Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 / 2008-08-02 00:00:00

It is properly a national
function, at least in some of its features. It is as right for the
National Government to make the streams and rivers of the arid region
useful by engineering works for water storage as to make useful the
rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering works of another
kind. The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the headwaters of our
rivers is but an enlargement of our present policy of river control,
under which levees are built on the lower reaches of the same streams.
The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it
does other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow of
streams, the water should be turned freely into the channels in the dry
season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural flow.
The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different
problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of streams. The
object of the Government is to dispose of the land to settlers who will
build homes upon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought
within their reach.
The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along
streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim
their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone.
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