430 



ama Canal was opened, and the Owens Valley aqueduct began to bring 

 water from the eastern slopes of the hii2:h Sierras into the metropolitan 

 area. A primary purpose of the Louisiana Purchase was to open the 

 Mississippi River to the world's ocean traffic, and to bring the vast 

 inland basin into the world's economic orbit. Major cities grew up 

 along the Nation's watercourses: Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Omaha, 

 Richmond, Little Rock, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Sacramento, Des 

 Moines, Shreveport, Dallas, Albany. During the early years of the 

 19th centuiy, industrialization meant the establislnnent of factory 

 cities along the fall line, the point at which eastAvard-flowing rivers 

 dropped from the Appalachian plateau to the tidewater. Exploitation 

 of waterpower at this point enabled the settlers to operate the spindles 

 and shuttles of early textile machinery, to mill flour, shape furniture 

 on turning lathes, and the like, at Richmond, Norwich, Passaic, and 

 down the valleys of the Blackstone, the Roanolve, the Connecticut, the 

 Susquehanna. Even before the founding of the Republic, colonial lead- 

 ers were concerned with the development of water transportation to 

 open the inland empire to the sea. It is said that tlie Constitutional 

 Convention itself grew out of the efforts of George Washington and 

 his Virginia associates to construct a canal to link the Potomac hinter- 

 land to ocean commerce.^ 



Earliest action by the Federal Government in water development 

 concerned the construction of canals and removal of obstructions 

 to river navigation. Annual appropriations for such work became 

 routine, 1826-1839, lagged thereafter until the close of the Civil "V"\''ar, 

 and were revived in 1866. The first postwar rivers and harliors bill 

 contained an early explicit recognition of the need to couple benefits 

 with costs; it required cost estimates for each project, and also stipu- 

 lated that : 



[Surveys should indicate] as far as practicable, what amount of commerce and 

 navigation would be benefited by the completion of each particular work * * *.' 



Flood control became a Federal function with the granting of land 

 to Louisiana in 1849, proceeds from the sale of which would be used 

 for this purpose.* In the following year, a study program of flood con- 

 trol for the Mississippi River was authorized ^ but no immediate action 

 was taken on its findings. After a disastrous flood in 1874, a Missis- 

 sippi River Commission was established to prepare plans to " . . . pre- 

 vent destructive floods and promote and facilitate commerce, trade, and 

 the postal service."^ Thereafter flood-control activity gathered 

 momentum. 



The first hydroelectric power system began operation in 1882 and, in 

 1890, to resolve the possible threat of conflict between navigation and 

 power dams, the Congress required that its approval of any such struc- 

 ture be obtained in advance.^ From this point onward, the issue was 

 joined between the conservationists and the advocates of private power. 

 The former held that land and associated water resources should be 

 classified by their actual value and leased, a method of management 

 which would enable Federal officials to determine priorities and regu- 



- This episode is traced in Cleveland Rodgers. American Planning. Past-Present-Future. 

 (New York, Harper & Bros.. 1947). pp. 99-103. 

 3 Act approved June 23. 1866. 14 Stat. 70, 73. 

 * Act of Mar. 2, 1849, 9 Stat. 352. 

 5 Act of Sept. 30, 1850. 9 Stat. 539. 

 ' Act of June 28, 1879, 21 Stat. 38. 

 ' River and. Harbor Act of Jan. 27, 1890. 26 Stat. 454. 



