The Waters . . . Belong To The People": Populist Victory Over Big Business and Progressive Federal Policy in the Nevada Water Law of 1913 (original) (raw)

Western American or Nevadan history, but all history, including the history of the American West, is the story of people, of who, what, where, when, why and how. Like Monument Valley in a movie by director John Ford, aridity is but a part of the scenery against which the drama is played. The history of the West was much more influenced by, first, the competing philosophies of Jeffersonianism-Jacksonianism-populism and collectivism-socialism-progressivism, second, the tragedy of the commons, and, third, boosterism. Whether the United States would continue in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, or abandon it to follow a new path was the major social and political debate during the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, though not framed in those terms. America chose to find a new path. This choice made possible all the social programs of the Progressive Era, New Deal, and Great Society, including irrigation. In the summer of 2009, I was visiting the Carson City-Reno area to use collections at the Nevada State Library and Archives and Nevada State Historical Society. At the time, President Barack Obama's health care bill was pending in Congress. While driving through the ranch country between the two cities, I noticed several signs spray painted on plywood. The signs proclaimed "Stop Socialism. Stop Obamacare," and the like. I thought, "Ignorant fools! By some definitions as least, the United States is a Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science n.s. 162, no. 3859 2 (Dec. 12, 1968): 1243. x socialist country, has been for over a century, and we Americans like it. You all are absolutely dependent on the federal government for the water that grows your alfalfa and waters your livestock. Even the land you swear to protect until someone pries your gun from your cold dead fingers was given you, or your predecessor in interest, by Uncle Sugar." Part of my objective in choosing this dissertation topic is to examine and demonstrate that America is socialist country, and that we Americans like it. The competition between the Jeffersonian-Jacksonian-populist view and the collectivistsocialist-progressive view is key to understanding the history of the United States generally, and of the American West specifically. Without understanding this competition, one cannot understand the history of the twentieth century which follows. Therefore, chapters two through five, inclusive, provide a detailed analysis of the competition. The phrase "tragedy of the commons" was coined by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 article, "The Tragedy of the Commons" published in Science. In simplest terms, the 2 tragedy of the commons is that a resource owned in common is owned by none, and, therefore, all members of the community have access to it and a right to use it, but no one has the responsibility to manage it wisely. The tragedy occurs as each user seeks to maximize his or her personal gain from the commons, it consumed and destroyed. Hardin observed that technical solutions are not sufficient to resolve the tragedy; rather xi people must fundamentally change their behavior and expectations. In the Western United States, water was a "commons." Residents of this arid region, whether Native Americans, Hispano-Mexicans, or Anglo-Americans, applied several technical solutions, including irrigation, to problem, all of them more or less successful in the short run, but all of them destined to fail in the long run. At no time did they alter their behavior and expectations to bring them into line with their natural environment. A second part of my objective in choosing this topic is to examine the inescapableness of the tragedy of the commons and how it effects the history-and the future-of the West. Chapter six examines the tragedy of the commons as it applies to water in the American West. Boosters in the Western states and territories, cities and towns were both a manifestation of the tragedy of the commons and a independent factor in the history of the American West. The boosters wanted to bring more and more population to their locales in the hope that this would improve the economy generally, and, since boosters were usually business owners and speculators, their own fortunes specifically. However, while this increase in population increased real estate values and economic activity, it negatively impacted the tragedy of the commons. In the short run-the "short run" being defined as the last century and a half, plus maybe another decade or two-the boosters have been successful. Millions of people have migrated to the western states and built huge cities in the desert and semi-desert-Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix-however, in the long run these cities are doomed to failure as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde before them. Chapter seven examines the effects of boosterism, especially in Nevada, to