as an authority on the western United States, its physical characteristics, and the problems it faced. On March 3, 1879, the same day that a second round of reprinting of the report was ordered, Powell's survey of the west was merged with two other competing expeditions to create the United States Geological Survey with Powell's peer and friend Clarence King as its first director.^[6] Powell was put in charge of the newly created Bureau of American Ethnology. In 1881, upon King's resignation, Powell was also appointed the second director of the Geological Survey.^[2] In these positions, Powell led efforts to catalog the disappearing cultures of Native Americans and further study the geographic character of the West. Under Powell, from 1881 to 1884, the Geological Survey became the largest scientific organization of its type in the world.^[7]