THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



the clouds for the moisture essential to the production 

 of the staple necessities of life. 



The distinguishing characteristic of the vast region 

 west of the ninety-seventh meridian is, then, its aridity 

 the lack of rainfall sufficient to insure the success of 

 agriculture. The new empire includes, in whole or in 

 part, seventeen States and Territories. It is a region of 

 magnificent dimensions. From north to south it meas- 

 ures as far as from Montreal to Mobile. From east to 

 west the distance is greater than from Boston to Omaha. 

 Within these wide boundaries there are great diversities of 

 climate and soil, of altitude and other physical conditions. 



The arid region was the latest acquisition of national 

 territory, except Alaska, until the late war with Spain. 

 It was unknown and undisputed as late as the Revolu- 

 tion. It was the fruit of James Monroe's negotiations 

 with Napoleon I., resulting in the Louisiana purchase ; of 

 the forcible conquest from Mexico ; of the annexation of 

 Texas, and of the Gadsden purchase in 1853. Unlike 

 the rich and well-watered lands in the valley and around 

 the mouth of the Mississippi, the acquisition of the arid 

 region was not compelled by the irresistible pressure of 

 the frontiersmen. It came as a perquisite with the pur- 

 chase of Louisiana, and as a concession to manifest des- 

 tiny. Between the day of its acquisition by the United 

 States and the dawn of its peculiar and enduring civili- 

 zation, the country was destined to pass through three 

 distinct eras. The first was that of the hunter and 

 trapper ; the second, that of the cowboy and the rude 

 miner ; the third, that of the railroad, the land-boomer, 

 and the speculative farmer, with mining reduced to a 

 stable industry. 



22 - - , . 



