Part Five Summary and Analysis

The author discusses three Acts of God that made the US government reevaluate their land laws. First there was a horrendous winter of 1868 in the West, resulting in a 30-50% drop in the number of cattle on the land. Secondly, there was a drought in wheat country that lasted over a decade. The third Act was the Johnston flood, reminding man that he was not in control of the weather. After these disasters, Congress was ready to repeal some of the previous administration's land acts, and called upon the Department of the Interior to provide a survey of irrigable lands. Powell jumped upon this opportunity to enact his plan of irrigation districts, which would take about seven years and 5.5 million dollars to accomplish. Through various maneuvers through government, the Irrigation Survey was ordered and begun.

Senator Bill Stewart of...