Water Resources 
L. N. McCLELLAN 
Bureau of Reclamation, United States Depart- 
ment of the Interior, Denver, Colorado 
A century ago, Daniel Webster said: ‘‘What do we want with 
this vast worthless area—this region of savages and wild beasts, 
of shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie 
dogs? To what use could we ever hope to put these great deserts 
and those endless mountain ranges?”’ 
Daniel Webster was a great national leader. I repeat his familiar 
quotation concerning the arid western United States not to dis- 
parage his memory but to emphasize a point. A wise man was 
unable in his day to foresee the wonderful developments that 
human progress can bring. Here in the arid west, cactus has given 
way to citrus. Potatoes grow where there were prairie dog towns. 
Shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust have not prevented the 
development of an economy that supports a population of 38 
million people. Crop, livestock, and industrial wealth, undreamed 
of a hundred years ago, has been created by the energies of man 
and his skills in science. 
This empire, which last year contributed many billions of dol- 
lars to the national wealth, has been made possible largely by the 
development of its water resources. Time will tell whether this 
generation has better vision than did Mr. Webster’s generation, 
and whether we will be able to develop properly water that is still 
unused. At least we recognize our duty to try to plan for best use 
of the resources given us. 
The theme of this symposium, the better use of present re- 
sources, obviously could include a variety of resources. This paper 
is confined, however, to the water resource. More particularly, 
189 
