Dear HCN,
Karl
Hess tells us, in “Imagine a West Without Heroes,” that the West
would best be managed by New Westerners and not by federalists,
justifying his conclusion by portraying John Wesley Powell as a
worn-out hero (HCN, 5/27/96).
It seems that many
Western writers prefer to wrestle with the ghost of Powell. Perhaps
the problem is that Powell never realized that we would pick apart
his every word and deed. When I read Powell’s report to Congress,
Lands of the Arid Region of the United States, I don’t see any
recommendation to denude forest land with the intent of utilizing
every drop of rain for the state. I read the exact
opposite.
If Hess really missed the
conservationist theme of Wallace Stegner’s biography of Powell,
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian, I might be inclined to think that
his heart is motivated by the same agenda as Stegner’s anti-hero,
William Gilpin, who coined the false promise that “rain will follow
the plow.” Powell’s premise that good science will be the savior of
the West is as valid today as it will be tomorrow. To manage the
West without the check-and-balance system of federal programs and
legislation, as imperfect as it sometimes is, would be a
Gilpin-like mistake.
John
Weisheit
Moab,
Utah
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline In defense of Stegner’s Powell.
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