University of Denver Spring 2026

An Alternative Vision for the American West With the Homestead Act of 1862, Americans flooded into the Great Plains and the interior West after the Civil War. One of the few to voice skepticism about the capacity of the West to support large-scale farming was John Wesley Powell, director of the United States Geological Survey. In the 1870s, he began to stress that the western half of the country could not be farmed unless it was irrigated. In 1890, Powell used this map to urge Congress to organize settlement and administration of the West not around the logic of the grid, but around watersheds that he distinguished with brilliant color. Powell’s vision of planned growth proved too disruptive to existing patterns and practices. Yet his map remains a challenging reminder of paths not taken and a very different vision for the American West. “Arid Region of the United States Showing Drainage Districts,” in John Wesley Powell, Report of the Secretary of the Interior, United States. Department of the Interior. 51st Congress, Second Session, v.IV, part II, 1890. 35.5 x 26.5 cm.

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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER MAGAZINE | SPRING 2026