The Hundredth Meridian

in his magisterial Cadillac Desert, "was arnhalf-century rampage of dam-buildingrnand irrigation development which, in allrnprobability, went far beyond anythingrnPowell would have liked." It was alsornthe ingenious Rube Goldberg system ofrnreservoirs, aqueducts, canals, and tunnelsrnwithout which half or more—rnperhaps much more—of the presentrnpopulation west of the Mississippi . . .