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Show Federal concern, but partnership with the Federal Government in preparation and fulfillment of regional water and related land programs, in greater or less degree, must everywhere be expected. The legal jurisdiction of the United States over navigation and certain other water uses, and Fed- eral ownership of important segments of water- sheds, particularly extensive in the public land States of the West, make this necessary. Quite apart from these reasons, there is usually no other constant governmental source of leadership tran- scending State boundaries which can help the people of a multi-State region review the full scope of their water resources problems and possi- bilities or find the funds that in many cases are necessary for the expensive multiple-purpose tasks that must be undertaken. Nevertheless, before Federal leadership or partnership with the people of the various regions can be most effective, the Federal administrative structure must be re- adapted, as was made clear in the report of the Hoover Commission, by improvements in func- tional scope, in internal delegations of authority, in areas for field administration, and in inter- departmental relationships essential for team- work. The following sketches of four river basins- the Columbia, the Rio Grande, the Connecticut, and the Tennessee-point out some of the major problems involved in water resources develop- ment, the programs and policies that should be followed, and the contributions which sound de- velopment can make to regional and national welfare. Each of the basins is analyzed in some detail in volume 2. These four sketches are presented here merely as examples showing the types of water resource problems arising in basins in four widely separated parts of the Nation and their significance to the national welfare. The Columbia Decisions as to water policy are crucial in shaping the future of this vast area in the Pacific Northwest. The massive Rocky Mountains with their alternating ridges and valley troughs form its eastern border, while at its western edge, near the Pacific, are two other paralleling ranges-the low Coast Mountains overlooking the sea, and, about 100 miles inland, the higher Cascades, studded with spectacular volcanic peaks. The Columbia is a great natural force that disputes the dominance of these mountain chains, for it has ploughed its way across both the Cascade and the Coast Ranges. This 1,200-mile long stream, together with its great southern tributary, the Snake, not only nour- ished the large schools of salmon that once spawned in vast numbers in its upper waters (and still support an important lower river in- dustry ), but permitted the first white fur traders to push their commerce from sea to mountain hinterland. It helped the pioneer farmers seek- ing the Oregon country to cross the mountain barriers to their new homes, and bore the cargoes of wheat, apples, and timber from the Willamette Valley down to the sea for the California "forty- niners." Later when railroads pushed west, its narrow shore line offered a water-level grade for the easy movement of modern commerce, and in particu- lar for the wheat, timber, and other bulky prod- ucts of the farms, mills, and mines east of the Cascades. Because the moisture-laden clouds from the Pacific drop a large part of their burden as rain or snow as they cross the Coast and Cascade Ranges, the wide plateau areas east of the latter mountains are (with minor exceptions) semiarid or arid. Hence the importance of irrigation to the development of much of the agriculture be- tween the Cascades and the Rocky Mountain eastern boundary. For many years the smaller east Cascade tributaries, like the Wenatchee, the Yakima, and the Okanogan, have made possible an irrigated agriculture that has yielded a wealth of fruits, melons, vegetables, and hay crops. The Snake River, which swings in a great arc from Wyoming's Yellowstone Park across the State of Idaho to its western border where it unites with Oregon, is, together with some of its tributaries, the chief basis for the economy of Idaho south of the Panhandle. Narrow, verdant beads of irrigated lands are 911609-50- 23 |