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Show AVERAGE ANNUAL PRECIPITATION under 10 inches 10 15 15 20 20-2S 25 30 30 40 40 45 AVERAGE AND EXTREME MONTHLY PRECIPITATION VALUES FOR SELECTED STATIONS FIGURE 1. Most of the Missouri Basin has a moderately low per capita income reflecting its agricultural char- acter. In most years the income of only one of the 10 basin States is above the national average, where- as in one other State it fluctuates over and under the national average. In the remaining 8 States, per capita income is below the national average. Over the years, the basin also has had a notably fluctuat- ing income, its peaks and lows following fluctua- tions in the rainfall of the plains. Population has remained relatively constant in the Missouri Basin for the past three decades, de- spite the comparatively high birth rate in the basin. There has been a steady and large outward migra- tion from the basin States, while the national popu- lation has increased 30 percent. (See figure 2.) Unstable economic conditions in the western part of the basin have in turn been associated with population movements into and out of the basin. They must also be attributed to early misconcep- tions about the climate and agricultural potential- ities. To the earliest settlers, who learned their farming practices in a forested region, the short- grass country was a strange and unfamiliar environ- ment. Although the area received only scanty rain- fall, the familiar farming practices of die East were introduced with confidence and full expectations of success. When these failed completely or in part, many rain-making nostrums were tried. Moreover, Congress applied a number of land alienation programs to this area, like the Home- stead Law of 1862 and the Tree Culture Act of 1878. Land was parceled out in units of 160 to 320 acres, too small to operate in a grass economy. 163 |