Where the Water Goes

The Colorado River

Today, the Colorado River and its tributaries irrigate six million acres of farmland, provide power for two hydroelectric plants and support recreational activities worth $26 billion a year. The water quenches the thirst of 36 million people in Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; and San Diego and Los Angeles, California.

Ranchers and farmers in the mid-1800s pushed westward in part because they believed that “rain follows the plow.” A related claim suggested that trains and telegraph lines prompted rainstorms. Settlers who believed such claims were sorely disappointed when the arid West couldn’t support their farms. However, if you disregard the lack of water, deserts are ideal for agriculture. Farmers need not fear frost, hail and violent storms. Consistent weather permits stable farm employment and precise planting and harvest dates. Before man-made dams tamed the Colorado River in the 1930s, its course shifted around Southern California and Southwestern Arizona, depositing silt and flattening the land for farming.